Flyers Should Find Inspiration From Divisional Rival
I grew up a Flyers fan in South Jersey during the Eric Lindros era. I went to college in Upstate NY during the Flyers’ rivalry with the Buffalo Sabres and Dominik Hasek. I moved to NY after college and watched as the Flyers battled the Sidney Crosby led Penguins for divisional supremacy every year.
In the fall of 2012, I moved to Eastern NC and the only hockey in town was the Carolina Hurricanes. The Hurricanes were in near shambles just a few years after winning the Stanley Cup. Their attendance was lowsy. The crowds at their arena were quiet, unlike any crowd I’ve seen at the Wells Fargo Center.
They spent the first five seasons of the new Metropolitian Division as a bottom three team. Now, the Canes are an Eastern Conference juggernaut. How’d it happen and how can the Flyers copy that success?
It Starts With the Coach
In 2018-19, the Hurricanes promoted assistant coach Rod Brind’Amour. Brind’Amour was the Flyers’ second line center in the 90s, and my personal favorite Flyer. He was traded to the Hurricanes for Keith Primeau in January 2000. He would spend the next 10 years there, guiding the Canes to two Stanley Cup finals and capturing the title in 2006.
When he played, Brind’Amour was never the best player of the team, but he always played like it. Most of the time, his style of play didn’t show up on the stat sheet. He scored 452 goals with 732 assists. But he was a faceoff freak. He always seemed to win every draw he took. He would dump the puck into the corners and chase it down.
He could fight when he needed to or dish out a great hit. Everything you needed a player to do, he did. In recent times, Wayne Simmonds played with the same sort of intensity. Along the way, Brind’Amour would earn two Selke Trophies as the league’s best defensive forward.
As the coach of the Canes, Brind’Amour demands the same level of play from his players. He goes into the weight room with them and works out. He pushes the players to be their best. He has the experience and the trophies to back up what he is saying.
As a result, his players respect him and their attitude on the ice shows. Since Brind’Amour has taken over, the Hurricanes have made the playoffs four straight years, winning the Metro the last two seasons. He also took the Canes on a Cinderella run in 2018-19 to the Eastern Conference Finals before falling to the Bruins.
So, the first thing the Flyers need to do is get a coach who can bring out the best in their players. It’s probably best to find someone who played hard and tough and therefore can relate to the players. Could someone, like Rick Tocchet be the right fit? Could someone who left it all on the ice like Ian Laperrière be the right fit?
Either way, they need to get a coach who can inspire and led a team of vets and youngsters. Brind’Amour has done that effectively and has earned the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year.
Everyone wants to see a team make a big splash in free agency. The Canes not only have bucked that trend, but they have made moves that seemed to be head scratchers that paid off. They let Dougie Hamilton walk in free agency, which few people expected they would do. Hamilton went to the Devils and had a decent year, but wasn’t an all-star or Norris Trophy finalist like he was in Raleigh.
Likewise, the Hurricanes had a young rookie goaltender in Alex Nedeljkovic. He posted a .932 SV% with a GAA 1.90; both of which led the league. Nedeljkovic would finish third in the Calder Trophy voting. Still, the Canes traded him to Detroit for goalie Jonathan Bernier. They were unable to come to terms with Bernier, who became a free agent. Bernier would play in 10 games for the Devils and Nedeljkovic would have a decent year for a bad Detroit team.
Instead, the Canes signed former Maple Leaf goalie Frederik Andersen to a two-year deal. A goalie that was called washed has led the way for them. As a backup, they signed Antti Raanta who has posted great numbers for Carolina down the stretch.
They signed Tony DeAngelo when nobody else would take a chance of him because of some of the things he said/did while a Ranger. The DeAngelo signing has paid off well. They also got in a tit-for-tat with the Montreal Canadiens over Jesperi Kotkaniemi, who has turned in his best season since his rookie season.
For the Flyers, they may have to make some tough trades and let some players go. Trading away Claude Giroux may have been the first part of this. Could other Flyers be on the block? Could JVR or Travis Konecny be flipped for something this team needs? Would it be worth it?
Chuck Fletcher needs to take chances. Maybe the best moves are not the sexiest moves. Finding good, reliable role players (like Justin Braun) can pay off as well, if not more, than the big name free agent. Many times, it’s these quiet moves that turn teams into champions. But you have to be brave and weather the storms of fan opinions.
Gritty Vets
The heart and soul of the Hurricanes is captain Jordan Staal; whose brother Eric was the previous captain. Staal teamed up the last two seasons with former Flyer Justin Williams. Williams won a Stanley Cup with the Hurricanes, the Kings, and the Capitals. As the Canes went on their Eastern Conference Finals run in 2019, the leadership that Williams and Staal gave the younger players could not have been overstated.
I know JVR has been a hot topic the last few years as a trade candidate. However, he could be a great elder statesman for a lot of the younger players the Flyers are trying to build around. Sean Couturier is a very similar player, in style, to Staal. A good leader is what the Flyers need.
Maybe they could find someone as a free agent. Maybe they already have their team leader. However, finding someone who has a Stanley Cup ring might be a good stabilizing force for a team that is looking for direction.
When you look at the Hurricanes, they had a great youth movement that has panned out. Brind’Amour has helped to mold a strong group of young players. Either through trades, free agency, or drafts, Carolina has built a team of the following players that are all under 25: Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov, Martin Necas, Seth Jarvis, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, and Max Domi. Teuvo Teravainen, Vincent Trocheck, Nino Niederreiter, Jaccob Slavin, Brett Pesce, Brady Skjei are all under 30.
When you look at this team, they don’t have a lot of superstar power, outside of Aho and Svechnikov. However, this is a deep, deep team. Every line plays tough. Every line can score and play well two ways. Their defenders are not all-stars, but Slavin, Pesce, and Skjei are rock steady and reliable.
The Flyers have a very strong youth movement right now. Cam York, Joel Farabee, Owen Tippett, Morgan Frost, Noah Cates, Carter Hart, Travis Sanheim, Konecny, Ivan Provorov, and Oskar Lindblom are all under 25. This is a young group that has star potential that needs someone, a coach or veteran player, to guide them into something higher.
Special Teams are Special
An Achilles heel of the Flyers the last few years has been power plays. The Hurricanes finished 13th overall with a power play success rate of 21.98%. The Flyers were dead last at 12.55%; almost a full percentage point away from the next worst team. On the penalty kill, the Canes led the league with an 88.04% rate. The lowly Flyers were at 75.74%; good for 26th place. Sebastian Aho had 13 power play goals, to put him in a tie for 15th place. Nobody on the Flyers cracked the top 25 players.
For the last few years, special teams has been a problem for the Flyers. No answer has been found and in the the playoffs it has hurt them (Remember when we used to make the playoffs regularly?). Good teams make other teams pay for penalties. Good teams can also kill off opposing power plays. This is something the Flyers need to fix.
Final Thoughts
Making a big splash in free agency is always sexy, but many teams that do that don’t really do enough to get there. Sometimes you have to build from within. The Hurricanes are doing it now. The Tampa Bay Lightning and Boston Bruins did it over the last 10 years and were very successful doing it. More importantly they add complimentary pieces to add to what they already have. That’s why they have sustained success year after year.
The Hurricanes have a system that works well for them. They find the sort of players that will gel with what Brind’Amour is building. The players are very happy with what has been building here. Five years ago, this was not the case. Brind’Amour has turned this once floundering team around and did it really quickly. The team has an identity, rally around each other, has weathered penalties, and still performs at a top level .
For the Flyers, they have some key pieces in place. They need a coach who can create a sense of team first here. There is a strong core of which to build around. OR, maybe the young players they have are not as good as they think they are. If that is the case, sell high and get yourself a core of players that you know can play well together as unit.
Carolina hockey is back. The last time I saw a game in Raleigh was when the Flyers were there and Aho had his first career hat-trick. The Flyers had like eight shots through the middle of the third period and were blown out (of course!). This was in the days before COVID was a thing. But the fans there are rowdy and fun like I never saw them before.
As a Flyer fan, I can appreciate a good, loud crowd of avid fans. It’s all I ever knew growing up. But the fans in Raleigh are invested because the team is invested in itself and is performing at a high level. In interview after interview, you are seeing pending free agents like Trocheck and Domi talk about how much they really, really want to stay in Carolina.
That is desperately needed in Philly. It starts with a strong coach. That coach builds a team in their image. That team succeeds no matter what is thrown at them. The fans rally around the team. If the Flyers can follow in the footsteps of what has happened in Carolina, they can have a level of success that they haven’t seen in at least 10 years.