The Return of the Flyers Country Club
A couple of days ago, I wrote about what appeared to be a collapse on the horizon.
What shocked me on the side of writing that piece was how relatively indifferent the team was to that being the case. What’s clicked for me is how relatively indifferent almost everyone is.
The organizational sentiments for almost every player are, “They’re just so great and people don’t recognize them enough yet.”
According to Anthony DiMarco, as an example, the Flyers’ faith in Samuel Ersson remains undiminished in the wake of yet another bad season. In fact, his game against the Blues… wherein he surrendered 5 goals on fewer than 20 shots… was considered a positive performance because only two of the 5 goals were “questionable,” and he was able to “battle,” and come up with 2 big saves… to prevent himself from surrendering 7 goals.
Sam Ersson has been working on being an awful goaltender for over 2 years now.
From January to the end of the 23-24 season, Ersson had a .876 save percentage and a 2.80 goals against average.
He was given a pass because he was injured and he was working too hard, starting too many games after Carter Hart went down. Okay, fair enough.
In the next season? He produced an .883 save percentage and a goals against average of 3.14. He got worse.
Instead of simply coming to grips with who Sam Ersson is, though, we’ve decided that we need to play the most restrictive and conservative hockey known to the universe in order to help the goalies. And what has Ersson accomplished with all of this help?
So far, he’s accomplished an .884 save percentage with a goals against average of 3.3. He got worse, again! Maybe his numbers will stabilize, and he’ll simply repeat last year, but last year was atrocious.
I could subject you to all of the goals above expectations that he’s allowed, but I’ll spare you that.
Ersson is just one example of a growing trend. Almost nobody on the team is held accountable for anything.
Owen Tippett just recently managed to 10 games with a single point, an assist. Over that stretch, he was played as one of the team’s top offensive forwards. He was given Trevor Zegras as his almost permanent linemate. He had everything he needed, even if he went cold, not to be an objectively awful player for over a tenth of the season.
When he failed to meet that bar, was he scrutinized and excoriated on a regular basis? No, not at all.
The solution was to ride it out. No, the solution was to “get tighter with him, kind of get into his brain. I want to help him. His tools are unreal.”
Mired in some of the worst stretches of hockey I’d ever seen from a player, and he’s getting massaged in the media.
Now, I’m glad that Owen Tippett has climbed out of his funk. I really am, that’s not me being facetious. I’m not going to forget about the last 3 years entirely, but I’m willing to let him attempt to prove me wrong.
That doesn’t mean he didn’t get a total hall pass for 10 games.
But it’s not just Owen Tippett, either. How about the Captain? How about Sean Couturier, who feels it’s only proper for him to tell everyone when they’re playing “The Right Way”?
Sean Couturier has 0 goals and 6 assists in his last 14 games. Besides a singular 4-point game in the third game of the season? He has those 6 assists in 17 games this year.
This is a player who plays 19 and 20 minutes on a regular basis. He plays in every situation from power-play to penalty-kill. He has more opportunities to rack up points than anyone, and he seemingly can’t do it.
Is that The Right Way?
And let’s talk about his once vaunted 200-foot game. Let’s talk about his territorial play.
It’s not too bad. It’s pretty good, even. Couturier is a bit unfortunate, as he has a 53% expected goal share when the team has a 47% without him, and he’s been outscored 10-9 at 5v5. That might turn.
But pretty decent underlying numbers and being outscored is Playing the Right Way, huh?
Speaking of. We have another individual who wants to regale us with talk about players who “Play the Right Way” in Travis Konecny.
How would Konecny know? Is he some arbiter of the Right Way? Let’s examine that proposition, shall we?
His point totals are alright. 14 points in 18 games. 12 points in his last 13. He averages over 19 minutes a night, so they’re not fantastic, but they’re good. Of course, I’m reliably informed that The Right Way isn’t just about putting up points. So what else is Travis Konecny doing?
He’s currently being outscored 12-11 in his 5v5 minutes. So much for an all-around game. The guy can’t keep the puck out of his own net. Is that the Right Way?
And before anyone thinks he’s just getting unlucky, Konecny has a 44% expected goal share. He’s actually lucky on the season so far.
In his last 10 games, that 44% is actually 40%. Is that The Right Way?
Is anybody going to ask about this? Does Konecny have to answer for this? He has a reputation of being a “200-foot player,” and he’s getting creamed out there.
To recap, when Sam Ersson gives up 5 goals, he actually battled and stayed resilient, and you plebs are lucky he didn’t give up 7.
Owen Tippett will come and go as he pleases, and everyone here will love it.
Sean Couturier will score at the rate of a 4th liner while playing the minutes of a 1st liner and then let you know if you’re playing the Right Way, and if that’s “helping the team.”
Travis Konecny will beg you to draft his buddy from Team Canada because he Plays the Right Way, and meanwhile, Konecny’s “way” of playing includes him getting absolutely eviscerated on a nightly basis.
And for the coup de grace, when you lose a big game, that’s okay. Do you know why? Because, and I alluded to this in the previous article, “you were supposed to finish in last place, so we have to give them credit.”
Players aren’t accountable. The entire team isn’t accountable, because every game they win is just gravy. Nobody’s accountable for anything except Matvei Michkov, for whom we will need to do deep examinations into his summer and have continual discussions on whether or not he’s “earned his minutes.”
It’s pretty obvious to see what’s happening here. Team Canada’s “vibes guy” in Rick Tocchet has come in to deliver the good vibes for the Flyers… if you’re part of the fraternity, that is.
If you’re not? It’s probably because you don’t Play the Right Way.
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