The Philadelphia Flyers are once again going through a downward spiral, but it is nothing we have not become accustomed to over the last two seasons. At the halfway point of the season, it is time to see exactly what they have, what they need and the overall issues that have plagued this team.
This was it for Alain Vigneault. This was his last chance to potentially win a cup as a head coach. You may be asking why I say that? Well, AV coached his way out of Vancouver and New York making the same mistakes over and over again. Playing older players who jumped the shark years prior over young talent who can make an impact. AV was also a coach who did not like to have practices nor make adjustments in game with the big kicker of his teams usually being outplayed and out hustled due to lack of preparation and overall lack of accountability on his own doing.
While he has had a good career as a coach, his own hubris was always his downfall. While there were players who did deserve blame from time to time, there were players who were never held accountable. You can look back to his years as the head coach of the Rangers and see the same failings that got him run out of the Big Apple happened here in the City of Brotherly Love.
While AV clearly was not the answer after his first season, as his trends have shown, the answer for this team is out there. Whether it’s a Rick Tocchet or a Claude Julien, we have seen that Mike Yeo is not the answer and Chuck Fletcher not filling out his staff tells you that he knows this as well. At this point in the season, being 13-22-8, this team needs to just accept where they are sitting and just let the tank happen.
The trade deadline is approaching fast as well and the Flyers have a few options to look at in order to build and grab some pieces for next season. While Chuck Fletcher does not entirely know what he has in personal, he has an idea of what he is looking to build towards. With rumors flying around Claude Giroux and now Martin Jones, there is a lot that can happen.
If Giroux ends up waiving his no movement clause, you could get a good bounty for a player who could be a huge piece for a team looking to make that run at the cup and help take them over the top to be at that contender status. You need to get some pieces who can help make an impact next year and maybe some big draft picks that could be bundled for a player at the draft. Regardless, I still see Claude Giroux retiring as a Flyer and becoming cemented in Philadelphia history as one of the greats.
Martin Jones has also been having his name thrown into the hat for teams who need a goalie. While his stats have not been great, his play has been better. While he got shelled in his last start versus the Buffalo Sabres, a lot of those goals were not his fault entirely. Jones has a record of 6-7-2 while only being pulled once this season. With a SV% of .901 and a GAA of 3.56, Jones has only had 2 really bad starts and six quality stats. There are teams who are looking to make a push who could use his services and the Flyers could use some extra draft picks as well.
James van Riemsdyk needs to be moved as well. Even if the Flyers need to eat some salary, they need to get it done. Teams could use a powerplay specialist like JVR who can set up his office and score goals on a successful powerplay. The Flyers need to get speed. JVR does not skate hard every single shift, but when you actually see him move his legs, he is effective, but as the season has gone on, his legs stopped moving and all together the forecheck and aggressiveness that he showed early on is all but gone.
While those should be your big three players to try to move and all for different reasons, the biggest player for me is JVR just to try to shed cap and a pylon. This is going to be a decent free agent class ahead of this offseason as well and having some money to throw at them will be important.
Now while those are players who should be moved or at least looked at to move for some packages or players, it is time to figure out what exactly this team has with the injuries and the different prospects that we have dealt with this season. First we can look at players entering free agency after this season.