What's the Dilly in Philly? An Early Look at the Flyers' Season

Written By: Mark “The Hard Hitter” Ritter

With 10 games behind them and a record of 5-4-1 to show for their efforts, the Philadelphia Flyers are off to a decent start. With 11 points, the Flyers have played well enough to hold on to the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, which is great and all, but there are plenty of fans that feel the Flyers should be posting better results.

One area of concern seems to be all the line juggling that head coach John Stevens has had early on. Jeff Carter has four goals and five assists through the first 10 games, but his minus five rating is cause for concern. Clearly, Carter would benefit from having regular linemates; going forward, a Carter-Daniel Briere-James Van Riemsdyk combination gets my vote.

Another oddity to the season has been the lack of play from Riley Cote. With just three games played and just two penalty minutes, Cote has seemingly fallen out of favor with coach Stevens. Fellow tough guy, Arron Asham, has three goals in seven games, which seems to be the reason for Cote’s lack of ice time, but there may be more to it.

One huge area of concern for the Flyers has to be the play of defensemen Kimmo Timonen and Braydon Coburn. Through 10 games Timonen has a minus 10 rating and Coburn has a minus nine rating; simply put, that’s just not good enough.

The early love affair with goaltender Ray Emery seems to be dwindling as well. On the surface, with a 5-3-1 record, 2.62 goals against average, .906 save percentage and one shut out through nine games, Emery has played well. That said, Emery has been the victim of a few bad goals and his penchant for going down into the butterfly, seemingly on every play, is starting to hurt him.

The word is out, if you want to score on Emery, go high and go often! Want proof? Just ask the Washington Capitals...

And then there are the injuries. Defenseman Ryan Parent has been sidelined with a groin injury since Oct. 16. His rugged style of play and ability to shut down the opposition has been missed. Parent is expected to play Saturday afternoon against the Carolina Hurricanes, but don’t expect him to play 20 minutes a game right off the bat.

Hard luck forward Simon Gagne will be in Canada today and is expected to get a second opinion on his two hernia’s in his right groin. It appears as if Gagne may need surgery, so don’t expect him back anytime soon. No matter how you slice it, the loss of Gagne will hurt the Flyers.

One thing to consider is that the Flyers have had a very tough October schedule. Two games against the Washington Capitals, a tilt against the defending Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins, a tough match against the San Jose Sharks, a match against the Anaheim Ducks and another tough game against the Boston Bruins, have all contributed to the Flyers static start.

There is no need to panic, the Flyers are a good team. That said, the Flyers started the season with three wins and since the 3-0 start have gone 2-4-1. Sitting in fourth place in the Atlantic Division, one point ahead of the lowly New York Islanders is not ideal for a team that would benefit greatly from home ice advantage in the playoffs.

Sure, it’s early, but the Flyers are already nine points behind the Penguins and six points behind the New York Rangers, two teams they must keep pace with if they intend on securing that home-ice advantage.

And then there is the Flyers' pride. Philly fans have no love for the Penguins and Rangers, with that in mind, it must be killing them to see those two teams ahead of the Flyers in the standings.

The Flyers now turn their sights on the Carolina Hurricanes, a team they will play Saturday afternoon at the Wachovia Center. The Hurricanes sit at 2-6-3 through eleven games and have given up an astounding 39 goals. A win and the Flyers can save face, a loss and the Flyers may fall from the eighth and final playoff position in the East.

For the Orange and Black, as early as it is in the season, it’s gut check time. Let’s hope the Flyers leave the Wachovia center with a full belly.

Until next time,

Peace!