Flyers Encouraged by Recent Resilience

  View image | gettyimages.com Two seasons ago, the Philadelphia Flyers exuded resilience. The club could scarcely have faced more in-season adversity and battled through it successfully. That year, the Flyers established a new franchise record for comeback victories after trailing at some point within the third period. The club won 11 such games. Correspondingly, […]

Bill Meltzer  •  19 Nov 2015
Flyers Arrows Pointing Sideways Early in Season

Only time will tell as to whether Philadelphia Flyers rookie head coach Dave Hakstol is the right man for the job of leading the personnel with which he's been to work to greater heights than his predecessor, Craig Berube. A proper evaluation is likely to require a couple of years while the organization is in […]

Bill Meltzer  •  05 Nov 2015
Voracek Fighting Not to Let Point Drought Bother Him

Flyers right winger Jakub Voracek has always been far more concerned with his team's record than his personal statistics. Last season, when he led the race for the Art Ross Trophy — the top scoring player in the NHL — for much of the season, he inevitably responded to questions about his own numbers by […]

Bill Meltzer  •  29 Oct 2015
Opening Night Strategy: Balance Adrenaline and Discipline

There is a longstanding belief in hockey that the best time to play an elite-caliber opponent is often either very early in the regular season or else at the tail end of the campaign shortly before the playoffs begin. Early on, even the top teams may still need a little time to get various facets […]

Bill Meltzer  •  08 Oct 2015
Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol Needs Total Buy-In to “Hard Hockey” Approach

The Philadelphia Flyers' marketing slogan for the 2015-16 season is "Play Boldly." If the off-season and pre-camp mantras espoused by new head coach Dave Hakstol and Ron Hextall are a reliable indicator of the messages that will be sent to the players throughout the season, expect a very heavy internal emphasis on Flyers players getting […]

Bill Meltzer  •  10 Sep 2015
Rookie coach Hakstol won’t rush to judge personnel

Any time a recently hired NHL head coach steps into his new environment, there is a lot of behind-the-scenes preparation that goes on learn about the personnel on the team and ideas on how the pieces may fit together. For new Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol, the process is even more intensive than for most […]

Bill Meltzer  •  09 Jul 2015
Should the Flyers Keep Couturier and Schenn as a Tandem?

  View image | gettyimages.com During Philadelphia Flyers general manager Ron Hextall's end-of-season press conference on April, he was asked to assess the progress of fourth-year pros Sean Couturier and Brayden Schenn. In particular, Couturier's heavy usage in defensive zone starts against opposing teams' best offensive players was brought up repeatedly, as was the issue of […]

Bill Meltzer  •  28 May 2015
New Flyers coach Hakstol brings college success, lacks pro experience

The Philadelphia Flyers went far off the radar screen with the announcement of the hiring of longtime University of North Dakota (UND) head coach Dave Hakstol as the 19th head coach in franchise history. Hakstol, who reached the Frozen Four seven times in 11 years at UND, has been a very prominent name on the […]

Bill Meltzer  •  18 May 2015