What the Philadelphia Flyers NEED Most!!!
Posted 2:36 PM ET | Comments 0
For as long as many of us can remember, the reputation of the Philadelphia Flyers is that of a big, physical team that won't be pushed around. They will intimidate and impose their will on the competition. From the top of the organization down, there has been almost a mandate on upholding this reputation. All you have to do is look at the management team/coaching staff to see where I am going with this. They consist of: GM (Paul Holmgren), Assistant GM (Ron Hextall), Head Coach (Craig Berube), Assistant Coach (Ian Laperriere). You could even include TV Analyst (Rick Tocchet) in this group. What do these men all have in common? They are all former players who were tough as nails. I am not suggesting these individuals are not qualified for their position, or that they don't understand todays game enough to be successful, in fact some of these individuals are great hockey minds. What I am suggesting is that we need to change the organizational way of thinking, coaching, or building a team. The current NHL is about SPEED!!! The faster teams win more than the bigger teams. Chicago won a Stanley Cup because they had the most team speed. And before you say, 'well what about the success of teams like Boston or LA' (who are some of the more physical teams), please realize these teams have very quick transition games. Their defense moves the puck quickly and they have players upfront who can skate exceptionally well. The Philadelphia Flyers need to stop building a roster with guys who can fight or who are big, physical players. We don't need the biggest blue-line in hockey to clear the crease (which is harder than ever with today's officiating). You need to tie up the stick of the player. We don't need our forwards to be stronger than the player they are checking. You need to be the fastest to the puck or fastest to an area on the ice. We don't need to win the 'hit counts' for the game. Scoring goals is more important than hitting. While some of these before mentioned areas could help in some ways, it is not the answer to winning games or Stanley Cups. Last time I checked, you can't hit what you can't catch. Some of the smallest guys in the league have a compete level that exceeds their opponent (i.e. winning board battles or being 1st to the puck). I remember from my days as a hockey player that it is about positioning, winning the races, and finding the soft areas in front of the crease. Even if you have a strong hockey IQ or have been coached well in these areas, it really doesn't matter if you are not fast enough to get to those areas on the ice. Take the defense for example. Our defensemen can't turn and pickup the puck on a dump-in quickly enough before the forecheck is on them in the corners or the boards. Quick defenses get the puck in the corner and move it out before the forecheck can get there. The Flyers spend way too much time defending their zone because of this reason. Our forwards can't get up the ice fast enough to push back the other teams defensemen, put pressure on their opponents to backcheck, and to create better spacing. Remember if you have a faster transition game, you will have less quality 'chances against' and more quality 'chances for'. Our personnel is a large part of our lack of team speed. We don't need to beat-up the competition, just outscore them. If you don't have the horses to run the race, all the heart in the world or size won't be enough to get it done.