Brown not offended by Fultz critique

VOORHEES, N.J. >> There were six days remaining before the NHL trade deadline bell was to toll, and the high-flying Flyers, fresh off a fast morning practice at the Skate Zone, proclaimed themselves ready for a daunting predeadline test.

The Tampa Bay Lightning. Six straight wins, no regulation losses in their previous 10 games, rolling into town with an astounding 94 standings points, which put them 15 points ahead of the next-best NHL team. A runaway for the President’s Trophy on its best run of the season. Um, bring them on? “Yeah, they’re a strong team but we don’t have the luxury of using it as a measuring stick, necessarily, just because we need every point we can get,” James van Riemsdyk said of that night’s premier league opponent. “We just have to find a way to win the game and go from there.”

By Friday, the mourning after a 5-2 beating applied by the Lightning despite Tampa having also played the night before this game, van Riemsdyk and the rest of the Flyers would only be able to contemplate what could, would or maybe should come next. For them, it’s just another game Thursday night in Montreal. But for the Flyers’ general manager Chuck Fletcher, the course of action isn’t quite so clear.

If the goal, as always proclaimed by the franchise forefathers before outsider Fletcher took over as GM, is always to compete for a Cup, how hard of a trade deadline push should Fletcher be making amid a schizo season? A kook of a campaign in which the first half revealed the Flyers to be woefully short of defensive chemistry, timely offensive firepower and special teams skills; but one in which the second half has been highlighted by a midwinter’s night dream of a run?

Prior to this Lightning loss, the Flyers had been on a 121-1 run, and had rocketed to 63 points (28-24-7). They had shaved their very recent hole in the standings from 16 points and a bunch of other teams between them and the final East playoff spot to six points and only one other streaking club, the Carolina Hurricanes, standing between them and tied wildcard teams Montreal and Pittsburgh.

The Flyers also had long-absent goalie Brian Elliott back from his injury rehab, perhaps wondering how, with one injury absence, he’d gone from a 33-year-old No. 1 goalie to a 33-year-old No. 3 ... or at least he’ll be No. 3 as soon as Cam Talbot clears up some travel document problems and is allowed out of Canada to join the team he was traded to late last week.

Thanks mostly to Talbot’s young buddy Carter Hart, this Flyers club Talbot will sooner or later join has seen its defense play better of late, but it could still use someone of savvy physicality on that blue line. The Flyers’ offense has come to life, too, even seeing success on a power play that was absolutely dormant in the early months of the season.

All in all, it makes for an interesting dilemma for the new GM. Fletcher had talked recently of expecting the chance to press meaningful trade buttons before the Feb. 25 deadline. But now his club is (well, was) streaking, making a realistic charge toward a possible playoff spot.

So does Fletch keep tinkering, make a major move or simply leave the suddenly well-enough alone?

“We’re in the situation that we’re in, so that’s management’s decision to make, for sure,” van Riemsdyk offered. “But I’m sure this has made it a little bit trickier for them. We’ve given ourselves a chance here; put ourselves somewhat within striking range of that playoff picture.

“We just need to keep doing our job as players, keep winning games and go from there. I think we underachieved for most of the first half of the year and now we’ve been able to find a little bit of juice here down the stretch.”

Certainly they’d need all juices flowing against this runaway Lightning team, which with a Philly conquest improved to 46-11-496. Uh, that’s good.

Or, as Flyers interim coach Scott Gordon said of the Bolts, “They’ve got a lot of great offensive talent, they play as a unit of five on the ice, great goaltending, great power play. A lot of greats.” Grrrreeeaaaeatttt! Half a period into this greatly anticipated Lightning game, the Flyers had been brutally reminded of just how far behind the championship curve they remain. The Lightning scored three times in the first 10:23 of the first. Rookie wunderkind Hart, playing in his first game against the best team in the league, had been pulled from the game in favor of Elliott, even though he hadn’t played an NHL minute in more than three months.

Heck, Elliott was only dressed for the game because Talbot was still wondering how to escape the Canadian countryside customs dudes.

With all of Fletcher’s roster tinkering, it’s Talbot who represents his most significant move thus far, giving up goalie prospect Anthony Stolarz, but probably only because Stolarz was going to qualify for unrestricted free agency by season’s end. If the time before the trade deadline is only meant for tinkering in Fletcher’s management handbook, the offseason will offer plenty of chances to crank up the trade pressure. Of course, there’s the little matter of wondering what this Flyers team may accomplish with just a little more roster maneuvering.

Either way, the Flyers know one thing as the trade deadline approaches and as they continue to lick their wounds from this Tampa Bay semi-beatdown...

When it comes to comparing themselves to the league’s best, they still have a long way to go. Everything else is just Fletcher’s best guess.