Playoffs or not, Dave Hakstol delivered on challenge

Kate Frese/Flyerdelphia

When the season started six months ago, nobody was really sure what to expect out of Dave Hakstol.

The newest head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers was no established presence in the NHL. He was a college icon getting the call to the bigs.

To this point, surpassing last year's total of 33 wins and 83 points was a huge accomplishment.

But on Wednesday night, the Flyers will take the ice for a potential playoff preview with the Washington Capitals, holding the final playoff spot at the moment. And that's just icing on the cake.

The idea that this could be possible, the words "playoff preview" and a game with such stakes, was essentially a pipe dream, wishful thinking on the part of Flyers fans.

A new coach, a new system and a large learning curve made this season more about the experience and less about the results. And even if that meant missing the playoffs, at least better days and a bright future were waiting in the wings.

That future is not very distant, which is where the pipe dream even came from. With several of the Flyers prospects potentially one or two seasons away, being remotely competitive felt like a reasonable goal.

That was my challenge to Dave Hakstol in October: keep this team competitive down the stretch.

At this time last season, things were over already. The playoff race was very much determined. Other teams were playing their meaningful games against the Flyers,  and who were taking the ice more for pride than points.

What meaningful hockey does to Philadelphia at this time of year is truly amazing. There is a hype that is unmatched and an intensity that welcomes the playoffs to the city long before game No. 82. It is a welcome sight for the 2015-16 season.

What makes Hakstol's first season such a success goes back to the beginning of the season. Hakstol had to take a roster that made very few changes from playing in a Game 7 in the first round of the 2013-14 Stanley Cup Playoffs to a seventh overall pick one season later. There would be chemistry and motivation issues to work out and a new system to install.

In addition, Hakstol brought expectations as well. Even if they weren't supposed to be true contenders in his first season, Hakstol came to Philadelphia as the third coach of the Flyers in the three seasons. Hakstol was also Ron Hextall's first coaching hire and as a GM with a clear vision of the future and a high regard for Hakstol, he needed to be right too.

It was a gamble, but for the most part, we weren't supposed to know what was there or reap any benefits in the first season.

Which is what makes the first-year playoff run for Hakstol so impressive. Make the playoffs or end up the first team out, the standings will likely come down to the final game of the season, which for the Flyers is on April 10 in Brooklyn. 

Perhaps the best part about the unexpected run is that for the Flyers, missing the playoffs in consecutive seasons isn't an option. Since a five-year period from 1989 to 1994 where the Flyers did not make the playoffs, they have missed the playoffs just three times, but twice in the last three seasons.

With the Flyers going with an inexperienced coach at the NHL level and the same roster as last season — for the most part anyway — it almost felt like they were conceding the season.

Hakstol hasn't done it alone by any stretch. It helps when you get spectacular plays and unheard of point production from a rookie defenseman like Shayne Gostisbehere and watch your leadership group, players like Claude Giroux and Wayne Simmonds, take things to the next level and a goaltending tandem in Steve Mason and Michal Neuvirth that deliver one magnificent start after another, but for the most part, this is a team that has to find that extra gear and dig down deep to produce points. And since February, they have with tremendous consistency.

The Flyers were battered by the Anaheim Ducks, 4-1, on Feb. 9, their third straight loss after a three-game winning streak. They took the ice two days later on Feb. 11 to face the lowly Buffalo Sabres, desperately needing to right the ship with two points. They won, 5-1.

Since Feb. 11, including the win against Buffalo, the Flyers are 14-5-4, earning 32 points in the standings and climbing into the final playoff spot with seven games to go.

Who would have thought, right?

Dave Hakstol did. And he got his players, assembled by Hextall, to buy into not only his style of coaching and his system, but a mindset. On any given night, the Flyers could compete. And the rookie coach, who has seldom looked like one, deserves a lot of credit for where the Flyers with the final days of the regular season upon us.

Kevin Durso is managing editor for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @Kevin_Durso.