While the Flyers haven’t experienced enough success the last four years to get them into the playoffs, at least their defensive numbers are trending in the right direction.
Coming out of the COVID-mangled 2020-21 season, the Flyers returned to a regular 82-game season the following year and gave up a whopping 294 goals.
Then John Tortorella arrived as the new head coach and things started to change. The next year the total dropped to 276 and then last year down to 258.
It doesn’t take a math whiz to figure out the fewer goals you allow, the more wins you’re likely to get.
While defensively hockey is a six-man effort, the perception is that the backliner pairings account for much of a team’s success or failure in the goals-allowed department.
A big reason for the Flyers’ improved play in stopping other teams’ offense is associate head coach Brad Shaw, who runs the defense.
He’s a big part of why young defensemen such as Cam York, Jamie Drysdale and Egor Zamula have made significant strides the past year or two.
Now, as the Flyers get ready to open their season on Friday at Vancouver, Shaw is looking to keep that positive trend going.
This is the third season for Tortorella’s crew and the comfort level between coaches and players seems a lot better. Both sides appear to know what’s to be expected in order to make this dynamic work.
“It feels different,” Shaw said. “My first year here, everything was new. You’re trying to get to know the players after that first year and there’s a little bit of housecleaning in the room (players who don’t fit often are moved).
“The void that was left leadership-wise (the Flyers didn’t have an official captain for more than a season until Sean Couturier was handed the ‘C’ last year). Then it really came together. There’s not a lot of change in systems or what we’re asking of them.”
A first pairing of York and Travis Sanheim is expected to once again lead the defense corps. Then it figures to be some kind of mix with Rasmus Risolainen among the top four.
“I know what my expectations are for pretty much every defenseman,” Shaw said. “I think that helps us. It helps us to monitor where they’re at, maybe a little bit quicker. If the game isn’t going well or is going well.
“You don’t want to get complacent. You want to drive to another level.”
Shaw also has his hand in the Flyers’ penalty kill, which finished fourth in the NHL in the 83rd percentile.
“I’ve had some great questions already about our penalty kill,” Shaw said. “Guys like (forward Ryan) Poehling. It’s really good. The communication we have as a group – the coaches, the players – is really solid and I think it’s only going to get better.”
It took Tortorella and Shaw a couple years to get the Columbus Blue Jackets into the playoffs and finally win a first postseason series in franchise history.
Maybe the duo can achieve the same success here in year three.
“I think we’re on a little different trajectory than that team was,” Shaw said. “But our internal expectations are very high. We know where this team can go, how well this team can play.
“We know what their ‘A’ game looks like and we’re going to ask for it often. We’re going to ask them to be more consistent. That’s the real key on moving forward.”
>Seeler still sidelined
Defenseman Nick Seeler blocked a shot with his leg the other day and experienced some loss of sensation. He’s been sidelined and the Flyers want to make sure he’s ready for either the season opener at Vancouver on Friday or game two at Calgary on Saturday.
Seeler was on the Flyers’ jet to Vancouver on Wednesday which is somewhat encouraging.
“It’s taken a little longer than we thought,” Shaw said. “Most of those, you get the sensation back and your feeling back. It’s (usually) minutes or hours at the most and it’s been a few days now.”
“Stingers” can be tricky. It all depends on where the puck actually strikes and with how much force.
“We’re just sort of playing it as a day-to-day thing,” Shaw said. “We’ll see. We don’t want to put him on the ice. Just don’t have a real good sense as to where that edge is. It becomes dangerous.
“So we’ll be smart about it. Hopefully he’s ready to go. We’ll deal with it day-to-day.”
If Seeler isn’t ready for the Canuck game, it’s likely seventh defenseman Erik Johnson will fill in.
