Fans leave as Flyers tumble toward NHL basement
The vendor at the Flyers merchandise kiosk scrolled through his phone as fans breezed by the US$70 Stadium Series sweatshirts and $250 jerseys that suddenly seem as unwanted as a face-value ticket. One spends $5.39 on a foam finger that is supposed to convey the team is No. 1. At least one Flyers fan in the stands had a different digit in mind — he was caught in the first period flipping off the mascot Gritty. The only part of the season more surprising than the unexpected popularity of their rookie mascot has been the dizzying dip in the standings compared to a year ago. The Flyers crashed from a 98-point team that made the playoffs to the one of the worst teams in the NHL; they fired the coach, the general manager and play in front of a halfempty Wells Fargo Center. A recent 2-1 win over Dallas was just a rare respite for a franchise barrelling toward the Feb. 25 trade deadline on the brink of another shakeup. The suit and tie guys are gone. General manager Chuck Fletcher was hired in November to replace Ron Hextall, who could not turn the Flyers into contenders after 4½ seasons, and he promptly fired coach Dave Hakstol after three-plus seasons without a playoff series win. Interim coach Scott Gordon is 4-7-2 in his brief tenure. That leaves the aging veterans — and perhaps some newer faces — on the market as Fletcher decides if the time is now for a full-blown roster revamp. Former all-star forward Wayne Simmonds is in the last year of his contract and could be traded before the Flyers lose him for nothing. Simmonds, who has only 19 points this season, is perhaps the most important voice in the locker-room and losing his leadership would hurt the Flyers as much as his point production. Just 30, Simmonds could be packaged for prospects and picks to a contender before he hits free agency. Hextall’s inability to turn things around was among the reasons he was unexpectedly dismissed Nov. 26. Philadelphia hasn’t won the Stanley Cup since 1975 and was ready to try to contend after several years of retooling. They instead enter Saturday’s game at New Jersey sitting 30th in the NHL standings at 16-22-6 (38 points). How did it get this bad? Let’s start in net. The Flyers tied
■ an NHL record this week with Mike McKenna becoming their seventh goaltender to play this season. They banked on Brian Elliott and Michal Neuvirth to man the pipes while top prospect Carter Hart gained experience in the minors. Elliott and Neuvirth have been injured most of the season, forcing the Flyers to call up Hart (3-4-1) last month to steady the team.
The farm system had failed to
■ produce stars after a string of bad drafts last decade and expected cornerstones such as Nolan Patrick (No. 2 pick of 2017 draft; 22 games without a goal) and defencemen Shayne Gostisbehere and Ivan Provorov have yielded inconsistent results.
The vets have disappeared.
■
Claude Giroux, the last holdover from the 2010 Cup final team, is again an all-star. But Simmonds, Jakub Voracek, James van Riemsdyk and Sean Couturier have been hit by injury and inconsistency. “When times do get tough, it’s what’s in our locker-room that really matters and what really counts,” Hart said.