We’re now ten games into the season, and the Philadelphia Flyers possess one of the worst special teams units in all of hockey.
There was a bit of optimism heading into the season that the Philadelphia Flyers would have a better special teams unit than they did last year. The penalty-kill couldn’t have possibly gotten worse after finishing third to last in the league, and the addition of James van Riemsdyk was supposed to add more talent and depth to the power-play unit.
Fast-forward to this season and oh boy, things have definitely gotten worse.
The Flyers currently have the second worst penalty-killing percentage (PK%) in the league with 67.57%. That’s a decrease of over six percent compared to last year’s 75.78% PK%, which is completely unacceptable. They also have the highest total power-play Goals-Against (PPGA) in the NHL with 12 and rank third in High-Danger Chances Against (HDCA) with 29.
One could argue that player personnel is to blame for the Flyers falters on the penalty-kill. It seems that they play more of a passive approach while killing penalties, but that’s more on coaches tactics than the players themselves. I’d also like to bring up the play of former Flyers forward Pierre Eduard-Bellemare.
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Bellemare was a staple on the Flyers penalty-killing unit during the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons, where the team finished 20th and 22nd in PK%. After being taken by the Vegas Golden Knights during the expansion draft in the 2017 offseason, Bellemare was apart of the Golden Knights’ 10th best penalty-killing unit last season. He had a big role, too, leading Vegas forwards in short-handed time on ice in their final game of the Stanley Cup Finals.
If Bellemare was really as bad of a defender as some Flyers fans made him out to be, why would Vegas’ coach ice him the most on the penalty-kill during an elimination game of the Stanley Cup Finals? It’s because he isn’t, and the real problem lies in penalty-kill coach Ian Lapperriere.
In the past two seasons the Flyers penalty killing unit has finished fifth in total PPGA, ninth in HDGA, and tenth in Scoring Chances Goals-Against according to NaturalStatTrick.com. While this could be looked at as more of a goaltending issue, the goalie can’t be responsible for every single goal given up. At some point, Laperriere’s coaching methods and tactics have to be questioned.
As for the power-play, there was some promise in the unit as they improved under Kris Knoblauch in his first season coaching them. Their power-play percentage rose from 19.49% to 20.69% when Knoblauch took over in June of 2017. They’ve kept a good majority of their power-play personnel in-tact and added JvR this past offseason. So, what’s going on with this year’s unit?
The Flyers currently have the 23rd worst power-play percentage in the league with 16.22% and are tied 18th in power-play Goals-For with six. The weird thing is, they’re still creating a lot of chances. They’re tied with Colorado for the lead in High-Danger Chances For with 28, and also lead the league in regular Scoring Chances For with 63, according to NaturalStatTrick.com. The team’s shooting percentage on the power-play is at a low 9.09%, which is seventh-worst among NHL teams. They’ve been without JvR due to injury, too, and his lack of presence does hurt the Flyers depth wise.
In my opinion, it seems the Flyers power-play unit is just extremely unlucky to begin this season. Only one team shot below nine percent on the power-play last year, with that being the Edmonton Oilers. Philadelphia shot 12.83% that season, so it’s safe to assume that the man advantage will improve in time.
The Flyers will have to make some changes to their special teams if they don’t turn it around soon. The season is only going to get harder as teams start to find their groove. They definitely have the talent to play better but will have to figure things quick, because anything outside of a playoff berth will be considered a huge disappointment.