Lindblom’s Release From Flyers in a Different Light

The Flyers bought out the contract of Oskar Lindblom on July 12th in an effort to facilitate the signing of Tony Deangelo and other free agents as the team attempts to fillout its roster. Lindblom represented the brightest point in general manager Chuck Fletcher’s tenure in Philly, when Lindblom returned to the lineup, in the playoffs, after battling, and defeating, Ewings sarcoma, a rare form of cancer. It was a great moment and a happy ending to a truly harrowing story.

But much like most things Fletcher touches, it has gone to pot and left the Flyers’ nation feeling sad and disappointed. Lindblom’s happy ending will continue, in San Jose as a Shark. I wish him great success and health. Flyers’ fans are left wondering what is going on with the leadership of this team, and many are calling for Fletcher’s termination.

I have been calling for Fletcher’s departure since the Wayne Simmonds trade. So I am a charter member of the Fire Chuck Fletcher/Dave Scott Club. When I ask that another point of view to be considered, this is not an organizational PR spin, but honest analysis.  It also speaks to whatever disagreements I have with Fletcher and Scott about how to run a club, we can still appreciate the humanity in each other, a lesson that we need more than ever these days.  I think Fletcher absolutely did the right thing in releasing Lindblom.

If we look at the best the Flyers were under the Fletcher regime, it was the Covid summer playoff, where the team seemed to be clicking. The team beat Montreal in the playoffs and fell to the Islanders in seven games, the same series where Lindblom returned. If you remember that season the Flyers were dogged by the advanced metrics crowd for winning despite losing the corsi battle. I had done a season long, game by game, study of corsi, and found a negative correlation between winning corsi and winning the game, which indicated this was a strategy being done on purpose.

The Flyers had developed a counterpunching style where the team seemed disinterested in applying offensive pressure early in games or with leading or tied. Rather than press the issue, the team would sit back and wait for a mistake and then pounce.  Players like Aube-Kubel and Frost who did try to force the issue offensively, but at inappropriate times, would find themselves in the press box.

While the syle was effective, it, at times in some circles, did give the impression that the team was lazy. Perhaps they were, but the team’s play and team defense over the last couple of seasons return has cemented that notion. This sentiment is not just within the fan base but in parts of the organizaion as well.  The feeling is the Flyers are a low effort team on most nights. Enter John Tortorella.