Clean out day at the Skate Zone in Voorhees came way too early this year. After 48 games of hockey in a season shortened by a needless lockout, the Flyers are going home for the summer. There will be many tough decisions to come and many veteran departures during the offseason.
Over the remainder of this week, I will look at some of these issues in detail.
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BUILDING BLOCKS FOR 2013-14
Much has been said and written, including in this blog space, about the areas that need improvement, starting with team defense. The club also needs to more consistently earn greasy goals in low-scoring games and crunch time situations. Too often, when other teams deny them the space and time to make plays at will, the offense disappears entirely.
However, despite the team's down season this year, there are some definite positives on which they can continue to grow. I addressed these
building blocks in a new article for the Flyers' official Web site (please pardon a couple of typos in the piece that I didn't catch until after submission. Yes, I know the Flyers have the 11th, not 10th, default pick in the NHL Draft pending the outcome of today's lottery).
The biggest actual news to come out of yesterday's session was a direct statement by Paul Holmgren that Peter Laviolette would return to coach the team at the start of next season. Prior to that, there were a lot of semantic games played over whether pronouncements from the general manager that he "anticipated" Laviolette's return was the same as making a definitive statement.
To me, the most fascinating discussions were ones centering around the team's problems, both offensively and defensively, at even strength this past season. There is no denying that the Flyers yielded way too many goals at 5-on-5 this year and didn't score enough.
The previous season, the Flyers were 6th in the NHL in even strength goals and were +19 overall at 5-on-5. This year, even with a 10-goal-in-two-games outburst at even strength in successive late-season games against Carolina and Boston, the team finished a mediocre 19th in even strength goals scored (83) and were minus-13 overall at five-on-five because the club yielded 96 even strength tallies (23rd in the NHL). The team only managed to break even in four-on-four situations (five goals scored, five yielded).
Nobody, including Peter Laviolette, denied that five-on-five play was an area of chronic inconsistency and overall disappoint this season. However, everyone had their own theories as to what went wrong. There were many questions asked about whether Laviolette's system had been adjusted.
According to Laviolette, the team made a slight adjustment in coverages this year to "add an extra layer of protection" in the defensive zone. The coach said that the breakout scheme remained unchanged. Laviolette added that he was relatively satisfied with the coverages in the defensive zone this year but the team got itself into trouble too often with turnovers and opposing counterattacks.
Some of the Flyers players said yesterday they felt the team struggled to master the defensive adjustments. Laviolette and others noted there was less frequent practice time allotted this season because of the breakneck pace of most of the season's game schedule. The coach said that he felt his team eventually started to settle in but then an unusually high volume of injuries "undid" it. Late in the season, with a slew of Phantoms callups in the lineup, Laviolette and the other coaches heavily stressed simplicity within the same variation of the team's left-wing-lock influenced puck pursuit system.
Scott Hartnell was the most candid player in discussing where he felt the team went wrong at even strength. First, he was asked by Lisa Hillary about whether he thinks the team has to find ways to further alter and adjust the system to better its 5-on-5 play at both ends of the ice.
Hartnell replied, "I think probably the biggest area of concern for me is our D zone. You know, I think it was – I don’t if it was we were soft or what it was. I think we were one of the top teams on the power play and one of the top few teams on the penalty kill. Our 5 on 5 play was absolutely terrible. We didn’t score as many goals as we did last year. But we gave up way too many 5 on 5 goals. When you do that you’re not going to win hockey games. I think that aspect of our game has to be adjusted the most.’’
Next, the power forward was asked if he'd noticed changes in the team's approach when he came in this season.
“I did actually. For our team, we had a lot of guys who can make plays and be offensive. In (our D zone) we tried to be like a couple other teams in our division. It was, well, we’re not used to that system. It takes a little adjustment time and this year we couldn’t afford that adjustment period. You start off 3-10 or whatever we were and we dug ourselves a hole. It was frustrating to watch, to play it. I think as the season went on . . .if this were an 82-game season, we would make it for sure. Our last 15 games, I think we won 11 or 10 of them. If we played 30 more games, we’re right there.’’
Lastly, he was asked about the team's struggles on breakouts, and whether he thought the attempted schematic tweak negatively affected the club on the line rush.
“Personally, I do. We are a quick team, an attack-oriented team. It seemed like we were just standing still. Couldn’t get much going from the D zone. I’m sure all that stuff will be addressed this summer. The way we played the last portion of the year, I think if we do the same thing, the guys will be more used to it and we’ll pick up where we left off.’’
General manager Paul Holmgren, a former NHL player and head coach, opined that sometimes "players over-think these kinds of things." The general manager chalked up the root cause of the problem to players needing to work harder to support the puck and win battles in the trenches.
These sorts of discussions about systems and their execution are great fodder for the hardcore puckheads out there. It will be interesting to see what the Flyers can do next season -- hopefully with a proven puck-moving defenseman added to the mix on the top half of the blueline rotation -- with a full training camp and preseason to continue building upon the minor changes that the coaching staff attempted to implement this year.
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BRYZGALOV SOUNDS OFF, GETS READY TO HEAD TO WORLDS
Debating system adjustments does not make for great theater or memorable soundbites. It is human drama, even of the manufactured variety, that sells and is what people remember.
The majority of the focus yesterday swirled around Ilya Bryzgalov's soapbox speech railing against media coverage of the Flyers and the tendency of reporters to hyper-focus on a single scapegoat or a single topic when things go wrong. While it provided some drama, colorful quotes and a humorous moment that made even Bryz laugh (Dave Isaac asked "Apart from new writers, what does this team need?"), it really had nothing to do with hockey or the state of the team.
Here's the thing with Bryzgalov and hockey in general. Every locker room has players in it who are not especially well-liked. Not everybody gets along, and there are always potential fires the team leaders have to put out to keep everyone on the same page. When a team wins, the disparate personalities coexist and self-focused motivations are shelved. When the team struggles, the personality clashes become issues and fingers get pointed at one another and the coach.
With Bryzgalov, it is hard sometimes to focus exclusively what he does on the ice as opposed to the various ancillary distractions that swirl around him. Some are not of his own doing, but some are -- both in terms of his sometimes (but not always) contentious relationship with the media and in terms of mutual perceptions between himself and his teammates and coaches.
Specific to the media in general, I agree with some things Bryzgalov said yesterday and disagree with about other things. However, I will not blame him for speaking from the heart. The part I agree with is that there is often a human tendency -- not just among media members, but among many fans as well -- to focus on one or two designated scapegoats or heroes in team sports. There is too often much focus on out-of-context statistics, and those are inevitably linked with the player's salary.
Personally, I would not personally rank goaltending as one of the primary on-ice problems the Flyers had this year. Rather, my quibble is that, apart from the first two weeks and the period after the trade deadline, the goaltending was very ordinary as an individual component of the team. There weren't enough clutch saves on non-routine but still potentially stoppable shots.
That is where I feel it is legitimate to bring salary into the equation. If a team allots a hefty portion of its available cap space to goaltending, the goalie's performance has to be consistently stellar or else the team would be better off paying someone else less for comparably average or inconsistent play.
As far as Bryzgalov and his teammates and coaches go, I really don't want to delve too much into the topic because it's impossible for outsiders to truly know what goes on in the locker room dynamic. Anything that leaks out comes with a particular agenda or point of view attached to it. You are only getting one side of the story.
In this regard, I will only say that enough has been leaked off-the-record (not in the form of anonymous quotes but it private conversation) out of the locker room and team offices to suspect that some team leaders and members of the coaching staff view Bryzgalov detrimental to their efforts to keep every focused and on the same page. Of course, every relationship is a two-way street. There have no doubt been wrong buttons pushed by others with Bryzgalov.
Ultimately, though, it comes down to whether the team wins and how well Bryzgalov, Steve Mason or any other goalie the Flyers bring in stop the puck when the rest of the team gives the netminder a chance to see the shots. If he's successful and the team is successful, none of these other issues matter.
Anyway, enough of that. Let's get back to hockey talk.
It was revealed yesterday that Ilya Bryzgalov is expected to join Team Russia at the World Championships. He is currently being penciled in as the starting goaltender. His backup will be former Flyers teammate and potential 2013 Vezina Trophy candidate Sergei Bobrovsky, now with the Columbus Blue Jackets.
How's THAT starter/backup dynamic for some Flyers-related intrigue? The tournament may be taking place in Finland and Sweden but it will be interesting to watch from afar which goalie ends up truly being the go-to guy when the chips are down in the medal round.
Bryzgalov has been named the starter because he's older and more experienced than Bobrovsky, and might have turned down the invitation if he was told he'd have to fight for the starting job. Even so, things can change in a hurry in hockey.
Bryzgalov's acceptance of the World Championship invite brings the number of Flyers-affiliated players at the tourney to nine. Claude Giroux, Wayne Simmonds, Matt Read and Luke Schenn will represent Team Canada. Jakub Voracek will play for the Czechs. Oliver Lauridsen will play for Denmark. Phantoms forward Marcel Noebels will play for Germany. Phantoms goaltender Cal Heeter will be a backup goalie for Team USA (it probably helped his chances that Paul Holmgren is a Team USA adviser).
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PRELIMINARY SET OF INJURY UPDATES
Paul Holmgren's press conference yesterday contained some injury updates, most notably about concussed defensemen Nicklas Grossmann and Marc-Andre Bourdon. Both players will see a concussion specialist in Pittsburgh on May 6. Neither is fully symptom free yet, although both have made significant progress.
In Grossmann's case, rapid eye movement is still causing him issues with balance and dizziness but the symptoms have reportedly lessened. He will undergo vestibular therapy while continuing to follow doctor's orders to maximize the chance for a full recovery. Holmgren reported that he had spoken with Grossmann earlier and the Swedish defenseman told him that he felt he could have recovered fully and returned to the lineup if the 2013 season had gone on for a little longer.
Holmgren said that Grossmann's symptoms, even at their worst, did not nearly approach the severity of Chris Pronger's post-concussion syndrome issues. The general manager said the team anticipates Grossmann being ready to start training camp on time with the rest of the team.
The general manager also reported that Andrej Meszaros (torn rotator cuff surgery) is making progress. Holmgren ascribed Meszaros series of major injuries in the last year -- back surgery, Achilles tendon repair and rotator cuff repair -- to a freak run of bad luck. The GM claimed that the team plans to go next year with the expectation of having a healthy Meszaros as well as a fully recovered Grossmann in their lineup.
That remains to be seen. Concussions are tricky, and there is no timetable that can be placed on full recovery. That's especially true when there are additional issues in play. I also am dubious that the club is not concerned about all the effect the collection of major injuries will have on Meszaros' game and general mental state.
Braydon Coburn's shoulder separation is of lesser physical concern. He simply got injured with too little time remaining in the season to be cleared to return. It is his down year on the ice -- he was given more puck-moving responsibilities and greater all-situation ice time after the departure of Matt Carle and struggled to cope during the fractional season's worth of games he played.
I will discuss Meszaros and Coburn in greater depth in an upcoming blog.
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COMING TOMORROW: Who Stays/ Who Goes Projections, Entry Draft Discussion
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