Just one game into the season, and Rick Tocchet’s tenure as the head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers, fans can already say they’ve seen this movie before.
The Flyers lost a close 2-1 contest to the Florida Panthers on Thursday night, and, generally, it can be argued that keeping the back-to-back Stanley Cup champions within range the whole night is in achievement in itself.
But, these were the champs without Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk, and the Flyers were at full strength with the exception of Cam York. Tocchet’s appointment, for better or for worse, is going to be defined by results–wins and player development–and not moral victories.
It may seem harsh, yes, but that’s the reality. And I’m not here to pass judgment one way or another after one measly game.
But, we’ve seen this before, right?
The Flyers wasted a superb goaltending performance from Dan Vladar, gave the Panthers five power play opportunities, and recorded just 20 shots on goal. Low-event hockey was a criticism that Tocchet had in Vancouver, and it showed up in his first game in Philadelphia.
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Things can change, especially with altered line combinations, quickly. As reported by PHLY’s Charlie O’Connor, Tocchet got to work quickly on that point, seemingly preparing to insert Jett Luchanko and Nikita Grebenkin into the Flyers’ lineup while changing up some ineffective lines.
One of those ineffective lines was that of Christian Dvorak, Sean Couturier, and Matvei Michkov. For all Michkov’s talents, he’s not necessarily a creator of offense with his legs like a Connor McDavid or Nathan MacKinnon.
For whatever reason, Michkov was paired up with two support players who have the same issues in their respective games.
And, for Dvorak, a dependable vet and strong faceoff taker like him attempted only two faceoffs (winning one), took two penalties, and played fewer minutes on the penalty kill than Noah Cates, Travis Konecny, Couturier, Garnet Hathaway, and even Owen Tippett.
His role didn’t make much sense, but a reunion with Trevor Zegras should be beneficial with both players.
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As for Luchanko and Grebenkin, Tocchet is wisely leaning towards replacing Nick Deslauriers and Rodrigo Abols with the two prospects.
Abols and Deslauriers played 8:05 and 7:31, respectively, so, given that they hardly played, it really ended up being a waste of two spots in the lineup. Even if Grebenkin and Luchanko had gotten 12 minutes or so, it’s valuable experience to open up your season against the defending champs and see the pace and level at which they play.
Fortunately, the Flyers play the Panthers again on Monday, and they’ll have the Metropolitan Division rival Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh on Saturday night.
Tocchet isn’t going to be a miracle-worker by any means with the state of the defense, but he should be aspiring to get more out of the forwards after some of these combinations looked dreadful, even in the preseason.
Fortunately, it seems the first-year Flyers coach is making progress immediately, which should be at least modestly refreshing.
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