Ron Hextall
In a 7-1 rout by the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Flyers losing streak reached eight games, with now three of those losses coming at the hands of the back-to-back champs. And the takeaways from this one are pretty simple. It can’t be much longer before more changes start coming. There isn’t much more to say about the play on the ice that hasn’t already been said during this streak. A season that was all about making the playoffs and getting back to winning has become the opposite in a hurry.
There’s really no end in sight for the Flyers losing trend, not without some serious adjustments. That was fully evident in the most recent defeat, a 5-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Sunday night.
The finalists for the Flyers Hall of Fame were named on Tuesday morning, with six members of the Flyers long and storied franchise being up for possible induction later this season. Here’s a closer look at the six and their case to join the names in the rafters.
Former Flyers GM Ron Hextall is about to get back in the GM chair, as he is reportedly in negotiations with the Penguins to become their next GM, according to TSN’s Frank Seravalli.
What Alain Vigneault has brought in that time has been refreshing. For the better part of a decade, the Flyers lacked a coach that seemed to challenge a steady core group of players, that didn’t demand the same excellence the fans did, that was satisfied with a participation award in the playoffs, but never advancing. That’s not Vigneault’s style.
The draft doesn’t lose its importance to the Flyers, even if they are now turning the corner from the building stages to the contending years. The Flyers pick 23rd overall in this week’s draft. It’s the latest they have picked in the first round since 2012, but the team still expects to find talent.
The Tampa Bay Lightning built the foundation of their championship team through the draft and had to experience a lot of failure before reaching the top. The Flyers may be in the early stages of following the same blueprint.
Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher had his exit day media availability on Thursday afternoon and touched on a number of topics from the progress of the season, what went wrong in the playoffs and what’s ahead for the Flyers in the offseason.
622 days ago, the Flyers were a team in complete disarray. They needed a change and fired the GM. They followed by replacing the GM, firing the head coach and powering through with an interim coach and a rookie goalie in net. Now, they have claimed the top seed in the Eastern Conference for the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Flyers face the Montreal Canadiens in the first round, and there’s certainly plenty of storylines to look at in this series. Here are five to watch for.
