The Philadelphia Flyers put together one of the most underwhelming, lackluster losses of the season against the Ottawa Senators. Frankly, there aren't enough adjectives to describe what a flat-footed effort the 2-1 overtime decision was, so we won't dwell on the game itself for too long.
What does raise cause for concern, however, is head coach Rick Tocchet's lineup decisions. Not just lines alone, but who's scratched and who plays.
We'll start with the lines. Lane Pederson played five games with the Flyers as a fourth-line center before being sent back down to Lehigh Valley. He didn't register a point, was even in plus-minus, and he only cracked 10 minutes of ice time in one game. Sending him back to the Phantoms forced Tocchet to play Zegras at center (at long last), which was a positive--though it has pushed Sean Couturier down to the fourth line.
The fourth line has been a pain point for the Flyers all season, with Nic Deslauriers not being an every-night sort of player, Rodrigo Abols trying to establish himself as an NHL regular before being injured, and Garnet Hathaway playing like a shadow of his former self. Aside from calling up someone from the AHL, Tocchet doesn't have many options and can be forgiven for continuing to play them--though dressing Deslauriers at all seems like a waste of a roster spot.
The third line, however? Noah Cates and Bobby Brink are solid NHL players, but pairing them with Matvei Michkov is nonsense. Brink and Cates form an extremely effective checking line — they're good NHL players, after all — but they lack the finishing and playmaking to capitalize on Michkov's skill. Worse, checking is one thing Michkov isn't particularly good at, and he's being wasted in that role. That doesn't even touch on Michkov's ice time (not getting overtime shifts is especially egregious) and the drama from earlier this week.
Michkov being relegated to the third line means Nikita Grebenkin has been getting minutes on the "top" line with Christian Dvorak and Travis Konecny. Grebenkin looks like he might be an effective NHL player: big, physical, with some skill — he'd be a better fit with Brink and Cates than Dvorak and Konecny, though. Swap the two Russians in the lineup, and the top nine suddenly looks a lot better.
Now, onto the defense. Emil Andrae has been a healthy scratch for five games, with Noah Juulsen playing over him. In those five games, Juulsen has averaged 13:47, has one point, and is a minus-2, and he constantly looks overmatched even in third-pair minutes. Andrae is a 23-year-old in the last year of his entry-level contract. Juulsen is an eight-year NHL veteran who is, at best, a seventh defenseman. For a team in the midst of a rebuild, playing Juulsen over Andrae is malpractice, and using the penalty kill units as an excuse doesn't cut it.
Keeping Juulsen in the lineup also messes with the rest of the pairs to some degree. Cam York and Jamie Drysdale are a fine pair, but moving Travis Sanheim back to the left to put Rasmus Ristolainen on the top pair is questionable at best. Ristolainen has struggled this season since returning from offseason surgery, and dressing Andrae would push Ristolainen into a more appropriate role. Regardless, Andrae needs to play, full stop.
It's the Olympic break now, so perhaps some time away will provide an opportunity for a reset, coaches and players alike. Hopefully, when the Flyers play again on February 25, we'll see a new-look top-nine and Andrae back on the ice.