The Flyers got themselves a win on Saturday against the fellow cellar-dwelling Chicago Blackhawks, though getting that overtime W was messy. That puts Philly at 5-4-1 in their last 10 games, second to last in the Metropolitan Division, and tenth worst in the league by points percentage. The commonly held belief is that, if you’re out of a playoff spot at American Thanksgiving, your playoff hopes are essentially dead.
Or, at least, that would be the case if the Eastern Conference wasn’t such a mess. Despite their mediocre 9-10-2 record, the Flyers are technically within striking distance of a wildcard spot. Granted, the separation from the contenders and pretenders is becoming more stark by the day, as the cream rises to the top of the standings, and the rebuilding squads stumble into the basement. This is also the time of year where GMs feel they can comfortably asses the states of their teams, and judge what they need to add or subtract to get things back on track. In the last week, it turns out it was coaches that organizations felt needed to be changed, but player movement is just on the horizon–and the Flyers have a few guys that could wind up in trade talks right up to the trade deadline if they stay healthy and perform well. A sell off would indeed drag the team even further down the standings.
Speaking of trade deadlines, the Flyers host a team tonight in Vegas that seems to be involved in every trade discussion: last year, they stunned the hockey world with a buzzer-beater trade that brought in Tomas Hertl from the struggling San Jose Sharks. The Golden Knights are able to make big adds like that because, like it or not, they utilize LTIR to execute the necessary cap gymnastics–and they’re ahead of the curve in that regard this season. Mark Stone has missed seven games, Alex Pietrangelo has missed one (and may miss tonight), and Victor Olofsson has missed over a month–though he’s on a conditioning stint in the AHL right now and should return soon.
The Golden Knights came out firing to start the season, racking up goals like nobody’s business, but the outrageous shooting percentages have come down a tad. Still, they’re first in the Pacific Division, even without some of their big guns in the lineup, and are not a team to be taken lightly. The Flyers have an advantage, though: Vegas has been mediocre on the road. At home, the Golden Knights are 8-2-0; away, they’re 5-4-2. It’s possible they’ve turned a corner with back-to-back wins over the Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens, but those teams are arguably worse than the Flyers–Philadelphia may be able to squeak out an upset.
Storylines to Watch
Flyers’ lineup crunch
Cam York’s back from injury, and so is Emil Andrae; Jamie Drysdale’s practicing in a regular jersey, and Sam Ersson likely isn’t too far away from returning, either. The Flyers will need to clear two roster spots for Drysdale and Ersson to return, and Anthony Richard’s already been returned to the Phantoms–so who’s next? Helge Grans seems the most likely candidate, though he’s played well enough to get a longer look, and there’s no way Emil Andrae gets sent back with how well he’s played in his time with the team. The next option is Aleksei Kolosov, but would sending him back to the AHL mean he’d force his way back to Russia?
Something’s going to have to give–and soon–whether it’s trades, demotions, or more injuries. A few of these players are running out of time to make their case to stick in the NHL, so watch for them to leave a good impression in today’s game.
Tired: Farabrink. Wired: Michkost
John Tortorella has finally done it: the Farabee-Brink experiment is over. About time, too, as any line combination that included those two players was, on average, underwater from a fancy stats standpoint. Sure, maybe the drag was that the bulk of their meaningful minutes together were spent with Scott Laughton at center, but things didn’t improve with different Cs, either. Farabee’s been elevated to the top line with Couturier and Konecny, and will hopefully demonstrate what got people so excited about him during the first half of last season.
The other big lineup shakeup tonight: Michkov will be reunited with Frost. Torts has said that Frost is the most skilled center in the lineup, and he really is the only center that has the potential to consistently put up points in the NHL–he just hasn’t done it. Maybe putting the two back together will give Frost the jump he so desperately needs, and maybe Michkov will appreciate having a high-skill forward on his line with the capability of completing his high-IQ plays.
Jack Eichel’s scoring blitz
What a season it’s been for Eichel. In 21 games, he has seven goals and 32 points, which is tied for fourth in the NHL with Mikko Rantanen. If Eichel plays a full season (which, let’s be honest, is a big question for the oft-injured center), he’s on pace to smash his career best 82 points in 77 games with the Buffalo Sabres in 2018-19. More impressive is that Eichel’s done most of his scoring at even strength: all seven of his goals and 14 of his assists have come at 5-on-5. The Flyers are going to be busy trying to keep him quiet.
Is Vegas a team the Flyers can emulate?
This is a broader question than can be answered by a single game, but the present day Golden Knights bear a lot of similarities to the Flyers of old: willingness to spend whatever it takes to land star players, cap and contracts be damned; a hyper focus on winning; being involved with seemingly every transaction. Vegas has a Stanley Cup to show for its ruthlessly effective methods of doing business, but their cupboards are barren, and there’s a discussion to be had on sustainability. In the short term, though, banners fly forever. The Flyers aren’t in a position to be as aggressive as Vegas but, down the road, is this a blueprint they can follow? A “return to their roots,” so to speak?
Projected Lineups
Philadelphia Flyers
Joel Farabee – Sean Couturier – Travis Konecny
Owen Tippett – Morgan Frost – Matvei Michkov
Tyson Foerster – Noah Cates – Bobby Brink
Scott Laughton – Ryan Poehling – Garnet Hathaway
Cam York – Travis Sanheim
Emil Andrae – Rasmus Ristolainen
Nick Seeler – Helge Grans
Ivan Fedotov
(Aleksei Kolosov)
Vegas Golden Knights
Ivan Barbashev – Jack Eichel – Alexander Holtz
Tomas Hertl – Nicolas Roy – Keegan Kolesar
Brett Howden – William Karlsson – Pavel Dorofeyev
Tanner Pearson – Cole Schwindt – Cal Burke
Brayden McNabb – Shea Theodore
Noah Hanifin – Zach Whitecloud
Nicolas Hague – Kaden Korczak
Ilya Samsonov
(Adin Hill)
Gameday Tunes
New Father John Misty? New Father John Misty. Maybe choosing Flyers fandom has made fools of us all.
Stats provided by Natural Stat Trick
