Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
On a mission for months, Flyers’ success should continue
There was still about a third of the hockey season to play when the Flyers faced a choice. They could accept the concept of rebuilding under a new coach and relax in a fresh franchise atmosphere of patience. Or they could start playing playoff hockey two months early.
Their decision was firm and clear and determined.
Their decision is why they can continue playing hockey for a while.
“Must wins,” is what they began calling every game, beginning in the middle of February. Or, as Wayne Simmonds demanded to know when asked if
it were too early for that, “What? Do you want us to lose games?”
By then, the Flyers had shown some of that ability, too, starting the season at 7-10-5, that after missing the playoffs last season. With Dave Hakstol having replaced Craig Berube, they initially seemed either disoriented or disinterested. Both, maybe. With that, the chatter began early that by the trade deadline, Ron Hextall would be a seller, not, as per organizational custom, a buyer. It seemed to be over. The Flyers had flattened with their nucleus. The next move was for the general manger to repair as much of the roster as possible so that it would be ready once the many gifted defensemen in his system were ready to graduate to
the NHL.
It was going to take time. In one unfortunate way, though, that time was too precious to waste. Though the Flyers never really said much about it until recent days, they realized that chairman Ed Snider, 83, had not been around all season, and instead had been battling illness in California. And maybe it was nothing, or maybe it was just a subliminal emotional boost, or maybe it was real, but at some point, the Flyers began to do on the ice what their front office had been doing since 1975: Going as hard as possible to win a Stanley Cup for the man they all call Mister.
“We’re playing to make the playoffs for him,” Hakstol said. “Obviously, like Mr. Snider, we think we’ve got more in the tank. Obviously, I think we’re playing Washington in the first round here so we’re going to dedicate this to Mr. Snider.”
As it would happen, Hextall would be neither an aggressive buyer nor a seller at the trade deadline, though he did find a way to move Vinny Lecavalier and Luke Schenn to Los Angeles for Jordan Weal and a thirdround pick. Rather, he trusted that what he’d had, and in many ways what Paul Holmgren had built, was destined to function. That included Shayne Gostisbehere,
who was promoted to the Flyers after spending the first five weeks of the season in the minor leagues, then began a belated Rookie of the Year campaign.
Suddenly, it all began to work. The Flyers won their last three games in February, then nine more in March. They looked like, as Mark Streit decided to announce early, when the Flyers were being publicly dismissed as inept, “a great team.”
“I mean, if you have Mason in the net with Gostisbehere on the blue line, and a lot of talent on the front, you can’t rebuild,” Voracek said. “You’ve got to go with it every year, and that’s what happened. Different guys got different opportunities, and no one got upset if they played 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes.
“Everybody stuck together, and that’s what we are in the spot we are in right now.”
They’re in a tough spot, facing a first-round playoff series against the Capitals, who had the NHL’s best regular-season record. But if any team knows about playing important games, it will be the one that decided to play every one as one of the “must” variety in February.
“We’ve been pushing hard to accomplish this goal,” Hakstol said. “The guys should be excited by it and there should be some emotion to it. I think we embrace that just like we embrace the challenge of pushing to get in.”
They embraced it, when they did not have to embrace it. They won when they were approved to rebuild. It’s why they can win some more.