Philadelphia Flyers: Potential Scott Laughton Trade Partially Telegraphed Through Two New Letters?

 

Naming Sean Couturier the Philadelphia Flyers' twentieth captain in team history makes sense. The longtime center has proven healthy following his extended rehabilitation from injury.

So, the organization believes he will be on the ice regularly. That factor played into him being named captain.

Travis Konecny was named assistant captain, joining Scott Laughton, who wore the team's lone designated leadership letter. That elevation also makes sense, as the Flyers forward and recent All-Star has come into his own. But strategy may also be part of the timing of Couturier and Konecny's elevations. 

Laughton's current contract runs through the 2025-26 season. The March 8 National Hockey League trade deadline can be counted in days, with this assistant captain widely believed to be a hot topic among various NHL brass.  

Ryan Poehling recently signed a deal that extends him through the 2025-26 season. Securing the first-year Flyer allows the organization to deal Laughton for a likely good return without creating an extra hole on next season's roster.

Add to the Poehling news, it can only be assumed that President Keith Jones, General Manager Danny Briere, and Head Coach John Tortorella did not want to elevate one player (or two) to the official leadership group due to a trade. While they could have gone without any assigned letters, the leadership announcements, only weeks before March 8, could imply that the organization anticipates trading Laughton. 

Jones, Briere, and Tortorella have routinely shared the same message. The rebuild is on, and the plan will remain unchanged, even if the team continues to play toward a playoff berth. Using that logic, trading Laughton (who turns 30 on May 30) for a solid return would further the rebuild. 

Like Couturier and Konecny, Laughton has only ever played for the Flyers, doing so since he was 18 in the 2012-13 season. Couturier and Konecny first played when they were 19.

Because the team now has a new captain and assistant captain, dealing Laughton would only reduce one A, rather than leave the Flyers with no lettered sweaters. 

Philadelphia Flyers' Chuck Fletcher Speaks As John Tortorella Leads

The Philadelphia Flyers have opened the 2022-23 season with a new outlook. The off-season hiring of head coach John Tortorella was significant, in that it signaled that the organization intends to enforce on-ice accountability. 

Torts, as he has long been known, is not expected to work a miracle on ice with what was an injury-riddled roster. Instead, the veteran coach, whose Tampa Bay Lightning team beat a stacked Flyers team in 2003-04 in a memorable seven-game Eastern Conference Semi-Finals series and then won what remains his first and only Stanley Cup, enters the fray as an all-eyes evaluator. 

This two-time Jack Adams' winner (2003-04, and 2016-17 in Columbus) is an instant fan favorite, a Philly fit, and may be the right guy for this rebuilding team. But he may need the full four years of his contract to lead this franchise to being able to make a deep playoff run toward its ever elusive (1973-74, 1974-75) third Cup.

The following transcript was provided courtesy of the Philadelphia Flyers Media Relations Department:

Philadelphia Flyers President of Hockey Operations & General Manager Chuck Fletcher

Last year we dealt with a lot of adversity on and off the ice. Clearly, we didn’t meet the challenges that we faced, there’s no ducking that. It was an extremely disappointing season, one that we lived with all summer, and certainly one that drove us to make the changes that we did both on and off the ice. 

 

But this year is a clean slate for everybody, John has made that very clear to the players. We know there’s a lot of skeptics, a lot of people that don’t believe we are a good hockey team. I know our players are eager to prove them wrong, we all are.

 

There’s a lot of hard work ahead of us, but we’re excited about camp. In particular, I think this year this is probably the best opportunity since I’ve been here for young players to step up and either earn a bigger role on the National Hockey League team or even to make the team. 

 

We have a big wave of young talent coming into our system this year. Some will play in Lehigh, some will play here, but it’s an exciting opportunity for a lot of young players. Depending on how camp goes, we could have up to 10 players on our roster 25 years old and younger. So clearly, particularly up front, there’s a lot of opportunity for some young players to step up and show what they can do and see if they're a part of the solution going forward. 

 

In terms of injuries, I’ll start off with Sean Couturier. He has not been cleared to play as you all know. This morning he will see a specialist to get a second opinion. Based on that appointment, we will try to come up with a plan of attack, and as we have more information, we will let you know. 

 

Ryan Ellis is out indefinitely. There is no timetable on his return to play. I’ll just say that my assumption is that he will not play this season if he does it will be a bonus. That is how we have prepared this offseason by making the additions we did on the blue line.   

 

Patrick Brown had offseason back surgery, he is continuing to rehab. The timeline is a little murky, I would call it week to week. He is skating but he has not been cleared for contact. 

 

Joel Farabee has been cleared to participate, but non-contact participation. I think we saw him this morning in the skating test, he is making good progress. In terms of when he will be cleared for contact, that will probably depend a little bit on how he feels in the skating portion and the practice portion of camp. I think we’re still looking week to week with Joel. 

 

Bobby Brink is in the building rehabbing, rehabbing is going well, he is nine weeks post-op. Return to play I believe will still be in that December-January timeframe. The next step for him is to progress to on-ice rehab which we hope to have him do in the next week or two. 

 

Ryan Fitzgerald has a lower body injury he suffered while skating in Boston a couple of weeks ago. He is one to two weeks away. 

 

With that, I will take your questions. 

 

How surprised are you with Ryan Ellis? Because last year it seemed like he was improving and there was a decent chance he would play this year… 

There’s been ebbs and flows, I think he made progress earlier in the summer. I would say the last two months there hasn't been any visible signs of progress. It’s been a frustrating injury, nobody is more frustrated than Ryan, nobody wants to play more than Ryan, but we’re dealing with reality now. He’s not skating, so clearly, he is a long way from playing. 

 

So, he’ll go on long term? 

Potentially, that’s certainly an option for us. 

 

When did Joel Farabee return to being able to skate? 

Joel’s been skating with the group for over a month now, he just has not had some contact yet. He had a little inadvertent contact in a couple scrimmages when the players were conducting their own practices, but he feels great. I think we want to be careful here, let the injury heal. 

 

We also want to make sure Joel can do the off-ice training he needs to get stronger so he cannot just survive but play well this season. We’re going to do what’s in the best interest of Joel, but I think it’s very encouraging. You saw he skated as hard as everybody, so the good thing is he’s been handling the puck skating. His timing will be great, so now it’s just a question of getting him back into contact and making sure he’s strong enough. 

 

Regarding Ryan, when things broke up last season, you said a surgical option wasn’t something that was going to be considered. Has that changed, is there going to be a surgical option to fix whatever his issue is? 

I know we have been vague with describing the injury. I think we call it multifaceted, which it is, there's a psoas component, there’s a hip component, there’s an abductor component, so I’m not sure if you go in and repair one part that it’s going to fix everything. I’ve never heard of an injury like this, it’s very complicated. Torn psoas is a very serious injury for a hockey player, a very rare injury, so we’re doing the best we can, but we will leave it up to the medical experts. 

 

Regarding Sean Couturier, can you speak to the details of the location of the injury and whether this is the same injury happening again? 

I know it’s in the same area as the last injury. He has been following the medical guidance of the doctors and our medical staff. Over the course of the summer he was improving, but from time to time he had some nerve irritation in his glutes He was told it was a normal part of the process, continued to train, and at some point, over the last week things deteriorated. It got to the point that he was not sleeping as well and was experiencing some pain. What triggered that I don’t know, there’s a whole host of components that impact your back. We’ll try to get to the bottom of it and we’ll do what’s best for Sean. 

 

He’s going for a second opinion, if it comes back in a negative way is this potentially a season ending issue? Is this something that could threaten his career? 

I think we’re a long way from knowing that. He feels much better than he did last year, he can walk around, he can sit comfortably,  he feels he can even go out and skate right now. To suggest its career ending or season ending is a long way away. We’ll leave it up to the specialists, see what his opinion is, and then we’ll get together and get a plan.        

 

Is Ellis’s injury threatening his career?     

Certainly, that’s a possibility.

 

How is Ellis holding up mentally? 

It is extremely frustrating for him; I think he thought he would be a Predator forever. He got over the initial shock of being traded, he came here, he dove right and was a great teammate, he took Ivan Provorov under his wing - they were inseparable trying to build that chemistry. He was so excited to start the season, when he played, he played well. Nobody wants to play more than Ryan Ellis. I know people in this market haven’t had a great chance to see him, but he is a high-end competitor, a very good player. It has been very difficult on Ryan as a human trying to get healthy and trying to be a part of what we are building here. But we’ll hope for the best, and things can turn quickly as we have seen for the good and for the bad, but we’ll keep working. 

 

Have you entered contract negotiations with Travis Sanheim?  

We have, we’ve had conversations with his agent. Our goal is to resign Travis, he’s a big part of our team. He is probably the one and only player that played to their capabilities last year. I think he continues to improve. We continue to work to find a resolution, but if we don’t, I don’t think it will be a distraction. Everything has been professional and amicable, and we will continue to work away. 

 

What was the back injury Couturier was dealing with and what kind of surgery did he have? 

He did have back surgery, that’s the best I can characterize. 

 

Do you see any moves coming down the middle or do you feel someone within can step-up? 

This is a really important training camp. We brought John in for a reason, not just to guide a change in culture and change standards and crack the whip but John has a proven track record of helping players reach their potential, of helping young players get better. I think we are excited to let John and his staff get to work and to see where some of these young players are, let's see where the health of our players is, and from there we can make decisions. It's a critical camp for a lot of players and again there is an unprecedented opportunity for some young players to take on bigger roles now that Giroux isn't here. Not every player is going to make our club, but all these kids are important parts of our future.

Do you think someone can change to center because… (inaudible)?

Scott Laughton can play center; he can play wing. Lycksell played some center before in his past, but I think we’re going to start him on the wing here that’s the position he’s played most at. We do have some depth at center still and again we’ll see what the situation is with respect to Couturier and Brown and see how some of these players do and we’ll make decisions from there.

 

Have you been able to determine whether Hart is a subject of the Hockey Canada investigation and is there a concern regarding that on your part? 

This is a really serious matter; I think we all understand that. The NHL is conducting an investigation. They've been pretty adamant that at this point we should refrain from making comments - we should direct all questions to them. The question is a serious matter but at this point I’ll refrain from speaking until the NHL releases their investigation. 

 

Have you been told how long the investigation is going? 

I haven’t. 

 

Is Hart cooperating with the investigation? 

From what I’ve been told every player has cooperated. 

 

(Inaudible) Can you talk about that change and also is Harry back with the team or not, and if not why?

We feel that in order to be successful on the ice we have to have the right support crew off the ice, and we spent the bulk of summer really analyzing our staff but also conducting exhaustive job searches for people to come in whether is John Tortorella and his coaching staff or Ian McEwen and the athlete performance and wellness staff. We’re very excited with where we landed with not only John but Ian, and Ian’s only been on the ground a couple weeks. He’s been focused on rounding out the staff and we announced the hiring of Tommy Alva to be our head athletic trainer, Jeff Taylor to come into a newly created PT type of position, a rehab position, we’re looking into soft tissue experts to come in and work with our players so Ian’s been hard at work with Barry Hanrahan trying to build out the staff. It’s really important that we look at different ways of taking care of our players. It’s not enough just to help out players when they’re hurt, I think the whole emphasis here is in trying to build out a program where we can prevent injuries from happening by using data, best practices, and having experts in the field. It’s going to be a process, it’s going to take some time, but we brought some good people in, and we’re excited with where we’re going to take the program.

 

Is Harry back or not?

Harry’s not back, no. We’ve made some changes to our equipment staff. 

 

 Who is the new equipment manager? 

John Peters. 

 

Are you comfortable with the prospect of having competition between Felix and Troy? Is that something you’ll evaluate at the end of camp? Might it come to a point where you bring in a goalie from the outside? 

Yeah you know it’s a great question, Bill. We have spoke about this a lot the last two or three summers when we’ve been looking at backup goaltenders and who would have come in to work with Carter and you know it seems to be the same names every summer. The same types of goalies that are free agents. We just really feel that we need to start developing more talent internally. The goal going in was to have Ivan Fedotov, with Felix Sandstrom, and a goalie like Troy Grosenick and hopefully Samuel Ersson depending on he came back from injury last season. Let them compete. Let’s what we have. Let’s give them opportunities for these young goalies, to not only provide depth in the NHL, but hopefully take a step and reach their potential instead of bringing in sort of career backup goaltenders. I’m not sure if that is the proper term but obviously a little bit of a curveball with Fedetov. But Sandstrom, I thought played very well down the stretch. He played well here. Grosenick has had a long career with remarkably consistent numbers in the American Hockey League. Actually he has phenomenal numbers in the NHL and has never really been given that opportunity. So we feel these guys can compete. Samuel Ersson I thought would need maybe a half a season or maybe a season in the American League and maybe that’ll prove to be true. But he is coming off a successful rookie camp. Small sample size, I get it. But the fact that he’s healthy and was able to compete at that level at rookie camp, I think bodes well for the future. So look we will have to see, but at some point we will have to give some young players a chance to grab a job if they can earn it. And believe me, with Torts they have to earn it. But if you don’t give them a chance, you never know.

 

Regarding Fedetov, do you have any more clarity on that situation?

No. Just he has to fulfill a commitment back in Russia. It’s obviously a sensitive situation but there is a commitment he has to fill and really there’s not much influence we can have in this situation.

 

What is your expectation after he fulfills his year in Russia?

Look it’s a sensitive situation. I think I will just leave it at that he will have to fulfill his commitment in Russia. Obviously he has a contract with us and we’ll just let things play out.

 

Chuck, you mentioned about the possibility of up to 10 players 25 or younger making this team. With the issues with Couturier obviously it’s still unclear how long he’s going to be out but does that change the possibility of Couturier missing a set of time, missing the season, does that change the organizational approach to the season and pivot a little more towards playing young players and using this more as a future focused year?

Well part of our, I think I mentioned to you guys at the draft and free agency, part of our main focus this year is to provide opportunity for young players to get better. And we’ve added a lot of young talent over the last couple of years. And I think it’s really important to find out what we have. Last year, as I mentioned, a lot of adversity. Again, we didn’t handle the challenges well but it was also a difficult year to fairly evaluate some younger players. Particularly at the end when we traded some players and we had some players out. You’re throwing rosters together every night and on of John Tortorella’s strengths, and I don’t think he gets nearly enough credit for this, he’s got a proven track record of making players better. Pushing players to be better. Developing young players and that’s a critical part of what we want to do. We want to find out what we have. Even take a player like Travis Konecny. He is a 50 point guys or a 70 point guy. Let’s push him here a little bit let’s see what we have. Ivan Provorov, Sanheim I think took a step last year, but Ivan Provorov is a good hockey player. Let’s give him a chance to get better. Never mind the Yorks and the Attards and the Zamulas on the blue line. Some of these are young players and there’s going to be ups and down but we have to demand more out of some of these players. They’re not just our future anymore. Some of these kids are our present. So, it’s always been a critical part of what we wanted to do. If Sean is out for an extended period of time that clearly makes things a little more difficult because he’s arguably our best player. Our number one centerman. But with that there’s opportunity for other players to step up. There’s opportunity for Morgan Frost to step forward. There’s opportunity for Scott Laughton play at center. There’s opportunity maybe for a Tanner Laczynski to take a step. He’s 25 years old. We need to find out about Tanner Laczynski. He’s not a kid anymore but yet he’s missed a lot of time. Looks great so far from the little bit I’ve seen. But to me, that’s the main storyline of this camp. Let’s see what we have. Let’s see how good these kids are.

 

In regard to some of these younger players, obviously camp performance is the first barometer, but if things are close do waiver considerations factor in at all?

They do because you want to make sure you have enough depth. So that will be something that we sit with the coaching staff about. John has been pretty adamant that he doesn’t care what the name on the back of your jersey is. You’ll hear more from him today but whoever earns it will earn it but there’s obviously some practical considerations of time that we will have to look into. But there’s also health issues. How healthy are we? Sometimes you think you have decisions to make and they are made for you by virtue of things you can’t control. But look we’re, I guess I’ll just say in closing, we understand there’s a lot of questions about our team. We understand there are skeptics. But we are excited. We are excited to go out and prove people wrong. The energy around this building is the best I’ve seen. There is a little bit of fear. But just a lot of genuine excitement from the players about getting back out there. Let’s get some stability here. Let’s function as a team. Let’s rebuild some things we need to rebuild. So we are excited. 

Philadelphia Flyers Pre-Game Event - Claude Giroux's 1000th Game Celebrated

 

(Claude Giroux's 2007 NHL Draft photo courtesy of the Philadelphia Flyers Public Relations Department.)

Claude Giroux is one of the great players in Philadelphia Flyers history. He is destined for the National Hockey League's Hall of Fame. 

March 17 is generally reserved as a celebration of St. Patrick's Day, with green highlighting sporting events on that date. But March 17, 2022, was a showcase day to reflect on the career of this Hearst, Ontario, Canada, native. 

The Flyers handle pre-game celebrations as well as any NHL organization. The storied franchise actually honored their longtime captain all week, with his 1000th game in the League being played against the Nashville Predators, fittingly at home in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the Wells Fargo Center 

The looming Trade Deadline arrives on March 21, with Giroux being the top name on the market. But the future was not the focus as an old-school loud arena honored G on March 17.

Per the Flyers Public Relations Department:

Giroux becomes just the second player in franchise history to reach that mark and trails only Bob Clarke (1,144) for the most games played all-time in Flyers history.

Giroux also becomes the 368th player, and 365th skater, in NHL history to have played 1000 games, the 71st player to accomplish that feat with the same team, the 36th active player, 11th player this season and sixth player from the 2006 NHL Draft Class to reach 1000 games.

Giroux is in his 15th Flyers and NHL season and 10th season as Flyers captain since being named on January 15, 2013. He has served as captain for over 700 games, including tonight (715), making him the longest-tenured captain in Flyers history.

In addition to tonight's milestone, Giroux has hit multiple franchise marks this season (stats are through 999 games played):

On Mar. 13, Giroux scored a goal to record his 900th point in the NHL and became the second player in team history to hit that milestone. In addition, the goal was Giroux's 291st and moved him into 8th place all-time in franchise history, which surpassed Eric Lindros.

On Dec. 29 at Seattle, Giroux recorded his 600th assist becoming one of only two Flyers (Clarke-852) to reach 600 assists as a Flyer, and on Dec. 10 vs. Vegas Golden Knights, Giroux surpassed Clarke for the most points on the power play (334) in Flyers history with a power-play assist.

A native of Hearst, Ontario, Giroux ranks second in Flyers history in overall points (900), assists (609), games played (999) and is the Flyers all-time leader in overtime goals (11) and points on the power-play (339).

MOST GAMES PLAYED IN FLYERS HISTORY

Bob Clarke        1,144

Claude Giroux 1,000

Bill Barber         903

Brian Propp       790

* Sean Couturier is the next active Flyer with the most games played in a Flyers uniform at 721 games played.

              (Pre-game team photo courtesy of the Philadelphia Flyers Public Relations Department.)

Philadelphia Flyers Look To the Future

General Manager Chuck Fletcher and his staff continue assessing his team's roster along with those of various other potential trade partners.

Claude Giroux, Derick Brassard, Justin Braun, Keith Yandle, Martin Jones, and potentially, Rasmus Ristolainen, if he does not agree to a new deal before the National Hockey League's trade deadline on March 21, could be moved due to their contract status. 

A cited need for high-end talent, increased team speed, and more assertive, if not aggressive play in all zones means that the roster adjustments that began last off-season will continue. That, along with the development of current and obtained prospects, will be geared toward putting the team back in playoff position by next season. 

It is a tall order. But there are enough pieces on the Philadelphia Flyers' roster, which include players (Sean Couturier, Kevin Hayes, and Ryan Ellis) who have missed significant time this season due to injury, to make a drive toward postseason access next season plausible if other efforts payoff between now and then. 

Inside Access: Philadelphia Flyers End of Season Presser - Chuck Fletcher & Alain Vigneault

The Philadelphia Flyers 2020-21 season didn't prove out as expected, as a playoff birth wasn't achieved. 

Philadelphia Flyers President and General Manager Chuck Fletcher and Head Coach Alain Vigneault met with the media today. I did not attend today's presser, but am providing this information for Insight reader's reference. The follow transcript is provided courtesy of Flyers media relations staff: 

Can you go into the reason behind the slide this season?

 

AV: I think I have a couple of theories. After starting the season where we got of results-wise to a good start, mainly due and a lot due to we had some real solid goaltending. Our team started to play better. Our goaltending slipped a little bit. COVID hit us and after COVID, all we basically did was play games and not practice. I think this group because we’ve got veteran players, just a small group of players in that middle age frame of 27-28 and a lot of younger players. Those younger players when the game slips a little bit were not quite executing the way we need to have success. You have to practice and we didn’t have any practice time. I’m not saying that’s the reason. A lot of things happened, but I’m going to need some time to reflect on it. But I do think that played a part in our game slipping and our season going the way it did.

 

Your number one priority is probably looking for a right-handed defenseman. What would you say your number two priority is in the offseason?

 

CF: I think we have quite a few priorities. Looking outside the organization certainly we could upgrade everywhere, up front, defense. Certainly we’re going to have to take a look at our situation in goal, which has kind of been a constant struggle here for years. We have different areas we have to look at. We also need a lot of our young players to be better. I would say with the exception of Joel Farabee that the majority of our players plateaued or took a step back this year. That’s a big concern for me. Since 2014, this franchise has put a lot of time and effort into drafting and developing young players. Frankly, for us to take a step forward, we’re going to need that group of players to take on a bigger role, play better, and help us win games. We’re going to have to look outside the organization, but certainly it’s difficult to replace the whole team. You’re going to need your young players to take a step and be better. They have a big summer ahead of them. Hopefully as things normalize, this offseason hopefully it’s easier for many of these young players to skate, train and prepare more normally than maybe they were able to do last offseason. We’re hopefully that we’ll see an energized group of players come training camp.

 

When a team goes into a slide like that, someone has to step up and try to salvage the season. Because that didn’t happen, does that give you concern about the mix of players in the locker room and that no one was able to halt that for you guys?

 

CF: I think that’s something we’ll take a look at. I don’t know that I’m sitting here questioning our leadership. I thought our leaders played hard this year.  If you look at the last couple months, nobody played harder than Claude Giroux. Sean Couturier played really hard on his line, carried our team early in the season. Jake Voracek led our team in scoring again, or tied for the lead. A lot of these players that have been here a while I thought did their part. Hockey’s a team sport. Twenty players on the ice. I don’t know that one guy giving a speech in a dressing room or doing something can turn a season around. We had tough March, there’s no question. We had 17 games in that month. I’ve never been on a team that played 17 games in a month. I think I’ve been on a team that played 16 maybe once. Typically you’re playing 15 games a month, so it was tough. There wasn’t a lot of time to reset. A lot of other teams went through it. It was probably a harder time to go through when you’re struggling, you don’t have much time to practice or reset as AV mentioned. To me, I’m not sure leadership is the first thing I’m looking in this group, but we’ll take some time over the next few weeks here to look at every angle. Find a way to plug the holes we need to plug.

 

Alain, did this season cause you to think about not coming back next year?

 

AV: I came to Philly to win a Stanley Cup. I told Chuck last week or the week before when we were officially eliminated that I sort of felt like I’ve let everyone down here, from him to ownership to our fans to our players. Just after the start that we had, got the team playing better, and then like I mentioned goaltending, COVID and no practice time. I wasn’t able to put the ship back on track. I’m going to need some time obviously on a personal level to reflect on the season. Like the rest of society, it’s our first pandemic that we go through. There’s obviously some things reflecting on that we might want to change how I handled and how I did things. On a personal level, I’m going to need some time to get the emotion out of the way and analyze this properly. Another thing I did say to Chuck because talking about our young players and Joel Farabee taking strides. The difference between Joel Farabee, an American who stayed in the States and was able to train, and our Canadian players, all the ones that went back to Canada. G had a good year. More experience. Coots, in my estimation, had a good year but didn’t have a Coots-type season like he had with me last year. If I look at all the other players that went to Canada, they struggled. Whether its’ because of lack of training possibilities, lack of skating possibilities. One of my questions when meeting with the players this afternoon is what are you doing this summer.  If things stay the way they are right now in Canada, they’re going to have to make some adjustments to their summer plans. This is just our team. I can’t reflect throughout the rest of the NHL, but our team, the Canadian players that went back to Canada had a challenging time.

 

What does the coaching staff leave you with when you see the young players take a step back like this?

 

CF: That’s why, to be honest with you, I’m happy we have this experienced coaching staff. AV, Mike Therrien, Mike Yeo and Ian Laperriere, they’ve seen a lot of different scenarios during their time in the league. I’m fully confident that they’ll have the best approach on how to bring these players back. Some of it has to fall on the players. It’s up to the players to be prepared to come into camp next year. As AV alluded to, a couple of those kids that did go back to Canada, I remember speaking to them in October and November, they were having a hard time getting ice time. They were having a hard time, gyms were shut down. Some of them had some adjustments to make and were having a tough time doing the training they normally do. Our expectation is that they will be able to find a better path to train this offseason. Certainly there’s some personal responsibility for every one of us in terms of how we perform and how we do our job. Having a veteran coaching staff gives me comfort that we’re going to find the right solutions to get these players back to where we need to get them to.

 

You’ve mentioned about doing things differently based on things you learned this year. Is there a silver lining that since you didn’t have the practice time that you learned about the way the players process the game and how they need to be coached?

 

AV: There’s no doubt that knowing your players more is beneficial. You know what makes them tick. You know what can help them and what’s not going to help them. At the end of the day, what I need, Chuck can’t give me. Society can give me though. I need a normal season. I need people to go out and get vaccinated, so that we can have a normal season next year.  I’ve been here two years and we haven’t had one of those. I want guys coming into camp, having trained in a normal way in the summer. I want to go through a normal camp. I want to go through a normal season that’s 82 games worth. I want to go through normal playoffs where you play in front of your fans. You feel the energy. You feel the passion. You go on the road, tight knit group. You try and win on the road. Chuck can’t give me a normal season, but society can if we do our part. Hopefully we can all get there for next year.

 

If you had to pinpoint the most glaring hole on the roster, what would it be? Do you think you can address it during the offseason?

 

CF: We’ll certainly try. We’re going to take time here over the next month to meet with our group. We’ll analyze everything between now and then. We’ll have good meetings. Look, we finished 31^st in the league in goals against. I’d say the last 15, 16 years for this franchise, we’ve had a tough time keeping the puck out of our net consistently. Since I’ve been here, we were 27^th in the league defensively, I believe, my first year. Last year, we climbed to 7^th and this year we fell to 31^st. It’s clear that when you give up the number of chances and the number of goals we did this year, you’re going to have a tough time winning hockey games. We need to improve our ability to keep the puck out of the net and everything that goes with that is what we’ll look to do this offseason.

 

Where do you see the improvements that Carter Hart needs? How is he medically?

 

CF: The second part, I believe he’s fine. He’s been on the ice a few days. I think he’s basically back to full health. In terms of the first part, I’m not a goalie coach or a goalie expert. I don’t know that that’s for me to speak to. I think Carter’s no different than a lot of 22 year-old individuals. Every walk of life, whether you are in college, working or in sports, he’s a young man that’s finding his way. We’ve asked a lot out of Carter. He’s a precocious talent. He’s climbed the ladder very quickly. This year didn’t go the way he had hoped, the way we had all hoped, but there’s a lot of talent there. I think our expectations is that Carter will make the adjustments necessary and come back, be the goalie we all want him to be and that he expects to be. He’s a top-end talent. It’s a tough league, but he’ll make the adjustments he has to make and he’ll return to form.

 

How much did the goals against average accumulate over time weigh down the offense?

 

AV: There’s no doubt it was a very challenging season in the aspect that we were chasing most of the games. At the end of the day, that’s on me, it’s on team preparation. The players have their responsibility also in the sense that they have to get in themselves in the right mental state to go out there and be able to execute and make the right plays.  Our starts made it very challenging. Always chasing the game is a challenge. When you score the first goal, I think the percentage of you winning that game are over or close to 75 percent. In all aspects our offense sort of dried up towards the end there. Our defense as much as we improved from the beginning, we weren’t giving up as many shots or scoring chances. We just had a hard time keeping the puck out of our net as a team and then our offense dried up. At the end of the day, it led to the season that we had.

 

Why do you feel like you will be able to make the changes needed this offseason when you haven’t been able to make them in the past?

 

CF: Well, we’ll see.  We’ll have to look at a few different areas to improve, but I anticipate there being some players available. We’ll have to go out and see if we can add the right player. Certainly last offseason, we looked at a lot of different options. Some cases didn’t break the way we’d hoped and in some cases it wasn’t the perfect fit for the type of player we were looking for. We’re going to have to be creative and find a way to improve where we can.

 

Can you give a medical update on the players? Also, do you know which players are going to the World Championships?

 

CF: I really don’t know on either as of right now. Our players will continue doing their medicals later on today and doing some imaging today and tomorrow. We’ll have a better answer on that with respect to offseason surgeries probably over the next few days. I don’t have a full update yet on the World Championships. I know some players were still mulling things over as the season came to an end. Hopefully we’ll have a better idea on that too as we meet with the players over the next day or two.

 

Is Nolan Patrick’s season a product of being away from the game for a year and not being able to get into a rhythm? Also, is it a concern that his tentativeness will be tough to overcome down the road?

 

CF: I think on a positive front, Nolan was able to physically get through this season. After missing the 18, 19, 20 months, whatever it was of not playing, I think it’s a positive that he was able to complete the season. He took some big hits. He played. From that standpoint, that’s something he can build off of. He wasn’t fully cleared to play until just prior to camp. He’s one of those players that I’m not sure had a normal offseason. Personally, I believe there’s another level to his conditioning and strength he can get to as he can train. I think he wasn’t skating the same, particularly in back to back games. You could see a drop-off in his skating. I do think there’s some things that could be improved just by being healthy and having a normal summer. I think we’ll have a better feel where Nolan’s at into next year. Our expectation is that he has a great summer, gets a little stronger, and gets a little more explosive. Comes into camp in a type of condition that he wasn’t able to achieve this year. That in turn will allow him to play the game in a higher level.

 

What did you see from Nolan this year? Was he worried about getting hit in the head?

 

AV: I didn’t know Nolan from before. He didn’t play last year. The only thing that I can really say is that there’s no doubt that he had a challenging year. Positively, like Chuck mentioned, was the fact that he was able to play the whole year. Hopefully with a season under his belt and a normal summer of conditioning, training and skating, he comes back next year. He’s a good player for us. This year there’s no doubt was very challenging.

 

How differently do you assess this season compared to a normal season with all the situations due to COVID?

 

CF: It was really challenging. Maybe some teams handled it better than we did. I think of the 28, 29 players that were around our team this year, counting the players on the taxi squad, 20 players over the course of the last five or six months had COVID. We got hit pretty hard at various times. Some players seemed to come back stronger. I give Giroux a lot of credit, Voracek. Some of these guys came back and seemed to get better. Other players seemed to struggle. Other players got hit in November and December right before camp, which wasn’t ideal for coming into a shortened camp in top shape. Every team had to deal with it. We did the best we could. On a personal level, I will not be tired of living the protocols every day. They were necessary but it seemed like we spent an awful lot of time making sure that we were following protocols and doing things right, trying to keep people safe and healthy versus managing your team. It was necessary. It was so important that we played hockey this year. It was great from a league standpoint that we were able to play hockey. There were definitely a lot of challenges.

 

What is your level in confidence with Carter Hart being the guy going forward? Should he be one of the Canadians that need to stay state-side in the offseason?

 

AV: My level of confidence in Carter is very high. He’s a good young man. He probably went through the first time in his life, his career, adversity. You have to go through adversity to get better and to grow. He’s gone through that. He’s playing the toughest position in hockey. He’d only played a small sample, a couple of games his first year, twenty-some what. A lot of those games, meaningless in the sense that the team was out. Last year, played and had a good season. He was real good at home, improved on the road, then we went into the bubble. He played well for us there. This year, he got off to a good start and then it became challenging. He faced some adversity. I think that adversity is good. It’s going to make him better. He’s still a very young player playing a real tough position. With the right mindset, the right attitude and the right work ethic moving forward, he’s got all the capabilities to become a real solid goaltender. Now he’s got to go out and prove it.

 

Are you saying that if we don’t have normal conditions for next season that you won’t be back? Or are you saying that if there are normal conditions, you definitely will be back?

 

AV: No, I came to Philly to win a Cup. I believe that last year we took positive strides. Its’ not always on the upswing. There’s ups and downs to win a Cup. You just look throughout history, the Tampa Bays and the Washington. To get to the ultimate goal, there’s some struggles and there’s some adversity. We’re going through some. It’s going to make us better. It’s going to make our group better. I haven’t changed my mind that I can accomplish my goal. We can all accomplish our goal because Chuck has the same goal I have. Ownership has the same goal. Our fans have the same goal. We have a lot of work ahead of us, and that’s what were going to do. We’re going to take a little down time here. This has been a challenging year. We’ll get right back at it here in the next little while and make sure we’re better next year. I’m just stating that I’d like to coach the Flyers in a normal year. With everything going on in the world, I don’t want to make it sound like I’m complaining because it’s been hard on everyone. I would really enjoy coaching the Flyers in a normal year and in a normal setting.

 

In training camp, you said that making the playoffs was non-negotiable. How much does that bother you that you didn’t make playoffs?

 

AV: There’s no doubt that it’s very hard to take. Like I mentioned, I feel like I’ve let people down. I’m going to regroup, analyze and come back better next year. It didn’t go the way we anticipated. It’s adversity. If adversity can help Carter Hart become better, adversity can help Alain Vigneault get better. Adversity can help the Flyers get better. Maybe the Flyers have been through a lot of that in the last little while, but it’s our job, Chuck and I, to get these players to play up to their full potential. That’s what we’re going to do starting next year.

-----End of transcript.

(On a personal note - I've been credentialed since 2011. The Flyers media relations staff has been and remains first class. My thanks to everyone for their consistent professionalism.) 

Philadelphia Flyers - Regular Playoff Contention Realistic and Lord Stanley's Hand

As this season ends for the Flyers...Fletcher, AV, a number of good core players, and young players, with others on the way, make the future a place where regular playoff contention is likely. With that, runs toward the Cup Final are possible, and the ever-elusive third-earned opportunity to shake Lord Stanley's silver hand exists.

No point in the past is exactly comparable to now. And so the off-season begins with play restarting prior to the end of the year.

Inside Access: Philadelphia Flyers vs. Winnipeg Jets - February 22, 2020

Philadelphia Flyers vs. Winnipeg Jets

Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia

February 22, 2020

Game Time – 1 p.m.

Pregame

Philadelphia Flyers (34-20-7, 75 points)

Winnipeg Jets (32-25-5, 69 points)

Starting goalies: Flyers – Carter Hart. Jets – Connor Hellebuyck.

Other pregame tidbits – Philadelphia lost 7-3 to the Jets in Winnipeg in December. Today's game is the final contest of the season against this Central Division opponent. Brian Elliott started that game, surrendering six goals before he was replaced by Hart, who handled third period duty.

This is the final contest before the National Hockey League trade deadline. Philadelphia in the best position to qualify for the playoffs in a number of years. Head coach Alain Vigneault's influence is noticeable, as he and his veteran coaching staff, including new additions Michel Therrien and Mike Yeo, along with holdover Ian Laperriere, have combined to produce 200-foot stability.

The Flyers aren't an elite team. They could use another impact forward and defenseman. Their goaltending situation is stable, but hasn't produced a standout to-date. So, it's fair to put Philadelphia near to the top 10, if not at that mark, in the League.

Philly's fourth-best NHL home record is good, but they'll need to prove better on the road down the stretch to convince hockey loyalists that they are playoff ready. The Flyers are 5-2-2 in their last nine road games, which is an improvement, as the team is 14-15-3 away from the Wells Fargo Center overall this season.

The Jets enter the tilt on a three game winning streak in fourth place in their division and in the seventh playoff position in the Western Conference.

On a personal note...

The transformation of the interior of the Wells Fargo Center is nearing it's completion, as Steve Coates was telling me while we were heading toward the press elevator on the event floor prior to the game.

Coates joined the Flyers broadcast team in 1980, following his professional playing career. He worked on the television side for a number of years before becoming a part of the team's radio broadcast, along with Tim Saunders, in 2014-15.

Coatesy, which is the fond nickname everyone knows him by, has sustained a long career off the ice due to his affable nature. His love of the game and hockey sense is detectable to all who listen to him during broadcasts, or have the opportunity to talk to him in person as I have on multiple occasions.

First Period

Quick start, with Scott Laughton (11th goal) lifting a puck over Hellebuyck's left shoulder at 2:06 into the period. Ivan Provorov raced down the left side boards, tipping a short pass to Laughton. Justin Braun also received an assist.

Laughton got his second goal of the period (12^th goal) as he crossed over in front of the net and potted the puck past Hellebuyck, while a number of players were in and around him. Braun received the lone assist.

As Laughton moved up the ice later in the period, thoughts of a natural hat trick and one occurring in one period, in this case the first came to mind. A brief internet search revealed that the Great One, Wayne Gretzky had 50 (FIFTY) hat tricks in his career, including ten hat tricks in the 1981-82 and another ten in the 1983-84 season for the Edmonton Oilers. Mike Bossy had nine hat tricks in the 1980-81 season for the New York Islanders. Different era? Sure. Incredible performances regardless? Yes, without debate.

The Flyers last natural hat trick occurred on January 16, 2019. Sean Couturier scored two in the second and one in the third against the Boston Bruins in a 4-3 home win.

Shots Flyers – 12. Jets – 10.

Score: 2-0, Flyers.

Second Period

Flyers only had two shots through just over ten minutes of a lackluster period for both teams. Jets had ten shots, with no real threats.

Konecny took a shot off what appeared to be his sternum that resonated throughout the building. He doubled over and slowly glided toward the bench, where he remained bent over for a few minutes. However, a video review showed that he was hit in his left hand.

Couturier (19th goal) took the puck and back away from the net toward the face off circle, before he wristed a shot into the net, over Hellebuyck's left shoulder at 14:15. Assists to Jake Voracek and Matt Niskanen.

Josh Morrisssey (4^th goal) took a slap shot, over Hart's left shoulder, while falling to his knees at 18:04. Assisted by Mark Scheifele and Nikolaj Ehlers.

Shots Jets – 15 Flyers – 4

Score: 3-1, Flyers.

Third Period

Patrik Laine (26^th) blew a power play slap shot past Hart at three minutes into the period. Assists to Neal Pionk and Blake Wheeler. Robert Haag was in the box at the time with an interference penalty.

After avoiding disaster through heavy pressure and then killing off a power play a few minutes later, Tyler Pitlick (7^th) scored a one bounce pinball shot, with assists to Justin Braun and Haag.

Third period shots: Flyers – 14 Jets - 4

Final shot total: Flyers – 30 Jets – 29

Final score: Flyers – 4 Jets - 2

Next up - The Flyers host the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday.

Postgame Quotes

Responses to media scrum questions, postgame in the locker room and at the press conferences of both head coaches:

Philadelphia Flyers RW Scott Laughton

How are you feeling after that one?

What one?

A little beat up?

Yeah, it was a good win. Always fun to play an afternoon game here, I think. It was a good win for a club, and we will continue to move forward.

Was Brian (Elliott) laughing with you on the bench?

He was good all night. I always look to him when I score. He always has a smile on his face. Good to see there.

How much does it mean to have a game like this one?

It was big. We came out and got a lead early and rode it all the way to the end of the game. I thought we had a better job of closing gaps and not giving them as much space in the third. I thought in the second we weren’t really giving our D support, so we had a tough time getting out of the zone. Other than that, clean game I guess and continue to move forward.

Have the goals of the team changed now that you are only 3 points out of 1^st place?

Day by day. I think we just continue to grow as a team. Wherever we finish, we finish. Take it day by day, continue to grow and try to get wins. We are at home a little bit this month, so continue what we have to do at home.

How badly did you want that 3^rd goal?

Pretty bad. I don’t know if it touched Wheeler there, but I talked to Raffy and he said he was going to try to find me. Obviously it didn’t go in, but it happens.

Winnipeg Jets W Blake Wheeler

Looked like you guys did a number of things well tonight, generating chances. Did you feel that the momentum shifted at all in the third period, or how did you see this one play out after you guys got it to 3-2?

I think we played a pretty good hockey game. The bounces didn’t go our way tonight, obviously they’re a good team in this building. It was tough for us to get those. We weren’t very opportunistic tonight, I guess would be the right way to put it. They had a couple bounces go their way around the net. You go down 2 in this building, it’s tough. We fight back to 3-2 and then a bad bounce on the fourth one.

Theory at all on the slow starts, 7^th game in a row you guys have been scored on first. Efforts there obviously, but tough to play from behind with that much regularity?

We just won three straight, we were 4-2 on the home stand, 5-2 overall in our last 7. So if anything, it’s worked well for us.

What didn’t maybe work well tonight then?

I think we played a pretty good hockey game. I think we had a difficult time sometimes moving the puck up the ice, but outside of that, I thought our forecheck was right. For the most part we were trying to make plays with speed. Spent some time in their zone, had some chances and that was basically my first answer. I don’t want to take away from a good game that they played, but sometimes when two teams are playing well, it’s a matter of that bounce of the puck here or there. They cashed in on their chances, they played well tonight.

Philadelphia Flyers G Carter Hart

Did you feel pretty much locked in, especially for the second period on?

They made sure they didn’t get too many second opportunities and a lot of big blocks. The one in the first period Braun blocks a shot on the line and then we go down and score. That’s the hockey that we’ve been playing lately. It’s sometimes not always pretty, but it’s effective and the guys are really buying in right now.

Talk about playing at home. You’ve been on top of your game when at home.

I just prepare the same as any other game. We for sure love having the fans support us and when we’re not playing well, they get on us and let us know about it too. We just prepare the same as any other game no matter who we are playing.

What did it mean to see Oskar.

It’s great to see him, I haven’t seen him in a couple weeks. I’m sure he was happy to come to the rink and see the boys and all of us are happy to see him and he’s looking great.

Philadelphia Flyers C Sean Couturier

Kind of similar to that first Columbus game. Not your best, but you got a win. How big is that?

I thought the first was either way. It was tight. Second, obviously we didn’t play too good. We gave them a lot of opportunities. I thought the third we kind of took over. We had some great goaltending when we needed today. Hartsy was big today, making saves, making it look easy. That obviously helps us out front. We have to stick together through those tougher times and find a way to win.

Do you feel your line is starting to really click?

We are creating stuff. Maybe not finishing as much as we would like, or getting extended o-zone time, but I think we are smart enough to figure it out and get going. Obviously, you saw it both ways when we aren’t finishing, I’m sure it will come.

AV said Oskar is here. Did you get to talk to him?

Yeah, he looks good. It was awesome seeing him. He’s going through a lot, and we are there for him. Anytime we can hang out with him, it is always nice.

How important are the other 3 lines?

Yeah, I think we have some good depth this year compared to the past. Different guys are stepping up in different moments. That is what you want. When you make a playoff run or go deep, usually the depth players, role player guys have big impacts on games, and we need everyone every night. That is the kind of team we are.

Philadelphia Flyers RW Tyler Pitlick

What did you think of the way Scott Laughton played tonight?

He was great. He came out flying and got a couple of big goals for us right away. He played great all game.

What was the key for your line?

I think it was just playing simple, getting pucks in deep, skating hard and doing simple stuff and the plays open up.

All the lines have produced, what does that do to the team? AV’s trust in bottom two lines increasing?

Yeah, for sure you can see it at home and on the road. You can’t get the matchups as much on the road, so we just try to role 4 lines and whoever gets whoever, it is what it is. He is trusting us to go out there and play the right way and get the job done.

What was it like to see Oskar today?

It was great. He looks great. We are all very happy for him. Things are going good, so we are happy they are going that way.

Philadelphia Flyers D Justin Braun

Feel good to be back?

Yeah, that was a good way to come back after a little sickness. Not the prettiest of outings I’ve ever had, but you’ll take them.

Did this feel like the Columbus game where you aren’t at your best but still find a way to win?

Yeah, I thought at first, we were all right, pretty even matched. They came out in the second and took it to us a bit. In the third we woke up and we outshot them pretty good and out-chanced them. I think that was huge. We didn’t want to fold going into the third, and we locked it down.

AV said Oskar was here, what does it mean to see him?

It’s awesome. That smile you know. He is a great guy to have around, just brightens your day. The fact that he is doing well and able to come to the rink to see the boys is just fantastic.

Was it a surprise?

Yeah, I didn’t know he was coming today. It was awesome. It always cheers the boys up to see him.

Winnipeg Jets Head Coach Paul Maurice

Paul, after you get down two goals, did you see more of what you liked from your hockey club as this one went on this afternoon?

We gave up a goal on the first shot just off a misread. But at 1-0 through the first period, I liked our chances better than theirs. I mean at two, I liked our second an awful lot. And then we get behind it a little. They got a big long flurry there and cracked two posts. Which the problem was that it’s an offside play, so that was coming back.  I think we needed to get the puck to the net a little differently. I think that some of our best opportunities, we didn't get to the net. We missed and other than that, I’m not going to complain about the game.

Is it difficult though when you get down one or two or three?

It’s difficult when you get down one. When you get down three, it's real difficult. That's a problem, you’re in behind it for sure. Like I said, we came out of that first down. We don't like the first one because it's a read. You don't want to get on the power play and get a shot blocked and now they come out of the box and the timing goes against you on that one. But other than that fact, I didn't think we moved some pucks as clean as you'd like to. And they're going to say the same thing, because we knocked a bunch down their end of the ice, it was pretty even.

Was neutral zone an issue again tonight?

A different look. A lot of stretching in their game. So on the times that we held it right, we countered back, so it looked really good. And the time we couldn't hold, we had a problem.

What did you see from that top line?

There is your line, right? They were they were good. They had opportunities, good puck control. They released it when they should, didn't over handle it. They were our best, probably the best line on the ice.

Decision to make on Connor back-to-back or going LB [Laurent Brossoit]? Would you have a sense of this game at this point?

Not yet. Wait, Wade will talk to him, see how he’s feeling. We put ourselves in a position to do it if we want to go back to back with him. Doc will talk to him and see how he’s feeling.

Winnipeg Jets RW Patrick Laine

Patrick, you and your team had a lot of opportunities but couldn’t get more than 1 past Carter. How did you see this one play out?

Yeah, we had a sleepy start. We knew that they were going to come hard right out of the gate, especially here. So they score 2 right in the beginning, so it was a rough start. After that I think we played better. The second we were controlling the game. In the third we had a couple mistakes and it was a tough loss.

What was better by your club in the second?

I think it was try to play simple. Try to get as many pucks to the net as we can. Try to create some O zone time and that is where we are going to win games, if we are going to win. I think that was one.

You haven’t had the first goal in a while. Is that a concern?

It would be fun not to be down right away every game. That is something we need to work on, to get the opening goal. It can’t be just that. We can’t just give up if we end up giving up the first goal. We still have to battle back and hopefully score a couple. Two wasn’t enough this afternoon and we have a new chance tomorrow.

What do you think of what your GM has done?

I think hopefully they will bring a lot of energy to the locker room and on the ice. I think we have made some good moves for the team, and something we need for the playoff push we are in right now. Hopefully, we can spark this team, get a couple in a row and make the playoffs.

Philadelphia Flyers Head Coach Alain Vigneault

“mentions about Oskar*

Big smile and I knew he was coming tonight. I just saw him after the game, he smiled and looked beautiful. It makes everybody feel good when he comes around and there is no doubt that we’re all behind him and his teammates are obviously checking up on him on a regular basis and so is the whole staff but to see him live is beautiful.

Is this one like what you spoke about the other day in that winning when you’re not exactly playing the best.

I thought in the first period it as a little sloppy on both sides and in the second they had a real strong push. When you look at their top two lines, they are big skilled, fast, lines so they were tough to handle in the second but I thought in the third once they made it 3-2 on their powerplay goal, we played the best we played all night. When the game was on the line, we played the right way, we make the right plays defensively, we made the right plays with the pucks and we were on our best when the game was on the line tonight and I thought that was a real positive sign.

You’ve moved Scott Laughton around, scores two goals tonight. What have you learned about him and his versatility and his importance to this group?

I thought he played one of his best games tonight, the 200-foot game real solid defensively and both our first two goals are his line, driving to the net, going hard. Him going to the net on the second one, Pitlick stopping there. They did a lot of right things and got rewarded for it and he blocked a couple of big shots. You need your team to do that and he obviously did that tonight.

What have you seen from the top line? It seems as they are building towards an exploding game.

I expect this from our group, and I’ve said this many of times that teams that improve during the season are the ones that get in and we are improving. We are getting better and, in that line, those three veteran players are playing the way that you have to play to win and to win against good opponents in tight games. I thought when the game became 3-2, we didn’t get tight, we played and that’s what you got to do. We were on our toes; we were checking when it was time to check and we made some real good plays with the puck.

Are you able to point out where you are finding balance in your former lines as you have now?

This rotation right now is permitting me to play a good four-line rotation, to have a good pace. In the third in the last five I went down to three a little more. For the most park we do have good balance. The fourth line with Raffi, Bunny and Q when they get the puck deep and they get on the forecheck they are tough to handle.

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(My photo - Overhead shot from press level, pregame.)

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