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BSH Weekly Power Rankings: the Flyers are good now

Welcome to the BSH Weekly Power Rankings—a definitive list of what is hot and what is definitely not in the BSH-verse this week.

TOP FIVE

1. Travis Konecny

Konecny had 6 points this week, including a hat trick against the Capitals on Wednesday. TK now has 46 points in 37 games and had scored in 10 in a row until he was shut out last night. He’s scoring at a higher pace this season than Sidney Crosby, Steven Stamkos, Alex Ovechkin, Auston Matthews, Artemi Panerin, and like 900 other guys, too.


2. Sam Ersson

The shiny new back-up only played in one game this week, but he didn’t allow a single goal in that game—a 4-0 win over Buffalo—giving him his first career shutout at the NHL level. Ersson made 28 saves, including a big one on a Peyton Krebs breakaway, and has now won 4 games in a row without a loss to his name. Finding someone to back up Carter Hart has been an issue so far in his young career, but now with Ersson and Felix Sandström it feels like the Flyers not only have a viable back-up, but they actually have options.


3. Three-day weekends

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service! Most people have off on Monday to observe the holiday, but if you’re lucky like me, you also had off two Fridays ago for Three Kings Day. Back-to-back three-day weekends are very hot right now, and its making me think that maybe every day should be a three-day weekend?


4. Sibling rivalry

Most of James van Riemsdyk’s week was played against younger brother, Trevor, who did not score any points from the Washington blue-line in either of their losses to the Flyers. Meanwhile, James had an assist on Wednesday and a goal on Saturday. Oldest siblings for the win!


5. Doug Pederson

The Super Bowl LII-winning coach brought his new bride back from the brink of elimination in last night’s AFC Wild Card game. The Jaguars were down 27-0 with help from Trevor Lawrence’s four picks, but came back in the second half to win the game 31-30. Pederson made a gutsy call on a 2-point conversion that paid off and sent the Chargers packing—just like he did in the Super Bowl when the Eagles bounced the New England Patriots. You know, Super Bowl LII, when the Eagles won 41-33. And they won the Super Bowl. The Eagles. Go Birds.


Honorable mentions to: Margo Price’s new album; Dmitri Tertyshny’s son; the Seattle Kraken; the new HBO Max original Velma; and my new Blackstone griddle.


BOTTOM FIVE

1. The Washington Capitals

Yes, the Flyers are actually hot right now—7 of their last 8—but still, they’re the Flyers. The Caps lost to them twice this week. That’s bad! Especially for a team that is supposed to be contending. Shame!


2. Flying shits

John Tortorella doesn’t give any of them. When he prohibited players from looking at iPads (presumably to stop them from playing “Five Nights at Freddy’s” while watching Wednesday in a separate window—that’s what my students do on theirs, anyway), he was asked in a press conference about negative reactions to this decision, Torts said he didn’t give a flying shit about his perception. So that’s a big downer for flying shits this week, although probably a big win for Torts’ mental health.


3. Home-and-homes

I’ve definitely said this before, but I will definitel say this again. This phrase makes no sense. The Flyers were in Philadelphia on Wednesday against Washington and then they were in Washington on Saturday. So they were home…and then they were away. The Flyers were home on the first night and the Capitals were home on the second night. What kind of phrase switches its point-of-view halfway through? This makes no sense to me and nobody seems to care. How is it not a home-and-away???


4. Ivan Provorov’s job security

Well, he’ll still have a job, but everybody’s whispering about trading Provy. It seemed to start on this week’s episode of 32 Thoughts and then branch out from there. Apparently teams are calling and asking about him, but it’s unclear what the price might be. Looking back, Fletcher hasn’t really won many of the trades he’s made as the Flyers GM, but he hasn’t moved a piece with as much trade value as Provorov before. It’s also unclear whether the return is going to be an attempt to lean into the Flyers’ non-existent rebuild or whether Fletcher is going to be making a hockey trade now that the Flyers are at .500 and just 5 points out of the playoffs.


5. The Flyers’ lottery odds

The Flyers have won a bunch of games over the last two weeks and are now 18-18-7 on the season. They’re still in the bottom ten in the NHL, but their potential draft slot has now dropped to 9. If you’re picking 9th you’re still not in the playoffs, guys!


Honorable mentions to: the Mütter Museum; Tom Wilson; when you get more drinks at the drive-thru than you have cup holders in the car; Rasmus Ristolainen; Joyce Carol Oates’ opinions on The Fabelmans; and, of course, Chuck Fletcher.

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