Philadelphia Flyers: Regaining chemistry will be key
After a hot stretch before the pause, regaining that chemistry will be key to the Flyers postseason success.
It has been said many times. The Flyers were arguably the best team in the NHL before the season was paused in March. We are now in June and games haven’t been played since then.
Most players haven’t even skated since the season was paused. Robert Hagg and Ivan Provorov are the only two who have been consistently skating. Claude Giroux has recently been able to take part in small workouts as well.
For most players, cardio work has been their go-to during this time. Teams will get a few weeks of training camp to get back into the swing of things. For the Flyers, it will be a key part of them regaining the chemistry they had before.
A sport based on team chemistry, these workouts will be essential for every team. And if teams are able to take part in individual workouts before training camp, that will likely be a big focus.
The league will be allowing up to six players to take part in small workouts once conditions allow them to do so. The Flyers are currently able to use their Voorhees facility for such workouts thanks to the New Jersey governor.
The Flyers do have the advantage of already having a secure spot in the playoffs. They won’t have to fight through the play-in round. The round-robin games before the first round will likely help them get back up to speed.
Especially when they’ll be playing against other top teams from the Eastern Conference. And the Flyers may also see some exhibition games before everything counts.
It seems like plenty of time to get up to speed, but everything isn’t like a normal offseason. There’s no regular training or skating. Every team will be on the same level, however.
Teams will almost certainly be full healthy by the time games are played. That will be the case for the Flyers. James van Riemsdyk, Philippe Myers and Nate Thompson will all be ready to go.
Samuel Morin will have to wait until next season. Oskar Lindblom will also be watching from the sidelines. Even if he was finished treatments, it would be too risky to expose him right now. His battle needs to be handled off the ice first.
Nolan Patrick will be an interesting case. He was making progress before the season paused. He hadn’t been cleared for contact yet, though. And with the intensity teams will likely come back with, it is probably best to leave him out as well.
Teams that are able to regain their chemistry and find their games the quickest will almost certainly have the most success. The Flyers will be hoping to find what had made them so successful.