One of the most positive developments to emerge from the first three games of the post-Olympic stretch run has been the offensive play of Simon Gagne. The 30-year-old left winger seems to finally be recovering his timing and confidence in scoring three goals and four points in the last three games.
Last night, especially early in the game, I thought the line of Ville Leino and Danny Briere flanking Jeff Carter was the Flyers' best line. I would like to see Darroll Powe get back into the lineup now that he's feeling better, but Leino earned his second straight start last night and did enough to deserve to stay in the lineup for at least one more game.
By merit, Scott Hartnell (one goal in his last 17 games, no goals in the last 10 games, eight minor penalties in the last 10 games) deserves to take a seat in the pressbox for a couple games. The Flyers need Hartnell to recover his form from last season if they are to have any shot at winning a playoff round, but right now he's not helping the club.
Today's
Daily Drop at Versus.com looks at Michael Leighton's play on Wednesday and last night in the bigger context of his status as the club's go-to goaltender for the rest of the season.
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Back in January, I talked to an NHL scout who frequently attends games at the Wachovia Center, and asked him where he thought the Flyers stood prospect-wise among all teams in the NHL. I was told that he'd personally rank the Flyers current crop (excluding players like JVR, Claude Giroux and Powe who now have NHL roles) in the bottom five of the NHL.
Prospect depth may not be an issue this season, but with a significant number of key players who are 30 and older (namely Gagne, Briere, Chris Pronger and Kimmo Timonen), goaltending questions, a lack of high-end prospects in the system, a shortage of draft picks and lots of money tied into long-term contracts, it's going to take some mighty slick maneuvering to keep this team a playoff contender in seasons to come. As it is right now, the Flyers are still too close to the playoff bubble for comfort. They absolutely cannot afford a losing streak of any significance the remainder of the season.
On a related note, the Adirondack Phantoms have been the most offensively inept team in the AHL this season, ranking dead last in the AHL with 150 goals scored. Last night, they dropped a 5-2 decision to Rochester.
One of the few highlights was Patrick Maroon's 10th goal of the season. Maroon has come on a bit offensively since the All-Star break but this has been a disappointing second pro season for him, partially due to injury and partially due to the lack of playmaking talent around him. Maroon has produced points at a somewhat higher clip than last year (0.72 points per game as opposed to 0.675 points per game), but his goal scoring pace is down and he's carrying a more significant offensive burden than he did as a rookie. He's basically where he was a year ago, and in hockey prospect evaluations, the lack of significant year-to-year progress is actually a setback.
It's still too early to give up on the 21-year-old (he'll turn 22 in April). Every player develops at his own pace, and big-framed players often take a little longer. Maroon's conditioning is no longer an issue, although his skating remains a concern. He's become a better all-around player in his second pro season, but he's always going to be more of a scorer than a checker. As a result, he's going to have to score his way into an NHL role.
The historical track record of "scoring" prospects who require multiple minor league seasons will start to work against Maroon next season if he doesn't become a dominant AHL scorer, but it's hardly unprecedented for a player such as him to be a late bloomer.
From an organizational standpoint, the big problem is that we even need to talk about Patrick Maroon as one of the organization's main forward prospects. He's been an intriguing sleeper pick from the time the Flyers drafted him, and he's done enough to move from "project" to prospect but he's still far from a blue-chipper. That reflects on the management of the farm system, not on Maroon himself.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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