Tag: Sean Couturier

Before the puck even hits the ice, the Flyers are already dealing with more than their share of injury woes.

At the end-of-season press conference, and for much of the offseason, the Flyers focus was on injured players returning healthy. The so-called plan has already backfired before the team even takes the ice for training camp.

According to a report from Crossing Broad’s Anthony SanFilippo, Flyers forward Sean Couturier suffered a herniated disc and could miss significant time this upcoming season.

The NHL Draft has come and gone, blink and you missed free agency. The final piece of the Flyers offseason outlook is to focus on line combinations for the upcoming season.

On Wednesday, you saw that the current regime is incapable of handling a rebuild. They insisted upon an aggressive retool for a fast fix, not the necessary rebuild needed. Now it’s time to start that rebuild anyway, but focus on the front office that has so clearly set the Flyers back.

Image via Amy Irvin/38 Photography Back when it looked like this season was going the way of the early 90s…

With the 2021-22 season now over for the Philadelphia Flyers, it’s time to review in a four-part series focusing on what moves they should make this offseason.

The problem with each of these possibilities is that they are rooted in hope. Hope that the injured players return as advertised and stay healthy. Hope the young players take that big step everyone has waited for. Hope that you can perhaps manufacture some hockey trades or free-agent signings to plug in the holes that the team is lacking for speed and skill and make it all work.

Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher held his end-of-season availability on Tuesday, first confirming that Mike Yeo would not be returning as head coach of the team. He also discussed the meaning of an “aggressive retool,” how youth factors into the future, and some injury updates.

The final 15 games for the Flyers will serve as a chance to evaluate. They will provide a look at some new faces entering the lineup in the last couple of weeks and maybe even a new face or two to come down the road. It is a way to take inventory going into the offseason – what does the team already have and what does it need even more of on the roster moving forward?

In the end, Giroux ultimately held the keys to his destination. Florida was where he wanted to be. That left the Flyers limited in what they could get in return. If nothing else, the return in the Giroux deal is more of a reality of what the state of the Flyers is and remains after this trade, and the result of years of shortcomings by the organization.

Claude Giroux has appeared in every game since Jan. 13 and will take the ice for his 1,000th game in the NHL and in a Flyers uniform on Thursday night against the Nashville Predators. Prior to the game, the Flyers will hold a ceremony to honor Giroux’s milestone.

The Flyers extension of Rasmus Ristolainen makes for a confusing message and sense of direction, just as the trade deadline starts to approach and a time to set the foundation for change draws near.

At this stage of the Flyers season, now 55 games in with 27 still to go, the results are essentially meaningless. It’s not about wins and losses at this point. Despite that, when a head coach addresses playing with passion, accountability, and having a winning attitude as areas of concern, it raises eyebrows. He’s not the first to do it either.

GM Chuck Fletcher met with the media on Friday morning in the wake of an announcement that Sean Couturier had undergone back surgery that morning and would be out for the remainder of the season. Fletcher also provided more insight to the uncertain returns of both Ryan Ellis and Kevin Hayes in the 2021-22 season.

One day after officially being named a special assistant to the general manager, Danny Briere met with the media on Wednesday morning to discuss the new role and how he factors into those plans.

Wednesday’s Flyers press conference with Dave Scott and Chuck Fletcher was another example of just how far the Flyers are from an identity and a sense of direction. It presents more questions than answers, and it runs through a range of emotions that rival the five stages of grief – some congruent like anger and denial and others like irrationality and delusion.

For the third time in eight days, the Flyers and New York Islanders face off. It was be the second time on Long Island. For the Flyers, a loss will be their 13th straight, setting a new franchise record for the longest winless streak.

The Flyers will face the Dallas Stars on Monday night while on the cusp of two historical moments. Keith Yandle with tie Doug Jarvis’ consecutive games record at 964, while the Flyers would match a franchise-record winless streak of 12 with another defeat.

At the halfway point of the 2021-22 season, the playoffs aren’t happening and things appear to be in shambles on and off the ice. So what happens in the final 41 games? What makes them noteworthy? Here are three questions that are facing the Flyers going forward for the remainder of the season.

The Flyers take on the Buffalo Sabres, who are now hot on their heels just three points back in the standings, trying to avoid an 11th straight loss.

Cam Atkinson and Jake Voracek face their former teams for the first time on Thursday night. For the Flyers, it also may be the second time already this season that they reach double-digits on a winless streak.

The Flyers’ streak hit eight games on Monday with the 4-1 loss on Long Island. Meanwhile, the Islanders are just starting to make up some ground in games played, and the distance between them and the Flyers is rapidly decreasing.

The Flyers look to avoid making that an eight-game losing streak as they take on another team struggling to find its footing this season. The New York Islanders are the opponent for the next two nights for a home-and-home, starting Monday night on the road for the Flyers.

The next chance for the Flyers to end their current six-game losing streak comes on Saturday night against the New York Rangers. 

This is a game with two teams going in opposite directions. The Flyers have lost five straight games going back to Dec. 30. The Bruins are fresh off a 5-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night and have won five of their last six games since New Year’s Day.

The Flyers will still be down several regulars as they take on the Sharks, who are also dealing with several absences, on Saturday night at Wells Fargo Center.

While the Flyers deal with a depleted lineup from COVID and injuries, the Pittsburgh Penguins are in town on Thursday night, fresh off their ninth straight win.

The four-game road trip out of the holiday break ends with one more game on the West coast on Tuesday night against the Anaheim Ducks, albeit with many players out due to COVID protocol on both sides, including both team captains, a budding young star for Anaheim, and the Flyers other top-pairing defenseman.