John Tortorella needs to stop the Flyers’ line blender

John Tortorella may be jockeying for a post-hockey career in blender sales based on the way he\'s mixed up the lines so far this season. The Philadelphia Flyers head coach has constantly mixed and matched his forward group with little-to-no consistency from game to game, or even period to period at its worst.

Entering Wednesday night\'s game, 21 different forward combinations had played at least 21 minutes together, according to Alexander Appleyard. That\'s more than the Hurricanes, Rangers, and Capitals combined.

https://twitter.com/avappleyard/status/1849245423443018065

Through seven games, the Flyers have used all 14 of their forwards. Those forwards have been switched around into 20 different starting forward line combinations. They were at 18 different combos through six games, per Kevin Kurz , and added two new ones in Wednesday night\'s loss in D.C.

It doesn\'t take a hockey expert to know that consistently changing a team\'s lines is going to cause problems on the ice. Sure, a team may run a specific system and players can be interchangeable in theory, but that\'s not the case here. It actually looks like the Flyers are trying to implement a new breakout strategy using quick one-touch passes and chips, which has not been fruitful.

Even if the Flyers did have a system in place and ran as a well-oiled machine, Tortorella\'s line juggling would be hard to defend. They\'ve made a point of keeping the top power-play unit together to gain some chemistry, and it\'s paid off so far thanks to Matvei Michkov\'s early arrival, so why not do the same with the forward lines? Or at least one forward line.

Through Wednesday night\'s action, the Flyers\' most commonly used trio of forwards was Morgan Frost centering Owen Tippett and Michkov. That line makes sense. They were together in training camp and have the skillsets to fit together. However, they\'ve only played just over 20 minutes together at 5-on-5, per MoneyPuck.

Across the league, 122 other trios of forwards have played more than the Flyers\' most-used combination so far this season. One hundred and twenty-two. That\'s an average of about four per team.

One of the most important goals of this season should be trying to figure out who fits best with the young phenom winger who arrived two years earlier than expected. It looked like Frost was going to be that guy, and the up-and-down center\'s 41:45 time on ice with Michkov leads his linemates -- but the rookie has also played 47:16 at 5-on-5 away from Frost. Michkov has also seen plenty of time with Sean Couturier (30:39) and even Ryan Poehling (9:09) as his center.

The lack of any consistency within the Flyers\' forward lines is getting to be beyond infuriating. It\'s almost a guessing game as to who might be put together at practice, and even if those practice lines are going to carry over into the game. And then if the Flyers don\'t get off to a good start, or look completely overwhelmed through two periods, things get thrown into the blender again.

The Flyers are 1-5-1. Should they have another win or two? Possibly. But it\'s not worth getting upset about the team\'s record in another rebuilding year. What is worth getting upset about, however, is how the veteran head coach with very limiting rebuilding experience is handling his lineup, particularly his younger players.

On paper, the Flyers have at least 12 NHL-caliber forwards and should be able to put together three middle-six quality lines with a fourth line that can hold its own against other bottom trios around the league. Instead, Tortorella has failed to put together even one line that looks like it can hold its own. And while some of that is undoubtedly on the players actually playing the game on the ice, not knowing who you\'re going to be playing with and the tendencies of those linemates is going to limit the potential of any hockey player.

So here\'s a simple proposal: put four lines together for this weekend\'s back-to-back set against the Wild and Canadiens and let them grow together.

Last season, a top line of Tyson Foerster, Couturier, and Travis Konecny was one of the Flyers\' best. Then you can put that Tippett - Frost - Michkov line back together as the second line. A third line of Joel Farabee and Bobby Brink centered by any one of Poehling, Noah Cates, or Scott Laughton (although they seem to prefer him at wing now) is solid enough. That leaves Garnet Hathaway and the two players not centering the third line on the fourth line.

That\'d look something like this:

Foerster - Couturier - Konecny Tippett - Frost - Michkov Farabee - Poehling - Brink Laughton - Cates - Hathaway

If the Flyers are going to keep Luchanko up and play him, slide him in as the third-line center and figure out the fourth line. That\'s not the line that matters. What does matter is, once again, getting some sort of consistency in the top six, especially for Michkov. It can\'t be worse than what we\'ve already seen, right?

Mix and match the lines as you seem fit, but once you have them together the key is keeping them together. Much like reservations, anyone can take a reservation, but the key is in the holding .

I want to get off Mr. Tortorella’s Wild Line Blender

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