So far, the Flyers are playing a lot better than most people thought. Throughout much of the season, they have been in the hunt for a playoff position. The Eastern Conference is crowded with just three points separating the 14th team in the East (Florida) from the four teams tied for fourth (Ottawa, Washington, NY Islanders, and Boston). It’s going to be a fight to the finish this year, and the Flyers are hanging in there.
With that said, there is much to be thankful for this season. When looking at all of the things going right, there are four that Flyers fans can be most grateful for. So while you are hanging out with friends, family, and loved ones this weekend and stuffing your face with all sorts of wonderful foods, here are some things that we can all be grateful for in this present Flyers season.
Dan Vladar Doesn’t Suck
Coming into this season, there was a lot that we didn’t know about Dan Vladar. He’d been a career backup. He was supposed to come to Philly as a joint starter with Sam Ersson. They were to share duties in the net. However, Ersson has struggled in most of the games he’s appeared in and got hurt for a spell.
Instead, Vladar has been a nice surprise. He’s been steady and reliable in the net. Inadvertently, Daniel Briere, by this signing, may have found the goalie we’ve been looking for over the last few decades. That could change a lot about what this team is doing in terms of who will be in the net over the next few years. Either way, the fact that Vladar has been solid has been a relief to this team.
Tyson Foerster is Back
Tsyon Foerster missed a few games earlier this month. While he was gone, the Flyers went 2-2. In his first two games back, it looked as if he needed to get his bearings back. In the last four games, Foerster has scored four goals.
Foerster leads the team in goals right now with eight. He’s a sparkplug for this team. When he is rolling, the team gets rolling behind him. He is an integral part of this team. The funny thing is, he’s kind of forgotten. While all the attention seems to be focused on Matvei Michkov, Travis Konecny, and Trevor Zegras, he kind of slips by. Hey, as long as he keeps scoring, nobody is going to care.
Trevor Zegras is For Real
When Briere traded for Zegras, the biggest concern was whether he would fit in with this team. Judging by the stat sheet, it would seem that he does. He leads the Flyers with 21 points and 14 assists. His seven goals are only behind Foerster for the team lead. Ok, his faceoff percentage isn’t good (37.8%), and you really need that in a high-quality center.
However, he is excelling at setting up the play. Rick Tocchet has been juggling his lines a lot recently, and it doesn’t seem to matter who he is paired up with; he is finding a way to score a goal or set someone else up for one. He’s probably not going to be a 50-goal scorer in this league or be a high-talent like Eric Lindros or Claude Giroux. Still, he is going to be a valuable cog on this team, and the Flyers should lock him in before he becomes too expensive.
Rick Tocchet is Changing the Culture
Every coach coming into a new opportunity talks about establishing a new culture. It’s one of those standard boilerplate things that every coach has to say. They are going to imprint their own identity on the team and try to impart their knowledge and wisdom onto the roster.
Tocchet’s tenure so far has been successful. Last year, the Flyers were a sullen team, had given up, and were demoralized. This team looks fresh and excited to hit the ice every day. They are battling it out in every game. Even in games that they've lost, they are fighting and keeping it close. They are not playing a “ho-hum” brand of hockey that shows they don’t care and puts fans to sleep.