(Kate Frese/Sports Talk Philly)
By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 
The Flyers are mired in a difficult spot, just as the season hits the stretch run.
Monday night marked the second straight time the Flyers were shut out, despite allowing just three goals in that time. Travis Konecny has been lost for four-to-six weeks with an injury. Shayne Gostisbehere has been a healthy scratch five times this season, including three straight games.
Gostisbehere’s scratching, and Konecny’s two-game benching prior to Monday’s game, left Flyers fans baffled. Dave Hakstol’s response in regards to the lineup is that he is dressing the best 20 players to win hockey games. But is he really? That’s certainly the question on Flyers fans’ minds.
Part of the problem with the Flyers lineup decisions is the limited options Hakstol has and that GM Ron Hextall can do little to change that at this moment.
Here’s the biggest problem Hakstol is facing in making such decisions: expectations. Gostisbehere had one of the most impressive rookie seasons in Flyers history, scoring 17 goals and posting 46 points in 64 games. So far this season, in 48 games, the offensive production has dipped to just four goals and 21 points.
Understandably, there’s some disappointment regarding Gostisbehere’s lack of offensive production. But Gostisbehere’s defensive play has been further exposed as well. This season, Gostisbehere is a minus-19 when a season ago, he was a plus-8. Ice time.
Similar to Gostisbehere’s expectations, the Flyers and Hakstol set some expectations of their own entering this season when they made the playoffs a season ago. Suddenly, the Flyers were started to move forward in their process, bringing Konecny and Ivan Provorov into the mix at the NHL level and the idea that the Flyers could, at the very least, return to the playoffs while the waiting for more prospects continued was a fair expectation.
Throw in a 10-game winning streak, and suddenly, the Flyers are looking like a shoo-in for the playoffs.
Only now, they look like a team struggling to keep their head above water. They do still hold the playoff spot. They are playing like they want to lose that spot.
In the meantime, as the Flyers are stuck in a holding pattern trying to make it work this season with what they have — yes, that includes the fourth line, Andrew MacDonald and the likes — but more than that, it’s not like help is going to miraculously appear for the Flyers.
Hextall has never had a quick trigger on prospects. He’s not one to make outrageous trades. It will likely be a quiet deadline for the Flyers.
Look, sitting Gostisbehere and Konecny for more than one game isn’t just a learning experience anymore. It’s not a message to the team. It’s a straight up benching for two players, two players who quite frankly don’t deserve it when stacked up against the rest of the team.
That said, if someone is going to sit, someone who may not be such a big part of the future has to play because that’s the hand Hakstol has been dealt for this season. There’s no question the Flyers have players in the system that would make them a better team than dressing Dale Weise, Chris VandeVelde and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, but there is also not a clear path for them to be here.
It’s the reason Hextall has to re-sign players like this to begin with. Hextall has been very careful and very patient the entire way with the prospects the Flyers have acquired over the years. He hasn’t rushed anybody to the NHL level. He’s honestly been reluctant to have any prospect start the season with the team — which is why Konecny and Ivan Provorov truly earned their spots on the team this season. That said, you can’t guarantee that a player like Travis Sanheim or Oskar Lindblom is ready for the NHL, at least in Hextall’s eyes. So you need to take precautionary measures and sign players who serve as placeholders.
The only problem with signing placeholders is that their places are not temporary in a given season. They are season-long deals that essentially determine a prospect’s path for an entire season.
That’s why Sam Morin and Robert Hagg, who may be very well close to ready to debut in the NHL, won’t be coming up anytime soon. Because there are contracts in the way that prevent such moves. So when the Flyers opted to send Morin and Hagg back to the AHL, that was a season-long move unless a long-term injury opened the door. And at this point in the season, especially with the playoffs still in sight, you don’t take risks with rookies. They are better to come into a season fresh and seasoned.
So Hakstol’s hands remain tied and Hextall has to watch this team and the prospects throughout the season to help determine if such precautionary moves are necessary. And the Flyers will have to continue to trudge toward the end of the season, whether it means a determined team effort to reach the playoffs or a disappointing end to a season that had some promise at times.
