|
This Should Not Have Been a Surprise |
|
|
|
|
|
Much has been written of the Flyers shakeup, but it should not have come as such a surprise. The Flyers have been struggling ever since the callender changed to 2006. You may remember their 11 game road trip that ended 2005 and ushered in 2006. On that trip the Flyers were an impressive 8-2-1, which at the time brought their overall record to 29-10-6. After the trip the Flyers played .500 hockey for the remainder of the season, including many embarrassing home losses.
I spent many nights in that Flyers locker room after some of the most demoralizing losses. The questions far outnumbered the answers. Ken Hitchcock continued to say in his press conferences "We failed to match the effort of our opponent." I ask "Who's fault is that?" The playoffs came and it was more of the same, culminating with the effortless 7-1 defeat on Wachovia Center ice at the hands of the Buffalo Sabres.
Ken Hithcock has said that last season was his most gratifying as a coach considering the injuries that they suffered. Those injuries as it turned out, were a blessing to Flyer fans. They allowed the young players in the Flyers system to gain valuable NHL game experience. Hitchcock is notorious for not playing young players, but with all the injuries the Flyers sustained, he had no choice.
The Flyers are not a playoff team this year, and were not going to be a playoff team, with or without Clarke and Hitchcock. The reason, the rest of the league got better, while the Flyers did next to nothing to improve their aging immobile defense and lack of depth scoring. The biggest weakness the Flyers have is a lack of leadership. Once Primeau went down, the Flyers struggled with no real leader to step up in the room and pull this team together. Hatcher is a shell of his former self and is not a leader if he is not playing well. Forsberg is a leader by example, but not a leader of men.
John Stevens has his work cut out for him with this team, but he does have some very good young talent that will continue to mature under his tutiledge. Look for the Flyers to play a much more inspired brand of hockey under Stevens and by 2007 will be a tough opponent on every night. In the end the Wachovia Center will be dark at seasons end.
Join the Discussion:
»