It’s safe to say the Flyers aren’t content with where they’re at 39 games into the 2018-2019 season. They sit dead last in the Metropolitan Division with a total of 35 points, and second to last in the Eastern Conference. Only the Ottawa Senators (34) have less points than the Flyers. It’s clearly time to make a change. We’ve been saying it for weeks now. The problem is that Chuck Fletcher doesn’t seem to want to budge. It would only be fair to the fanbase if he made at least one move.
To start things off, the Flyers power play has been terrible all year long. They currently rank dead last in the NHL with a success rate of only 12.4 %. As a matter of fact, going back to December 1st, the Flyers are a scary 3 for 43 on the Powerplay. The easiest way to try and fix this would be to fire the guy who runs the Power Play. That happens to be Assistant Coach Kris Knoblauch. So why not relieve him of his duties and move on? That’s something that Flyers fans are scratching there heads over.
When Chuck Fletcher was hired as the new GM of the Flyers, most people expected some type of move. That move just happened to be the firing of former Flyers Head Coach Dave Hakstol, something Flyers fans wanted to happen for a long long time. But now, people expect a player to be moved considering the team has not made much progress since Scott Gordon took over as Head Coach. No disrespect to Gordon, who has definitely been a positive influence, but the record hasn’t improved much.
Now take it as you like but here’s the problem. Flyers winger Wayne Simmonds has been nothing but a waste of space on this Flyers team this year and has not lived up to expectations. He looks slow, he’s missed open nets, and worst of all, he’s been terrible with the puck. A few weeks ago would have been the ideal time to deal Simmonds but that ship has sailed. His value has decreased even more and if the Flyers do still decide to deal him, they won’t get much in return. He has only seven points (4G,3A) in his last 20 games. The 6’2” left winger is a free agent after this season.
The Flyers are also struggling defensively. You look at what the Flyers have done this year defensively and I guarantee you what pops into most people’s mind is to call someone up. We’ve already seen close to rock bottom defensively so what damage could be done. It’s better to get a guy like Phil Myers or Mark Friedman some NHL ice time then have the ever so aging Andrew MacDonald get playing time. Why does he deserve to get ice time? So we can watch him make the same mistake over and over again. Make a call to Lehigh Valley and get these guys up here. It will only do them good.
On another note, the Flyers still don’t have that one player who can be defined as a goalscorer. This isn’t something that you should expect the Flyers to acquire this season, but in the offseason you might want to give it some thought. The Flyers are a streaky team when it comes to scoring. Just look back at the past two weeks. In a recent three game stretch where they faced the Blue Jackets, Rangers, and Lightning they combined to score 11 goals. In there last three games where they faced the Panthers, Hurricanes, and Predators they combined for only two goals. See what I mean by streaky?
If you don’t get the point yet, I’ll dumb it down. It all comes down to the fact that we’re getting to a point in the season where something needs to click. If a move isn’t made within the next week or two, then we should just look ahead to next season. Unless of course the Flyers pull off a miracle and get red hot with the players they have now, but that’s highly unlikely. At least we’d have the draft to look forward to.
So Flyers fans, keep your eyes peeled for a move to soon be made. We’ve seen enough and if the team continues to play like this, Chuck Fletcher will have seen enough also if he hasn’t already. It’s going to be a wild next few weeks that’s for sure.
As always, Lets Go Flyers!
Photo credit: Alex Mclntyre
