Daniel Briere was correct to issue a warning, after all.
In early July, the Philadelphia Flyers’ general manager cautioned that the club “took a big step forward last year, and there’s a good chance that we take a little bit of a step back this year. We’re ready for that.”
When asked to clarify those words just before the beginning of training camp, Briere only slightly walked them back.
“The part that keeps me up at night is (if) some of our players feel complacent, feel like they’ve made it,” he said.
If Briere was losing sleep then, he’s tossing and turning even more since the season began. Not only did the Flyers apparently assume they would simply be able to pick up where they left off last season, when they were the fourth-best team after the Olympic break and advanced to the second round of the playoffs, but they’ve shown virtually no signs of improvement over the first two weeks of the NHL season.
The Flyers enter Tuesday’s game against the Seattle Kraken with an 0-5-2 record, and are one of three teams without a win this season (along with the Calgary Flames and Los Angeles Kings).
“Here for the Rise” was the marketing phrase emblazoned on the front of the orange T-shirts distributed to fans on opening night, and is posted on signage around Xfinity Mobile Arena. The only thing rising is fans’ anxiety levels.
So, what’s the next move? Let’s examine some potential consequences to the Flyers’ abysmal start, and whether any of them make sense.
1. Fire Rick Tocchet
Much to the chagrin of some of the fans who chanted for this move at the end of the Flyers’ 4-1 home loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday, it doesn’t seem likely — at least right now. Seven poor games doesn’t erase the progress that the Flyers made under coach Rick Tocchet last season, when just about every young player on the roster had a career year.
There’s also the matter of Tocchet’s contract. He’s barely into the second year of a five-year, $26.25 million deal. It’s doubtful team governor Dan Hilferty would be all that excited to sign off on the organization having that much dead money on the books.