Welcome back to another edition of the Flyerdelphia mailbag. Today, we cover the Flyers' physical play, as well as Craig Berube's shelf life as a coach.
Are the Flyers playing less physical, or are the players just not willing to put their bodies on the line? – John D., via our Facebook page.
Interestingly enough, Craig Berube had stressed physical play and blocking shots during his time as an assistant coach — as evidenced by this Ilya Bryzgalov soundbite from "24/7 Flyers-Rangers: Road to the Winter Classic."
Looking at NHL.com's real-time stats, Zac Rinaldo is the only Flyer with 100-or-more hits, with 107. Five more Flyers crack the top-100 — Luke Schenn (54th, with 89 hits), Wayne Simmonds (75th, 82 hits), Nicklas Grossmann (89th, 75 hits), Michael Raffl (95th, 73 hits) and Brayden Schenn (99th, 72 hits).
Looking at blocked shots, Nick Schultz leads the Flyers with 75 (good enough for 29th in the league). Two more Flyers — Grossmann (82nd, with 53 blocks) and Mark Streit (89th, 52 blocks) round out the top-100. Those numbers don't reflect the Flyers' poor possession numbers, though. And remember, Andrew MacDonald led the NHL in blocked shots at the time he was traded to the Flyers last season, but his 46 blocks now place him at 113th.
In short, the Flyers are a team that will take the body, but not block that many shots. Somewhat funny, considering Ian Laperriere's status behind the bench, and his shot-blocking propensity.
[Is a] coaching change necessary? Players seem not to buy into Chief's system? – @OrangeBlack12
A coaching change may be necessary in the offseason, if the Flyers miss the playoffs. Berube wasn't Ron Hextall's hire from the get-go, and I'm inclined to think that Hextall would want to bring in his own coach behind the bench. While the Flyers have been entrenched in a win-now mindset for decades now, Hextall has stressed a patient approach to winning, and Berube may possibly be a factor in his long-term plans.
As far as players not buying into Berube's system, I don't know how true that is. The team's been used to him behind the bench for so long — only Kimmo Timonen, Braydon Coburn and Claude Giroux (for two games) played here when he served as head coach of the Philadelphia Phantoms. Berube hasn't lost the dressing room, and Steve Mason said just a few days ago that the Flyers "are letting down Chief." They bought into his system last year when they rallied for a playoff spot, and continue to do so despite the team's struggles.
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Rob Riches is a contributor to Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @Riches61.
