Recent struggles leave the Flyers with way more questions than answers

The Philadelphia Flyers entered this season as Stanley Cup contenders but now find themselves with far more questions than answers.

Last season, everything went right for the Philadelphia Flyers. Carter Hart and Brian Elliott formed one of the league’s best goaltending tandems. The offseason acquisitions of Justin Braun and Matt Niskanen paid off, as both players bounced back. Free agent Kevin Hayes lived up to his massive deal in his first season with the club. The Flyers didn’t even play their best hockey in the playoff bubble and they still nearly made the Eastern Conference Final.

This season, however, the Flyers can best be summarized by Murphy’s Law – anything that can go wrong will go wrong. It all started back in the offseason when Niskanen decided to retire. This took the Flyers by surprise and they weren’t able to get their ducks in order to make a run at Alex Pietrangelo. General Manager Chuck Fletcher was surprisingly conservative, electing to replace Niskanen, his most steady defenseman, with Erik Gustaffson, who is many things, but steady isn’t one of them.

Though the Flyers got off to a strong start with an 8-3-2 record in their first 13 games. However, there were some red flags. The Flyers were consistently getting outshot by a fairly wide margin. At the time, they had the fewest shots on goal per game and they were allowing the third most.

It’s been all downhill since then for the Flyers, who have hit “rock bottom” several times during the month of March. One would think rock bottom would have been a 9-0 loss. But it wasn’t! The very next game, the Flyers nearly blew a 3-0 lead to the New York Islanders, though they managed to pull out a win. But that win didn’t right the ship, as a 6-1 loss to the Islanders in their next game showed. Now fans are hoping their most recent 4-3 loss to the Devils, during which the Flyers looked listless for most of the game, is rock bottom.

Entering March 24, the Flyers are not in a playoff spot. They’re in fifth place in the MassMutual Eastern Division. On paper, they’re only two points shy of the Boston Bruins. But the Flyers have played three more games than the Bruins and the New York Rangers are quietly just two points behind the Flyers. Clearly, something went wrong in Philly. But who’s to blame?

Who’s to blame for the mess the Philadelphia Flyers are in?

It’s easy to blame the coach when things go wrong. I’m not a fan of Alain Vigneault. I’ve always thought he rode the coattails of Roberto Luongo, the Sedins, and Henrik Lundqvist. Last year, Vigneault pushed all the right buttons for the Flyers. This year, he’s pushing the wrong ones.

While Vigneault has not done himself any favors with his questionable lineup decisions, it’s clear he’s not the problem with the Flyers. Firing him isn’t going to fix what is ailing them. The problem with the Flyers ulitimately lies on the ice and in the front office.

Hart and Elliott (most notably the former) have both struggled immensely this season since early February. But keep in mind, Hart kept them in a lot of games early on. While Hart and Elliott have been disappointing, the players in front of them aren’t giving them much help.

The Flyers core consists of Claude Giroux, Jakub Voracek, and Sean Couturier. Those players have been together for nearly an entire decade. Over a decade in Giroux’s case. What have the Flyers been for the better part of the last decade? Consistently inconsistent. Sure, the Flyers should have added to their core. But they didn’t strike while the iron was hot. Now the iron is ice cold and it’s painfully clear the Flyers core isn’t good enough to win a Stanley Cup. Or even contend for one.

Despite the Flyers struggles, this year’s trade deadline likely won’t give them any opportunities to remedy their woes. Trading for Matias Ekholm could make sense, but then the Flyers would have to significantly alter their expansion draft strategy or risk giving up significant assets to get Ekholm only to lose him a few months later. There’s a good chance the Flyers would have to give up even more significant assets to keep the Seattle Kraken from picking him.

Chuck Fletcher deserves a share of the blame as well. He did nothing to replace Niskanen and did nothing to help improve the Flyers this offseason. While it’s fair to point out he was working with the flat salary cap and unforeseen circumstances thanks to COVID-19, it’s also fair to point out every other team was dealing with it as well. Fletcher hasn’t done anything to help the Flyers this season. Not even after their embarrassing 9-0 loss – the kind of loss that usually gets somebody fired.

The onus falls on Fletcher to make some significant changes. He’s got to either add to the Flyers current core or he has to get started on a rebuild that will most likely get him fired anyway. Everybody in the Flyers organization should be humiliated right now. Especially those who are playing and those who are sitting on their hands in the front office.