Tocchet, players want to build on last year’s progress

VOORHEES, N.J. – The other day Flyers general manager Daniel Briere said what keeps him awake at night is worrying that last year’s unexpected strong finish might be taken for granted by his team.
On Thursday, coach Rick Tocchet said he’s talked to players and they’re aware the task is only going to get tougher the second time around.
“I’ve talked to some players and they were worried about it, too,” Tocchet said on Thursday at the first day of training camp at the Flyers Training Center. “We can’t pat ourselves on the back. You know that’s my job.”
Tocchet made it clear he’s relying on his veteran players to help get the message across that last year’s trip to the second round of the playoffs really didn’t prove much.
“Leadership (is there) to make sure we don’t (step back),” Tocchet said. “We have a long way to go. There’s nothing to pat ourselves on the back about.”
Even though the Flyers got swept by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes in the second round, the Infinity Mobile Arena crowd gave their favorites an appreciative, long standing ovation after the Game 4 loss.
“Listen, the fans giving a standing ovation after we got swept, that makes them hungry,” Tocchet said. “I wouldn’t be complacent. Just look at that. The fans just gave you a ‘I’m proud of you guys.’ I’m not sure you want to come back and loaf around. That might help, just the gesture the fans did for the players.”
Sean Couturier believes his teammates are coming in with the right emotional and mental approach.
“Everyone’s a year older,” he said. “It’s been a couple years we’ve been talking about rebuilding. But now I think it’s time to really take it to another level. I think we did that last year. Now it’s raising expectations. Guys look good.”
With the training camp shortened to just a couple weeks, the intensity level is naturally higher.
“For the most part guys come in and they’re in shape,” Konecny said. “Last year was such a different experience for all the guys on the team. I’ve noticed it, coming back. We’re still talking about it. So that tells me the guys kept it in the backs of their heads all summer, stayed hungry, want more.”
There’s no doubt the Flyers want to stay motivated to get to where they were last season or even go further.
“It’s a really good thing,” Konecny said. “That’s what you want with playoffs. Everyone gets a taste of it. That’s what keeps you wanting to be better every single day.”
Noah Cates suffered an injury and missed the last two games of the Carolina series. So, in a way, he plans to use that as motivation for the upcoming year.
“There’s more expectations building off last year,” he said. “We’ve got to be mentally ready and prepared. It’s not going to be easy. We’ve got to be really focused. Last year we won a lot of big games. We had a lot of good stretches, so we’ve got to bring that back this year and really push the envelope.”
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