For a team that still carries the reputation of being a big, physical hockey club, the Flyers are actually a bit undersized up front. They are a team for which it is an absolute must for the players to constantly keep their feet moving, because when they don't, they weren't going to win many of the little battles within the game.

While the Flyers were certainly bigger and tougher teamwide than Montreal, I still felt heading into the Boston series that the Bruins also had a physical edge on Philly. That ended up being one of the storylines of the series. Apart from the goaltending disparity, the Bruins pretty much pounded the Flyers into submission. Boston was able to get up on the forecheck and wear down the Flyers D. With most of the Flyers looking like they were skating in sand, the forwards were also pretty easy to separate from the puck. The Flyers were on the receiving end of the decided majority of heavy hits in the series. By Game 3, there was very little energy left.

One of the things I most respect about veteran defenseman Sean O'Donnell is that he plays "smart tough." He knows when to fight. He knows when to hit and when to play positional hockey. SOD was brought in to be a solid third-pairing defenseman -- and he was -- and he also tried to lead by example in showing what team toughness should be all about. When O'Donnell fought, it was for the team or in immediate defense of his goalie.

For the same reasons, I think the absence of Ian Laperriere really hurt the team on the ice this year. Lappy knew how to set a tone physically and put himself in harm's way time and time again in the name of playing winning hockey. People talked about the club missing Arron Asham this season -- and Asham did a fine all-around job on the ice in his final season as a Flyer -- but Laperriere was also such an emotional leader that I think his loss this season hurt more.

Something else that hurt the Flyers in the physical department this year: Dan Carcillo was not nearly as effective this past season as he was in 2009-10. The hernia surgery he underwent last offseason contributed to a poor start to the season. Only sporadically did he make positive things happen for the club with his forechecking game.

It's Carcillo's own fault that he struggled to create power play opportunities for his teams. Referees have gotten wise to his embellishments, and Carcillo's seeming inability to keep his mouth shut around officials means that he gets absolutely nothing from them. For the most part, he did a better job at controlling the "Car Bomb" side of his on-ice personality -- but you still never knew when he'd go off at the worst possible time.

The second cross-checking penalty he took in Game 4 of the Boston series -- on a play where he was legitimately limping off the ice in a lot of pain, and yet still laid in a retaliatory cross-check on the way off the ice -- was pretty much the epitome of "stupid toughness." Likewise, having a confrontation with the officials after a period (to the point of drawing a two-game suspension to start next season) isn't exactly going to earn him more slack. Until I saw ex-Flyer Ben Eager's antics in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals, I thought Carcillo and Patrick Kaleta had corned the market in these playoffs of ultimately hurting their clubs by taking bad penalties or simply firing up the opposition more than their teammates.

It has become part of the modern reality of hockey that heavyweights pretty much only fight other heavyweights. It is the players the size of Carcillo -- or guys like Scott Hartnell -- who end up doing a lot of the "non-staged" fighting. Bouts between heavyweights can be very entertaining but they rarely make much difference in the context of the game. It's almost as if the two biggest enforcers feel an obligation to drop the gloves as soon as they are on the ice together at the same time.

When Jody Shelley was on the ice, I never doubted that he was giving less than 100 percent effort or that he truly cared about trying to make a positive difference for his team. I also think he was pretty good along the boards. But I don't think Shelley was especially effective in his role this year, because:

1) He's not a skilled or fast enough hockey player to be out on the ice against anyone but another team's fourth line. It's pretty hard to be a deterrent to the other team when you aren't on the ice to make a difference

2) When he tried to set a physical tone with hits, he twice ended up getting suspended. Shelley also took a penalty in a playoff game when his man (intentionally) turned his back to the boards and the Flyers' forward finished the hit anyway. I don't like the fact that much of the hitting has been taken out of the game, and I think it's ridiculous when players angle for boarding penalties. Even so, everyone knows that's how games are called nowadays, and it's up to the players to adjust.

3) As stated above, heavyweights pretty much only fight other heavyweights these days.

I am not someone who says that there is no use for a heavyweight during the regular season anymore. But they are of very limited use in the playoffs and, in the cap age, Shelley makes too much money for the number of minutes he plays.

*****

Coming tomorrow: A look at Scott Hartnell's season.

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