By: Bill Meltzer
This bitter dissapointment of a 1997-98 campaign ended in a microcosm of the whole season. Maddeningly inconsistent and prone to lapses at crucial times. The Flyers somehow managed to give up 4 breakaways last night- and another that would have been a shorthanded breakaway if not for a two line pass. Big ticket acquisition Chris Gratton took a bad penalty in OT. Dan McGillis, who was personally responsible for about 8 Buffalo scoring chances in Game 5 and also took an awful retaliation penalty late in regulation that cost the Flyers a powerplay, turned the puck over with a chance to clear it. That started the sequence that led to Grosek's series winner. McGillis was the worst defenseman on the ice for either team last night, and that included a rusty Chris Joseph for the Flyers and talented but erratic young Jay McKee of the Sabres. Anyone who has even casually been following Edmonton since the trade knows that Niinimaa has been playing very good two way hockey for them- the trade which allegedly was supposed to help the Flyers D in the short run, has turned into a disaster ahead of schedule. McGillis has had some great checks but his coverage in his own end and foolish gambles up the ice are just as bad- if not worse- than Niinimaa's were during his worst slumps. McGillis has the tendency to over-commit and get caught. Making matters worse were the fact that Chris Therien played poorly the entire second half of the season, after a strong first half, and Eric Desjardins looked very fatigued after the Olympics and also played poorly much of the latter part of the season. Petr Svoboda was very effective when he could stay healthy, but his constant injury woes once again took him out of the action for crucial stretches. Luke Richardson played decently from mid-November through mid-March, but the season was bookended by a poor start and a struggling finish. That basically left ancient Dave Babych as the sole Flyers playoff defenseman who didn't make you cringe every time he stepped onto the ice. Ever since the Paul Coffey trade, the team has missed Kevin Haller's outstanding mobility and generally steady, chippy positional play. They've even missed the mobile and strong but wildly inconsistent Karl Dykhuis- and as was astutely noted to me the other day when I said the Flyers could use Dykhuis' skating ability: you know your D is in trouble when you're getting nostalgic over Karl Dykhuis! But the problem is that what was once a very mobile and positionally sound D (if not generally very physical) that smoothed out some the rough edges of a forward corps without a lot of great skaters is now largely a fairly slow defense corps, with Richardson and McGillis taking the spots once occupied by Dykhuis and Niinimaa;, plus Haller is gone and Paul Coffey is out of the loop.
The defense's problems were made even worse by the fact that few Flyers forwards bothered all year to contribute to the defensive effort. They weren't even executing fundamental defensive plays- things like third man high when two forwards go in deep, coverage at the vacated point when a D pinches, backchecking as hard as possible after a turnover, helping out down low in their own zone, not turning to leave the defensive zone until the puck is safe. These routine plays were generally executed when Murray was the coach (except when the team fell into one of it's notorious panics when the offense wasn't coming- then there were lapses). But under Cashman they largely stopped making the most basic of defensive plays, and after a stretch of improvement under Neilson, they lapsed right back into those bad habits. Team D was the one area that Terry Murray truly solidified during his tenure with the team, and it was probably the singlest biggest area the club backslid this area- also attested to by the Flyers horrendous road penalty killing during the regular season and their disastrous penalty killing, road and home, during the Buffalo series.
Moving to the offense, where did the Flyers forechecking and cycling game go? Those ominous cycling shifts where the other team couldn't clear their own end and the Flyers forwards- especially the Lindros line- would work the puck down low and either get a scoring chance, a penalty, or at least a long tiring shift for the other team that could pay dividends later on. Those types of shifts were largely in short supply this season, and I still can't figure out the reason why. During the Flyers big 2nd period surge against the Sabres in Game 5, that was what the Flyers were doing- forechecking and keeping the Sabres hemmed in deep. The reason why I predicted the Flyers in 6 in this series, in fact, was that was what the Flyers routinely did to Buffalo, including during last year's playoffs and the team's first two regular season meetings this year. But for much of this season and for almost of the all-too-brief playoff run, that was nowhere to be seen. That killed the team- that is how LeClair and Lindros generate the majority of their points. Lindros and LeClair are also capable of being good line rushers, but they need a RW who can read and react along with them to be able to do so. The demise of the LOD killed off that aspect of their game. The Sabres were able to cheat defensively toward LeClair or Lindros on the line rush without the slightest fear that they would get burned along the right wing. Sillinger is a good line rushing forward and on the occassions when the little lightbulb goes off in Alex Daigle's head to get involved in the play and use his blazing speed for more than floating to look for breakaways, they are able do some great things together on the rush, especially when complemented by the physical and fundementally sound play of Colin Forbes on the left side. But Daigle just does not involve himself enough in the play to use his inborn gifts.
Two other big problems with the offense were an absolutely abysmal passing game and an inability to get shots on target when open chances were there. . It was a near miracle when the club could string consecutive tape-to-tape passes together. In April, they were still in training camp form passingwise- and that included many players who were here all year, not just the midseason pickups. If you want to see a clinic in puck movement, turn on a Detroit Red Wings game. Then compare that to the Flyers. Not a flattering comparison (you could do the same for defensive execution by watching either Detroit, St. Louis, or New Jersey). And on the occasions when the Flyers were able to pass the puck into scoring position, they often came away totally emptyhanded. I don't necessarily mean scoring on the shot (although, that is of course, the objective), I mean getting the puck on the net. The Flyers get too many shots blocked with poor shot selection and they miss the net with far too many of their wide open chances; unfortunately, I'd have to name Trent Klatt (a player I like) as the most frequent culprit this year in getting a wide open shot and not even coming close to scoring. That was a major problem ,too ,when it was a defenseman shooting from the top of the circles or with a clear lane from the point.
I saved coaching, goaltending, and the GM for last. Of all the mistakes that Clarke made over the last year, by far the biggest was the selection of Wayne Cashman as the head coach. By the team Neilson took over, the team had slipped into so many bad habits that it was a losing battle trying to swim against the tide. Still, I expected at least better team D in the playoffs- that was another reason why I predicted the Flyers would win the first series. I expected them to pay attention to defensive execution. Sadly, it never happened. Petr Svoboda said a few weeks ago that Neilson really didn't have time to install a system in the middle of the March blitz of games, plus it was a little awkward to have Wayne Cashman standing right there while Neilson was trying to instruct them how to make changes in the way they played for Cashman. I would also add that since so much of the team system revolves around Eric Lindros as its foundation, it was almost like starting the system from scratch when Lindros returned to the lineup. But excuses don't wash in this city. Neilson's end result from this season was that he was ineffectual. We'll see how he does with the personnel he gets to work with next year- again, I expect team D to improve when he gets to work with the club from the first day of camp, but the players had better make a real commitment to the system.
Everyone expected goaltending to swing the series. As it turned out, it did not; although the stat sheets might seem otherwise. No goalie would have won this series for the Flyers- not CuJo, not Mike Richter, not even Bernie Parent in his prime. On the vast majority of the goals given up by Burke in this series, he had no chance whatsoever- most of them were point blank shots off coverage mistakes or oddman rushes. Even the couple of goals that people questioned came off wide open shots where the Buffalo player had time to wind up and unload or on shots where there was traffic in front and Burke was at least partially screened. I'll address the Flyers goaltending future later in this article, but it needed to be said up front that so much else had broken down, that the goaltending was pretty much a non-factor in the playoffs.
The central person in this whole sad affair is GM Bob Clarke. He is the one who made the moves that transformed the club from Stanley Cup contender to a paper tiger. It's too late to undo the damage done this season, but with the exception of that Niinimaa for McGillis fiasco, he can, with the right moves this offseason, put the team's future back on track- or else he can completely ruin the team. The rest of this article will deal with the myriad of crucial decisions that await the Flyers this offseason. At the end, I will give my take on some of the issues that have arisen for the offseason- I'm not about to claim that I really have the answers to the team's problems, but at least I can get a few things off my chest.
The Flyers finished this season with the highest payroll in the NHL. That immediately presents a big stumbling block going into this offseason. The 4 biggest decisions the Flyers have facing them all involve big salaries. One thing that does help is that Chris Gratton's salary drops considerably over the duration of the contract he signed last summer- to the tune of about $8 million less. Although the Flyers can't recoup the money they already wasted on him, at least they have some more fiscal flexibility hereafter. Kjell Samuelsson and- if they can find a taker- Paul Coffey are two more seven figure salaries that they can jettison. Still, the moves the Flyers have to make this offseason would still stand to give them the biggest payroll in the NHL after they are finished. In quick outline order, these are the biggest on-ice moves that await the club this offseason:
1) Re-signing restricted free agent Rod Brind'Amour, who has every right to ask for as much- or more- than they paid Chris Gratton. Unless they got an overwhelming trade offer for the rights to Rod Brind'Amour, they really have no other choice but to meet his price. Brind'Amour has the team over a barrel right now, and this is yet another way they stand to end up paying for the Gratton move.
2) Signing a top notch free agent goalie. Everyone is saying it will be Mike Richter, but Richter has let it be known that his first preference is to re-sign with the Rangers. No matter which goalie they go for- Richter, Curtis Joseph, John Vanbiesbrouck, or at last resort, re-signing Burke- it is going to run into major money. The worst case scenario is that the Flyers end up with none of the above, and they end up with Ron Hextall and who-knows-who.
3) Starting another round of contract renegotiations with Eric Lindros. It would very tough to trade him and get fair value in return- another franchise player or a huge package of useful players. This may be wishful thinking on my part, but I think that Lindros' tough season (by his standards) and the anguish of the negotiations from earlier this year, might actually make this signing less difficult than it may have seemed before. I don't think Lindros wants to go through the same process again, and I'm sure the team wants the issue resolved once and for all. The biggest problem is going to be in terms of years- will the contract take him right up to UFA age or will the team be able to re-evaluate his status with a least a year to go before is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent.
4) There are a couple of highly sought unrestricted free agent defensemen that figure to be available come July, led by Al MacInnis and then Gary Suter. Although getting up in age, MacInnis especially could provide major help at both ends of the ice and is still a #1 defenseman in the NHL. Suter was once pretty good at both ends, although his defensive game seems to have gone backwards in the last few years. Still, he is a guy who can run a powerplay and takes fewer bad chances than Paul Coffey. The Flyers have to at least think about trying to find a way to help out the defense without giving up needed players in return- something which is otherwise impossible when you are talking about a player the likes of MacInnis.
5) Filling the void on the top line RW spot left by the ill-fated trade with Tampa. My sentimental choice, of course, is to re-acquire Renberg, who may not be the best pure scoring RW around but at least he does a lot of the little things well and we know that he'll fit in with LeClair and Lindros. But no matter what they do, they have to find some more depth at RW. I still don't understand how Clarke could let the trade deadline pass without acquiring at least a stopgap RW- Edmonton would have been only too happy to send Andrei Kovalenko along with McGillis.
6) Making a decision on whether to retain Joel Otto. Although he definitely showed signs of decline, there is not a viable option to replace him on the current roster, unless they put defensively responsible winger/center Dainius Zubrus in a checking line center role. And going on with that theme…
7) Deciding whether to be patient with Zubrus' still-immature offensive game, making him a full time checking liner or panicking and trading him. Just by the way I phrased that, you know what I think of that third option- and that's the option Clarke may well choose.
8) Addressing team speed both on D and up front. It's not a good idea to go too far in the other direction, either, but the speed needs to be upgraded, even if a little size is sacrificed. What the Flyers really need is a balance of players on the roster- some fast, some powerful, some who are agitators, some who are loose in dressing room.
9) Getting ready for the expansion draft. Paul Healey, Jeff Lank, Jeff Staples, and veterans Coffey, John Druce, Peter White, and Craig Darby seem the most logical candidates to be lost in the draft, although there may end up being a surprise player left unprotected, you never know.
10) Deciding whether to go with a more youth oriented approach on their AHL squad, thus sacrificing wins (and probably some attendence) for player development. Really, that would be a more pressing issue if the Flyers had more good prospects in the system. There has been plenty of room on the Phantoms for the NHL position prospects that have been there, such as Brian Wesenberg. But a partial change in approach to the goaltending would mean potential acceleration of Brian Boucher's development (and soon J-M Pelletier's).
11) Consider the option of shopping Chris Gratton to see if others clubs are still so high on him that they will give you a very good return on him. Lest you think I'm picking on Gratton, I would be willing to move any player on the team- for the right price. I wouldn't just dump any of the "nucleus players" for the sake of change, but in the *right* deal, I would move anybody, including Eric Lindros. Now my definition of the right deal for Eric Lindros would basically fall along one of two lines- straight up for Peter Forsberg, or something that would fill lots of needs at once, like Keith Tkackuk and two of three among Teppo Numminen, Oleg Tverdovsky, and Nikolai Khabibulin. But that would not necessarily be the right move for the other team. Downsize the scale for all the other highly tradeable players. To me, Gratton is logical guy to go, because he's still young, other teams would still like to have him, and as an offensive center, he plays a position at which the Flyers still have other viable options. LeClair or Brind'Amour (because of his offensive AND defensive roles) would be much tougher to replace. I've said this before, but if Chicago would still send the Flyers a similar package to what they offered Tampa for Gratton- Ethan Moreau and the now-traded Keith Carney was the offer, but steady vet Eric Weinrich and young Christian LaFlamme are also enticing players- I'd personally drive Chris to the airport to make the next flight to the Windy City. That would add to the Flyers wing depth- where they need help more than at center- and also solidify a defensive spot, especially if it's Weinrich, a bankable commodity. I'd also place a call to LA and see if perhaps they would move top prospect Olli Jokinen straight up for Jokinen. The thought of a second line that includes Jokinen and Zubrus might not be of great impact next year, but within the next 2-3 years, it could be devastating. If I got a no on Jokinen, I'd ask for two from among Aki-Petteri Berg, Mattias Norström and Chris O'Donnell. If I go "no" answers all the way around, I would hang on to Gratton and live with his shortcomings, because I do think he has better offensive seasons in him than what he showed this year.