Why Not Blame Craig Berube?
A complete disaster. If there were three words that could sum up how the Philadelphia Flyers‘ season has gone thus far, those would be it. Game in and game out, we continue to ask ourselves, “what in the world has happened to this team?” Fans are outraged, and they want a solution.
To be frank, there really is no excuse for the poor play of the Flyers. Kimmo Timonen’s departure was a blow, but we all know that the Flyers’ defense struggled whether he was on the ice or not. Steve Mason has taken heat, and rightuflly so. I mean, he has had some extremely lousy performances. However, mistakes, especially in the defensive zone, have been the end game more than once this season for the Flyers. We all remember the sloppy play behind the net a couple of weeks ago against the Minnesota Wild that cost the Flyers a point with a matter of seconds left. It was deja vu against the San Jose Sharks last night. And as much as you want to believe that Scott Hartnell leaving has something to do with the lack of offense, you cannot use that as an excuse either. Half of the Flyers are on pace to score more goals than they did last season.
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There is no questioning the fact that Philadelphia has lost some major leadership in the departure of Timonen and Hartnell. Is it not the coaches job, though, to set the table for success? We all want to point our fingers at R.J. Umberger or Braydon Coburn. What about Craig Berube, though? Is he not to take some of the blame?
In a shocking move last season, the Flyers did away with Peter Laviolette after his 0-3 start. I am not one to jump the gun, but Berube’s 0-2-2 start this season was not much better. Let’s not leave out the fact that the orange and black are a despicable 1-8-1 in their last 10 games either.
When comparing some numbers between Laviolette and Berube through their first 103 games as head coach, the numbers spell nothing but doom for Berube, at least, one would logically think so.
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Now, I know what your are thinking. Different rosters and coaching styles mean different results, right? Well, you are right. However, perhaps it is the coaching style that is not working in this case.
Think about some of the moves and line changes Berube has made this season. Some of them make no sense whatsoever. We saw some last night. Zac Rinaldo to the third line and Vincent Lecavalier a healthy scratch? When your are in a scoring drought like the Flyers are, the object is to score goals. Plain and simple.
Lecavalier has been misused for the majority of the time he has been a Flyer. Yet, he is somewhat used as a scapegoat. You cannot put the blame on the player. He cannot misuse himself. Only the coach can do that. Lecavalier is just the first name on the list. There are a few other guys that have not been utilized properly.
This is more or less me just coming to the aid of the players. We want to point our fingers in their direction, when maybe it is the coach who should be taking some heat. I am not saying “can” Berube, but I am saying light a fire under his butt.