Flyers need a major shakeup after concerning slow start
It’s not been an ideal start for the Philadelphia Flyers after some ugly losses, is it time to consider changing something up before it’s too late?
The Philadelphia Flyers have fallen face first into the mud right of the gate this season, mustering just four wins in their first 11 games of the season place them at the very bottom of the league. With expectations so high for a group clearly very talented, is it just a matter of time before things pick back up or is it time to make some changes before it gets worse?
Philadelphia has had a couple of impressive performances so far to grab some wins, but the bad has heavily outweighed the good. The Flyers lost their season opener 8-2 to the San Jose Sharks, then couldn’t muster a goal in 1-0 loss to Vegas at home. The next week however, things seemed to be getting better results wise. Despite blowing a 5-2 lead, the Flyers squeaked past the Panthers in a shootout before they dropped a 6-3 decision on the road to Columbus, but all seemed to be fine with a 5-2 win over the red hot New Jersey Devils. Nothing especially terrible.
The next week however has Flyers fans sweating bullets about if this team has what it takes. A one sided drubbing from the Avalanche was the best part of the week, followed up by getting shutout in Boston, and topping it all off with a humiliating 6-1 beatdown on home ice at the hands of the Islanders.
The Flyers are struggling in just about every way imaginable early on this season, and a lot of the blame has been shouldered on head coach Dave Hakstol. Flyers fans have wanted his head after every loss over the last few years, and they’re just about ready for riots in the street if things don’t get better. Fans chanted for him to be fired during the loss to the Islanders, and now his job could be in must win territory with a California road trip coming up. If you want to get in on the action, the odds of Hakstol being the first coach fired currently sit at +750.
It’s not fair to place all the Flyers struggles on Hakstol. James Van Riemsdyk has missed the last several games which would’ve give their offense a needed boost, and their goaltending is still once again below average. Every goaltender is well beneath .900 in save percentage, and have often taken the Flyers out of the game before they can get going.
Regardless of who is at fault, something has to change here. Whether it’s firing Hakstol, trading for a goaltender, getting JVR back ,or just having a good team meeting and figuring it out internally, something needs to be done. Heads will roll if the Flyers miss the playoffs this year, and they cannot afford to lenient and wait for things to figure itself out.
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Obviously it’s only October, and teams who make panic changes after just a few games are destined to sink, but the Flyers need to be weary and make sure that these performances will be forgotten shortly. If we check back in during mid-November and they’re still struggling, Haktol is likely on the unemployment line.