On May 10, the Philadelphia Flyers ended their season with a 4-2 win over the New Jersey Devils. This was extremely important, especially after their season ending with a 25-23-8 record. Lots of things went wrong this season, and the offseason will definitely be an interesting one. Three main things I believe truly impacted the Flyer’s season were the schedule, the defense’s regression, and our goalie’s rough patches. All of this being said, I do believe that with a proper off-season, the 2021-2022 season can be a comeback for the team.
One of the main things that the entire NHL had to face was the season’s messed up schedule. After the COVID-19 shutdown, the hockey season was paused in March of 2020. This pushed the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs to August 2020, forcing the 2021 season be shortened to 56 games (instead of 82) and start in January instead of October. Since the season was already so condensed, there was no time for a pre-season camp and all players had to jump right in, all in the second week of January. Another way the condensed season affected the NHL was that each team played 3-4 games a week. This left no time for practice, and players could only try to improve their skills through struggles in real-game situations. I do believe that with a regular off-season of training camp, and practices during next season, every Flyer can improve and step up their game.
Although I hate to say it, another huge setback was the regression of the Flyers’ defensemen. All three lines were no help to the rest of the team. In no way should we blame this on one specific Flyer, but you have to point out a few. Although his playing wasn’t far from seasons past, none of us saw Ivan Provorov step up as much as we needed to. However, this is in no way his fault because he’s only 24 and was being asked to be a 1A defenseman. Even being a 1B defenseman is good for him, given his young age. Like I said before, I don’t want to point fingers at anyone in specific, but it would be wrong of me not to mention the Sanheim-Myers line while talking about the defense’s regression. I really don’t want to say it, but that line was a huge disappointment. Although they were always a 2nd or 3rd line, they left all teammates on the ice out to dry; especially the goalies, who faced rough patches on their own. Although neither of the players were a highly anticipated draft pick or prospect, the line exceeded all expectations of disappointment. The icing on the cake – we lost Matt Niskanen after 1 season and 68 games in the orange and black. To sum it up, Philly’s defense isn’t completely to blame for the disappointing season, but it obviously didn’t serve us well.
The final thing I would like to focus on, is the goalies’ rough patches. All 3 goalies that got to play on the ice this season truly went through some form of regression. Let’s start with Carter Hart. After being selected 48th overall in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, Hart played 18 games with the AHL, before being brought up to the Flyers in December 2018. He went on to having a record-breaking rookie season, and even made it to the 2nd round of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs, just weeks after his 22nd birthday. So, you would expect an impressive third season from the young and talented goaltender, right? Well this would be inaccurate. His season started off great, until he and the other Flyers played on Lake Tahoe. The team lost 7-2 to Boston, with Hart in net the entire 60 minutes. It only got worse from there, including a 2-game scratch in mid-March. Hart rarely played full games, and let about 3-6 goals in per night he played. Although this rough patch was intense, on April 15 we saw a light at the end of the tunnel for Hart. He allowed 1 goal on 45 shots in regulation, and was a shootout star; all against the state rival, the Pittsburgh Penguins. His confidence was growing, and according to him, his mental health was improving and allowing him to begin to return to his normal self. This all sounded great, until the Flyer’s Organization and the fans learned Hart had tweaked his knee during the game. He continued to play through it, and only made it worse. About a week later, Hart was cut from the rest of the season due to the injury. As far as the other goalies, Brian Elliot proved why he is a backup goalie, and overall just had too much ice time. Even Alex Lyon began to prove himself, and show some disappointment in the 6 games he played. Overall, the Philadelphia Flyers’ goalies fell behind this season, but are on the right track for a strong 2021-2022 season.
I believe the main thing all Flyers fans must realize is that all of these problems are small and most definitely fixable. We have a strong management staff who will work to address the issues of the team. After all, it’s just many small issues painting a very disappointing picture. The whole NHL will face a normal season in October. We can adjust our defensive lines and continue to see Carter Hart grow his confidence as he did at the end of the season. The Philadelphia Flyers are a great team with a few issues waiting to be ironed out. This offseason will be an interesting one, as there are obviously necessary changes looking to be made. Even if just half of our struggles are fixed, or at least improved, the team can have an extremely improved 2021-2022 season. Overall, there is still lots of hope for the Philadelphia Flyers Organization, as well as the fans.
Philly's Next Shift 