|
Meltzer's Musings: Playoff Post-mortem |
|
|
|
|
|
There really isn't much else that can be said about the Flyers - Bruins series that is not self-evident from even a casual glance at the four games. Boston was the better team in every single facet of the game. The Bruins played rugged and opportunistic hockey, getting outstanding goaltending when they needed it. The Flyers skated poorly, defended poorly, failed to generate enough point shots on net, failed to get enough traffic or second-chance opportunities on net, and suffered goaltending letdowns that contributed to their 4-7 playoff record this spring.
It will be especially interesting to hear the final injury report and surgery list for the team. Injuries are not an excuse -- every team has players suiting up who are postponing surgery until the offseason -- but I think a lot of the players who led the way last spring were too banged up to perform at anything close to that level this year.
Moving forward, there are a host of questions that will need to be addressed this summer. In the weeks to come, I will devote a blog per day to giving my take on each issue, starting today. The questions, which are not grouped in order of importance, are as follows:
1) Is there still a legitimate window of opportunity to win the Stanley Cup in 2011-12 with Chris Pronger and Kimmo Timonen as the key players on defense?
2) In what direction should the Flyers look for a starting goaltender next season? Who will be the backup goalie?
3) Did Peter Laviolette lose the support of the players in the locker room? If so, is the situation something that can be repaired next season for a longer playoff run?
4) Is there enough grit among the Flyers' top nine forwards to perform better next season when they run into grind-it-out games?
5) Is the combination of personalities in the locker room able to win together. Should a core player (i.e., Richards or Carter) be dealt to change the makeup of the team?
6) Should Ville Leino be resigned and at what price?
7) Next season, will James van Riemsdyk be the dominant player we saw in Game 1 and especially in Game 2 of the Boston series or the one who was as invisible as the rest of the club the remainder of the series?
8) What went wrong with the Flyers' power play this season? Is it correctable for next season if the personnel is still largely the same?
9) It was clear that the Kris Versteeg acquisition did not pay off this year. Should he be dealt in the offseason or will he be a better fit next year?
10) Not for next season, but in planning for the seasons beyond, the Flyers have a decision to make about whether they should make long-term committments (i.e., multi-year, big dollar contracts) to Braydon Coburn and/or Matt Carle. Given salary cap concerns, it's probably going to have to be one or the other. Which one should it be?
11) Should Sean O'Donnell be resigned? If so, should he be in the starting 6 or moved into the 7th defenseman role?
12) Should the Flyers attempt to resign their other free agents apart from Leino and/or O'Donnell?
13) What should the Flyers do about the contracts of Michael Leighton and Matt Walker? Another year of being waived to the AHL?
14) Is there any help imminent in the farm system? Should the Flyers try to stock up (rather than dealing off) draft picks?
********
Most people will say that goaltending the first area the Flyers need to assess in the weeks to come. I disagree. It's crystal clear cut that the Flyers need a bonafide starting goalie next season. But before the Flyers can decide in which direction to look for a goalie (big-ticket veteran UFAs like Ilya Bryzgalov and Tomas Vokoun, trading for an up-and-coming young goalie, blockbuster trade, etc) they need first to assess how much longer their window of Cup opportunity extends with Chris Pronger and Kimmo Timonen.
There is reason to be fearful that Pronger's body is starting to break down. I'm not talking about the spring hand surgery (although he's had hand problems in the past in his career) and the December surgery to repair a broken bone in his foot. Broken bones are an unpredictable job risk that applies to every player in the game.
Heading into next season, what really worries me about Pronger's physical condition are the other injuries he's had. Even when he was in the lineup, Pronger had a so-so season by his standards in 2010-11. I suspect that a big part of it was that the knee surgery he had late last off-season was not as successful as hoped. He missed the start of the regular season and it took a long time -- right about until the time he had the broken foot -- to start looking close to truly being on top of his game again. He has never been a speedster, but this year, Pronger was skating almost as poorly as a late-career Derian Hatcher. That's simply the truth.
Also, it has to be concern that he was forced out of the Boston series after Game 1 with some sort of combination of back and/or hamstring issues. I would never question Pronger's toughness or willingness to play through injuries. If he can possibly play in the playoffs, he will.
With Pronger, there is also a question as to how others on the team respond to him. His abrasive, bad-cop approach is sometimes exactly what the team needs. At other times, it simply rubs others the wrong way and creates the unhealthy type of tension.
For example, on the night when Pronger lit into Claude Giroux, the veteran defenseman himself had played one of his worst games of the season. Don't think for one second that it wasn't noticed and griped about. That was probably an example of a situation where Pronger should have taken the "we all stunk tonight" approach. Taking a "that's the bottom line because Chris Pronger said so" approach works only when he is delivering the goods on the ice at a superstar level.
In addition, there have been rumors emanating from high-placed sources that Pronger told his own teammates prior to Game 6 of the Buffalo series that he was not physically up to playing. Then he played after all, appearing only in power play duty in Game 6 before playing more regular minutes in the final game of the series. The handling of the whole hand injury, by Pronger himself as well as the team, left others perplexed and even angry. It's one thing to try to keep secret from the media when and if Pronger was playing. It's quite another when his own teammates had no idea half the time.
But it should also be said that Pronger's vocal presence was sorely missed at times when others needed to be held accountable and he was not there. Fingers will be pointed at other leaders in the locker room -- starting with Mike Richards -- and I think it's legitimate to ask whether others picked up enough of the slack.
With Timonen, it was clear that the veteran was badly banged up for much of the season. He never complained about it. Unfortunately, it showed up in his play. He was not the defensive stopper the Flyers needed him to be, especially in Pronger's absence. Kimmo also seemed to lose his offensive confidence, and it is quite possible that he needs to become more of a defensive defenseman as he ages than someone who belongs on the power play.
Timonen is more of a quiet leader than Pronger. But he is also extremely honest and does not sugar coat things. When something needs to be said, he'll say it, albeit at a lower volume than Pronger.
Moving forward, the Flyers need to determine whether they have the personnel around Pronger and Timonen -- both of whom have huge contracts and aren't going anywhere -- to withstand reduced games and/or declining play over the long season.
Andrej Meszaros proved to be an excellent addition last summer. Braydon Coburn was inconsistent in the playoffs, but I thought he was one of the few Flyers who played well on a regular basis in the second half of the season. Matt Carle is coming off a terrible playoff run. The ageless O'Donnell was on a one-year contract and is an unrestricted free agent.
My own take is that the Flyers have one more year of their opportunity window with Pronger and Timonen. In order to compensate for the physical issues that are likely to continue being a factor, the Flyers are going to need a proven veteran goalie in whom the rest of the team has confidence. But that may mean having to a sacrifice a big salaried forward. This year, I think the goalie market will be a little less buyer-friendly than it was last offseason. I will discuss that issue tomorrow.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
Join the Discussion:
»