Philadelphia Flyers: Who Is Carrying the Offense and Who Must Step Up?

Baseball has the “dog days of summer,” when teams experience a post-All-Star lull before the intensity of the playoff race. Likewise, hockey seems to have its own period of limbo, when the playoff races are beginning to take shape but teams can seem a bit frozen in place, whether it’s due to the sub-zero temperatures outside or the unpredictability of the next month.

It seems that the Flyers are hitting their “dog days” right on schedule, as the team is 2-4-1 in the month of February, having beaten only the Toronto Maple Leafs and Nashville Predators. The team relied on its offense for most of the season, and the Philly shooters suddenly seem stifled. Henrik Lundqvist has baffled the Flyers twice in February, and the team suffered a shutout-shootout loss to the New York Islanders.

Even in games when Philly finds the net, the offense cannot seem to keep pace with opponents. A third-period surge turned a 6-0 New Jersey lead into a close game earlier this month, and the squad’s road loss to the Red Wings was evenly matched until the going truly got tough.

So how has the offensive dynamic been affected, and exactly who is carrying this team right now?

Here are three players who are keeping the offense afloat and three who need to step it up if Philly is going to survive the most mentally-grueling stretch of the season.

Honorable Mention: Max Talbot

Max Talbot was a surprising offseason signing, as Philadelphia plucked one of its rival character guys from the hands of the hated Pittsburgh Penguins.

Talbot was brought in as an upgrade from Darroll Powe, a penalty-killer and fourth-line/third-line hybrid player who could score the occasional surprising goal.

In his short stint in Philly, Talbot has more than proved himself to be an upgrade: He’s now a bona fide part of the team’s offensive corps on both ends of the ice.

His 14 goals on the season are already a career high, having done more in 56 games with the Flyers than he did in 75 games with Pittsburgh during his best season. Two more points are all he needs to set a new personal mark in that category as well, a feat that he could easily achieve in the next few games.

Talbot may not be the centerpiece of the Flyers offense, but teams like Philly need scoring from all four lines, and Talbot has risen to the challenge without sacrificing his renowned defensive abilities. Fans are quickly joining Team Talbot, and those who aren’t clearly need a little help getting over the fact that he’s a former Penguin.

No matter his former allegiances, Max bleeds orange now.

Dishonorable Mention: Matt Read

The Flyers can be proud to have one of the top rookies in the league wearing the Orange and Black, but much like in the Spiderman series, with great power comes great responsibility.

Read has shown that he can be an offensive threat with his 33 points on the season, good for fifth on the team. His 16 goals lead all NHL rookies. But his early success made him a pivotal part of the Philadelphia offense, and his February disappearing act is having a major negative impact on the team.

Read’s monthly totals have been fairly consistent thus far: seven points in both October and November, eight points in December and nine points in January. The team will be more than halfway through February when it faces Buffalo on Thursday, and Read only has two points in seven games this month, well off his expected pace.

The Bemidji State product may not be expected to be the centerpiece of the Flyers offense, but he has been an important contributor until the team’s current struggles began. If Read does not find his groove again, pressure on the defense, goaltending and other lines could lead to Philly’s undoing in 2011-12.

The Good: Brayden Schenn

Brayden Schenn was the supposed crown jewel of the Mike Richards trade this offseason. The highly-touted center was one of the top-ranked prospects in the league and was considered, well, the next Mike Richards (the logic behind trading a player who is Mike Richards for one who could be seems fractured, but one cannot argue with results).

Schenn’s slow start was cause for alarm and criticism directed at general manager Paul Holmgren. Schenn was out twice with long-term injuries, a concussion and a broken foot, in the first few months of the season. Hockey’s “next big thing” amassed a whopping zero points in eight games from October through December, leaving anxious fans shaking their heads.

Then came the Winter Classic.

Schenn broke through by scoring the first goal of hockey’s biggest regular-season game, celebrating with an enthusiasm that was undeniably related to the monkey on his back for many, many months. Since then, Schenn has found himself comfortable in the NHL.

He has 11 points in 20 games in 2012, including his first career multi-goal game against Detroit on Sunday. For a guy who looked like he was prepared to be a bust, Schenn and fans alike are breathing a sigh of relief that their Schenn-sation has finally found his scoring touch.

The Bad: Jaromir Jagr

Jaromir Jagr, the Flyers offseason acquisition that seemed to generate the most questions from fans (even more than Ilya Bryzgalov and his nine-year, $51 million deal), scored 12 goals in the first three months of the season.

The powerful veteran, who sits ninth on the all-time scoring list and could soon surpass Joe Sakic, seemed like he still had “it” when the season started. Unfortunately, whether it be age, injuries or just bad luck, something caught up with Jagr.

Despite being one of hockey’s greatest, Jagr has only one goal since the new year. Philadelphia’s stagnant offense has been in need of a spark, and with linemate Claude Giroux struggling to put up points, the Flyers hoped Jagr could light a fire under his team. Instead, the veteran has gone MIA on the score sheet.

When the Flyers signed Jagr, they were more interested in his off-ice impact, like his work ethic, than his actual statistical contributions. But with a playoff run hanging in the balance, Jagr needs to rediscover the scoring touch that made his debut in Philadelphia such a success when the year started.

The Good: Scott Hartnell

It seems that, since Hartnell signed with Philadelphia in 2007, fans have been calling for his head upon a silver platter on an annual basis. The vitriol against Hartnell seemed particularly high as 2011-12 started, as fans no longer saw a place for him in a young, budding Flyers offense.

Those criticisms seem a part of the distant past, don’t they?

Hartnell went to the All-Star Game for the first time in his career in 2012. He is second on the team in points and leads the team in goals, and his 50 points at this juncture easily put him on pace to surpass his career high of 60. In addition, Hartnell leads the team in plus-minus and has showcased his unexpected offensive talents without losing any of his trademark grit.

Most Flyers fans would have found this statement preposterous in the first few weeks of the season, but Philly’s success depends heavily on Hartnell’s continuing contributions to the offense. And while the rest of the team struggles, he remains a beacon of hope on offense.

The Bad: Sean Couturier

It’s a bit unfair to criticize a 19-year-old for his lack of production at an NHL level, particularly one who wasn’t supposed to make the NHL roster out of training camp.

But, Sean Couturier did make the roster. And he did avoid being sent back to juniors after nine games. And he did become an offensive factor for the Flyers and made the rookie All-Star team.

Thus, Sean Couturier became an important part of the Flyers offense. In January, Couturier went on a streak of five consecutive games with a goal and six consecutive games with a point. However, since then, he has been on the score sheet only twice in 11 games, and as a result he has been used mostly in only a fourth-line role.

Couturier became a secret weapon for the Flyers, a silent scoring threat who could strike from a bottom-six forward position. Since he went cold, the Flyers offense has become one-dimensional, and while rookies are rarely assigned to pick up the slack of veterans, a team as young as the Flyers needs its youth to perform at a special level.

Couturier alone may not be able to get the Flyers back on track, but a breakthrough from the first-round pick would keep the Flyers afloat during a very difficult time of year.

The Good: Wayne Simmonds

While most players on Philadelphia find themselves struggling during the month of February, Wayne Simmonds is playing the most inspired hockey of any member of the squad.

Simmonds has scored half of his 34 points since the new year and has seven points in seven games this month. More impressive than his numbers is how he is scoring his goals. The modestly-sized forward, listed at 183 pounds, is finding the puck in the most difficult of areas, primarily in front of or behind the net.

Simmonds has used his reach and body positioning to keep control of the puck and create chances, and he has consistently served as a screen for opposing goaltenders.

When a team finds itself struggling to score pretty goals, it needs someone to create some dirty ones. Thank the hockey gods for Wayne Simmonds.

The Bad: Danny Briere

Oh, Danny boy.

During his tenure in Philadelphia, Daniel Briere has been everything from an injury-prone liability to a playoff hero. Now, with veteran leadership at a premium on the Flyers offense, it’s Danny’s time to step up the scoring.

Except he hasn’t.

Briere has scored only six goals since the beginning of December, with half of them coming in a single game against Ottawa in January. While he has missed time with a concussion, he has failed to register a point in nine of 14 games in 2012. Few players on the Flyers have been less effective than Briere, and that’s not even considering his inflated salary.

Briere’s specialty may be the playoffs, but if he doesn’t pick up the pace sooner rather than later, he won’t have much of a chance to display those clutch talents.