In a conference room on the third floor of the Philadelphia Flyers’ luxury team hotel in Tampa on March 8, away from the hubbub of a produce convention that had seemingly taken over that lodging and others in the general vicinity, general manager Daniel Briere sat in front of a table to answer questions from the local media about an hour after the NHL trade deadline had passed.
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Up until that day, it was tough to gauge just how much value those in charge of the club were putting on making the playoffs. Briere, though, plainly indicated over the next 18 minutes that, yes, it was a priority. He uttered the word “playoff” or “playoffs” five times over that span, while appearing confident that the team — 33-23-8 at the time — would qualify.
Regarding Erik Johnson, who was acquired for a fourth-round pick, Briere noted that the defenseman “played a lot of playoff games” as part of the reason why he was targeted. Denis Gurianov, who has played just four games with the Flyers, was noted for having “a pretty interesting playoff run” in 2020. As for Scott Laughton, who was involved in trade rumors, Briere said: “It would have been scary to let a guy like that go especially in the situation that we’re in, trying to make the playoffs.”
You get the point.
Of course, Briere was also quick to remind that the organization still had its eye primarily on the future. If it was only about this season, they would have hung onto Sean Walker, who was arguably their most consistent defenseman up until when he was dealt the day before the deadline.
The main message, though, was that Briere had seen enough from the Flyers to believe that they were talented and driven enough to make it in. It was a message to the fans, to be sure, but probably a message to the players, too, that the expectations for the season had been raised.
And while there have been many encouraging developments since the season opener, it could end on a decidedly sour note. Yes, the future seems brighter than it probably was in September. Young players like Tyson Foerster, Cam York and Owen Tippett all look like they’re going to be cornerstone pieces for a long time. There are some real building blocks here, with more prospects and draft choices to come.
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But not getting into the playoffs, especially considering that a spot has been there for the taking with other teams flailing around them, would still be a pretty significant failure for everyone involved, and a missed opportunity to put the team back on the local sports radar.
It was back in September that team president Keith Jones, when asked about fan apathy around the Flyers, spoke about the 2022 Phillies and how they were playing in front of a half-empty stadium before their late-season surge and surprise trip to the World Series made them a hot ticket again.
The point was that a Flyers playoff appearance — and with it, the possibility that they could manage at least a first-round upset, and get the city behind them — might have that kind of positive effect at Wells Fargo Center crowds and throughout the Philadelphia area, too.
“Playoff hockey matters,” Jones said on Sep. 26. “Having a team that gets there consistently matters. And, building it in a way that’s going to be sustainable.”
Doing that in a sustainable fashion, though, means having players that produce when the games are most important. And lately, that’s been an issue.
Travis Konecny, still the Flyers’ leading scorer, has been just OK since the deadline. In 13 games heading into Saturday’s game in Columbus, he has four goals and seven assists for 11 points, but he was also benched for a portion of the third period of Monday’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Islanders, and made a number of misplays late in their 4-2 loss in Buffalo on Friday.
Morgan Frost has a respectable 10 points in 13 games, but it was his error in overtime on Monday that led to a Brock Nelson goal and cost the Flyers a chance to grab the extra point against a team that they are in direct competition with for third place in the division.
Joel Farabee, one of the more consistent Flyers through the first half, has been dropped to the fourth line and has just three goals and one assist since the break. His slump has been particularly baffling.
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Noah Cates, while he’s been a bit better lately, still has just two points (both goals) in his last 13 games, while Bobby Brink has one goal and one assist in 10 games. Sean Couturier, now out with a sprained shoulder, has just one point, an assist, in his last 15 games. Cam Atkinson has now gone 19 straight games without a point.
The Flyers have been outscored 12-4 at five-on-five with defenseman Egor Zamula on the ice, reflective of his 40.4 percent expected goals share, over the last 11 games. He was healthy scratched on Friday.
The biggest issue, though, is they aren’t getting nearly enough saves. In fact, the Flyers have had far and away the worst goaltending in the league over the last two weeks through Friday night. Their team save percentage at five-on-five of .849 from March 24 through April 5 was more than 30 points lower than the 31st-ranked team, the New York Rangers (.882).
To be sure, Samuel Ersson could be better. His post-break numbers headed into Saturday — an .848 save percentage and 4.09 goals-against average — are downright awful.
But Ersson was never supposed to be playing this much. Neither Cal Petersen nor Felix Sandstrom showed they were capable of giving Ersson regular rest, forcing a shaky Ivan Fedotov into the net on Friday night.
It seems likely that the Flyers will go into next season with an Ersson-Fedotov tandem, as long as Fedotov’s extension doesn’t get derailed. Ersson still has the trust of John Tortorella, who even admitted earlier this week that Ersson has “probably played too much.”
But whether that’s going to be a good enough goaltending duo for the future, or even to make another playoff push next season, is far from settled. Ersson has shown that he can be an excellent 1B, but might not be able to handle a No. 1’s workload.
Tortorella and Briere have both spoken about how valuable this stretch is in terms of evaluation. There’s no better time to see what each player is all about when the pressure gets ramped up, as it has been for the last little while.
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Tortorella took some responsibility for their struggles lately, when, as part of his lengthy media session on Wednesday, said: “I haven’t done a good enough job to make them understand we have to be different now. We have to be at a different level. That’s my frustration with me, and that’s my frustration with the team.”
But Tortorella will still be behind the bench next season, and will surely still have a voice when it comes to whatever transactions do or don’t happen. If some of the players now struggling under pressure don’t get it going over the final week and a half, it might be a more eventful offseason for the front office than they all anticipated just a few short weeks ago.
(Photo: Tim Nwachukwu / Getty Images)
