By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 
Rumors swirled on Saturday that more changes would be in the near future, regardless of the result in Saturday night's game in Vancouver. The result wouldn't change the minds of management anyway.
The Flyers turned in another forgettable performance, falling to the Canucks, 5-1, on Saturday.
Continue reading "Flyers End Road Trip with Loss to Canucks" »
(Photo: Kate Frese)
By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor
A long road trip filled with defeats of different kinds comes to a close on Saturday night. For the Flyers, Friday's lifeless game may be rock bottom when it comes to forcing changes from new GM Chuck Fletcher.
Whatever happens from here, things will remain the same with the makeup of the team for one more night, as the Flyers close a five-game road trip in Vancouver against the Canucks.
Game time is at 10 p.m.
By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor
The Flyers played a second straight game in Alberta on Friday night, but it wouldn't be surprising if their minds were still in Calgary and thinking about Wednesday's epic collapse.
The Flyers did nothing to turn the tide in Edmonton, looking rather lifeless in a 4-1 defeat to the Oilers.
Continue reading "Lifeless Flyers Drop Another Game in Edmonton" »
(Photo: Kate Frese)
By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor
After the way the Flyers dropped Wednesday's game in Calgary, it couldn't possibly get any worse, right? The Flyers will try to right the ship, but things could certainly get worse before they get better.
This is a game of two teams going in opposite directions. The Edmonton Oilers got off to a slow start, fired their coach and have surged back into a playoff spot with an 8-2-2 record under new coach Ken Hitchcock. The Flyers, meanwhile, are 1-1-1 on a five-game road trip with very little, if any, progress made since the firing of GM Ron Hextall.
Game time is at 9 p.m.
By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor
The Flyers killed off four penalties in the third period. They even got a shorthanded goal on one. With under two minutes to go, the Calgary Flames were in desperation mode, trailing by two with the goalie pulled.
With 1:08 left, they got one back. With seven seconds remaining, they tied the game. And 35 seconds into overtime, they handed the Flyers another gut-wrenching loss.
Johnny Gaudreau got the game-winning goal in a wild 6-5 defeat in Calgary on Wednesday night.
Continue reading "Flames Stun Flyers with Late-Game Comeback" »
(Photo: Kate Frese)
By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor
The Flyers five-game road trip started with two very different results over the weekend. After rallying for a 6-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday, they were handed another lopsided defeat, 7-1, in Winnipeg on Sunday.
For the Flyers to avoid more significant changes as the season progresses, finding some consistency in the results is imperative. The next chance for a victory comes on Wednesday night against the Pacific Division leading Calgary Flames.
Game time is at 8:30 p.m.
By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor
One of the early things on Chuck Fletcher's agenda as GM was to find a new assistant GM as he gains familiarity and evaluates the current team. It appears he has found his guy, and it shouldn't come as any surprise that it has Minnesota roots.
According to a report from Michael Russo of The Athletic, the Flyers will hire Minnesota Wild senior vice president of hockey operations Brent Flahr as their new assistant GM. The Flyers have not confirmed the hiring.
Continue reading "Report: Flyers to Hire Brent Flahr as Assistant GM" »
By Jeff Quake, Sports Talk Philly staff writer
Times are tough for the Philadelphia Flyers as they sit one point above the New Jersey Devils in the standings for last place in the Metropolitan Division.
The Flyers are 1-1-1 thus far in the Chuck Fletcher era, since the new GM was hired back on Dec. 3. Currently, the team is two games into a five-game road trip.
Now that Fletcher has assumed the GM role, the biggest question is what will Fletcher do with all of the players, prospects, picks, but also salary cap he has?
You could argue that there are a few players such as Claude Giroux, Sean Couturier, Ivan Provorov, James van Riemsdyk, and Shayne Gostisbehere are all safe. Even some younger players like Robert Hagg, Travis Konecny, and perhaps Travis Sanheim are as well.
One of the issues is that none of these players are Fletcher’s guys. Remember when everyone thought Mike Richards and Jeff Carter were untouchable? Well, if the right deal comes along Fletcher might trade someone, such as Wayne Simmonds or Jake Voracek, who both came from those blockbuster trades.
The moment that Fletcher was officially announced as the new GM for Philadelphia, the organization’s evaluation period began. But how long will it last? That's the concern of the players and coaches and everyone else under evaluation under a new watchful eye.
This evaluation period could be the duration of the road trip, the next few weeks, or even the rest of this season. Even if this evaluation lasts for the remainder of the 2018-19 season, it feels like a safe bet that something from this team will look different by the time the 2019 NHL Trade Deadline is over on Feb. 25 at 3 p.m.
Just two games into the road trip, the Orange and Black got dismantled, 7-1, by a much stronger Winnipeg Jets team. On paper, the Flyers have the makeup of a playoff team that should be able to reach the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but on the ice this team is exactly what their record shows.
If the team’s record doesn’t flip around relatively soon, then the offseason will be very interesting for a lot of reasons. Besides the draft, the biggest area where teams find improvements and make changes is free agency, as the Flyers are rumored to be among those interested in a two-time Vezina trophy winner.
There have been conversations swirling around the Flyers and a reunion with another former player, this time it’s Sergei Bobrovsky. According to Sportsnet’s Chris Johnson, Philadelphia is prepared to make a run at Bobrovsky this July.
"The answer to the longest-running riddle in hockey may come from an unexpected place: As the Philadelphia Flyers ruminate on how to shore up their goaltending — at least until prospect Carter Hart is ready to take the wheel — there are whispers they will take a run at Sergei Bobrovsky on July 1," Johnson writes.
Of course, everyone in Philadelphia knows Carter Hart is coming and it won’t be long until he is the go-to guy in net for Philadelphia. Someone like Bobrovsky would look great for the organization and Fletcher, but the team needs to be cautious with large signings.
Fletcher has a history of signing some big free agents -- like Ryan Suter and Zach Parise in 2012 -- and wouldn’t be afraid of spending money again to land a top name. A Bobrovsky signing would create a good situation -- the team would have a true No. 1 goalie who is typically healthy and reliable, and all in all would be a great mentor for Hart. Of course, you would likely box in a top prospect like Hart, because Bobrovsky will likely not sign a short-term contract. He would want a contract very similar to Carey Price’s, currently the league's highest-paid goalie after signing an eight-year, $84 million contract.
And with Bobrovsky’s numbers, he may very well get a contract like that. He would expect to be the No. 1 goalie for the duration of his next contract. That would essentially prevent Hart from his showing true potential in Philadelphia.
No matter which direction the team goes, the organization’s future is in Fletcher’s hands and this team will be changed sooner rather than later. The evaluation period is here and will be for some time, but only one man knows how long this process will truly take.
By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor
After being a relatively invisible and silent figure in the Flyers organization, Comcast CEO Dave Scott has made his presence known of late, first in the crosshairs of the Flyers firing of Ron Hextall as GM and in the team's recently-concluded GM search.
Now Scott has made another business decision with the Flyers right at the forefront.
Comcast Spectacor announced on Monday that Valerie Camillo has been appointed as the President of Business Operations for the Philadelphia Flyers and Wells Fargo Center.
Continue reading "Valerie Camillo Appointed as President of Business Operations for Flyers" »
By Ryan Black, Sports Talk Philly staff writer
Last week, I declared that the Buffalo Sabres looked “pretty real” as far as good teams go. In doing so, I did note that they’d get one of their first real tests from back-to-back games against the impressive Toronto Maple Leafs and Nashville Predators. They responded to my kind words and that key test by stretching a two-game skid into a five-game losing streak.
The Sabres looked up to the task in both, coming up just short to Nashville in a 2-1 loss before losing an overtime barnburner against the Leafs, which Auston Matthews won with just seconds left in the extra session on one of the greatest snipes you will ever see, period.
But after four straight one-goal losses, the Sabres looked ragged and disoriented Saturday against the Flyers, who slapped them 6-2. I apologize to the Sabres for cursing them, and we’ll try to lift that spell (and place it on another upcoming Flyers opponent) with this week’s Around the NHL.
“Scoring is up” seemingly confirmed: The NHL has now hosted more than a third of all the games that will be played this season, so there’s finally a substantial data set to check back on all of the “scoring is way up” columns that popped up in October. And, as it turns out, scoring is still trending higher than it has in any season from the last two decades, other than one. Teams are averaging 3.08 goals per game, the same amount they did during the power-play crazy 2005-06 season, when the league emphasized its crackdown on obstruction. A far higher percentage of scoring this season has come at even strength, however.
A glance through this week’s scores illustrates the trend. An individual team scored five or more goals in a game at least 25 times in just seven days, with a ton of blowouts (the Flyers weren’t even the only team to lose 7-1 this weekend) and some track meets, like the Calgary Flames’ 9-6 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets.
“At 8-6, I think we still have a really good chance,” Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella joked after that game. “They score the ninth one and take the wind out of our sails.”
Flames on high: Speaking of those Flames, they’re our team to maybe curse this week. They’ve spent the last four seasons alternating between making the playoffs and missing them, following a five-year absence from the dance. Like the Sabres, though, they’re starting to look like a team that’s in the process of stepping firmly back into league relevance. After a 5-2 Saturday night victory over the injury-riddled Nashville Predators, they assumed sole possession of first place in the Western Conference.
A lot is going right in Calgary right now. They have four forwards averaging over a point per game: Elias Lindholm, Matthew Tkachuk, Sean Monahan, and Johnny Gaudreau, who is the oldest of the bunch at just 25 years old. Veteran defenseman Mark Giordano, 35, is flirting with a point per game pace in what looks to be a career year--though he’ll be suspended for two games after an ugly knee-on-knee hit that took out the Minnesota Wild’s Mikko Koivu. He’ll be eligible to return when the team faces the Flyers on Wednesday.
A big part of Calgary’s success has been goaltending in recent weeks. Veteran netminder Mike Smith came over last season, but a rough start this year opened the door for surprising newcomer David Rittich to see some starts. Though Smith still plays more games and seems to be rounding back into form, Rittich has impressed with an 8-2-1 record and .919 save percentage.
The Wilson/Reaves thing: If you’re enough of a hockey person to have made it this far, you probably know what happened in last week’s Stanley Cup Final rematch between the Washington Capitals and Vegas Golden Knights. Capitals super villain Tom Wilson mixed it up a few times with Knights battleship Ryan Reaves, culminating in Reaves blindsiding Wilson, causing his helmet to pop off and his unprotected head to smack into the ice. Timeless hockey violence.
The aftermath has been a blur of strange optics. Wilson’s critics flocked to internet comment sections and forums to celebrate the vengeance. Wilson, often a purveyor of brain damage, is out for the foreseeable future with a concussion. Reaves first agreed to autograph pictures of the occasion, with Wilson lying on the ice injured, for a local memorabilia vendor, before realizing that was in terrible taste and reversing course.
No supplemental discipline was assigned to Reaves for the hit (he was given a five minute major during the game) because, despite being late, it contained no head contact. But the NHL then deferred on even considering punishment for a number of actual headshots this week, ranging from Jori Lehtera’s rather obvious elbow on Oliver Bjorkstrand to Pierre-Edouard Bellemare’s shot to the chin on Kyle Clifford, which kept the Los Angeles Kings forward from traveling with the team to their next game. The NHL’s policies towards illegal hits appear to be, still, quite the work in progress.