SCHENN GETS THREE GAME SUSPENSION

The start of the 2016-17 regular NHL season is five-plus months away but the Philadelphia Flyers have already been hit with their first bit of adversity: the NHL's Department of Player Safety has suspended Flyers forward Brayden Schenn for the first three games of next season. The league flagged him for charging T.J. Oshie in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series.

When Schenn spoke with the media at Tuesday's cleanout day in Voorhees, he had just had his phone hearing with the league office. The ruling came down several hours later.

“I know [DOPS] were obviously watching me close in that series,” said Schenn. “To be honest, I didn’t even know I hit Oshie in the head. It wasn’t the initial point of contact. I did hit him in the shoulder first and then hit his head after.”

Schenn hoped he'd be let off with a warning or a fine, but that was an unrealistic hope. Once the DOPS announces a hearing, a suspension almost always follows. There have been very few exceptions over the years.

The hit on Oshie really wasn't much of a charge; at least not one of anything even close to a three-game suspension. Schenn did approach from a long distance but he glided into the hit, tucked his shoulder and the initial point of contact did appear to be Oshie's shoulder with head contact on the follow-through. Replays also showed that it was the follow-through that lifted Schenn's skates off the ice rather than him jumping into the hit initially. Oshie bounced off the hit and was fine as he continued the play. He reacted with no anger or even a quizzical look at a player he'd fought earlier in the series in effort to avenge Kuznetsov.

Here's the reality: The criteria of the play in question were not truly what was considered. Rather, the weight of situations throughout the series involving Schenn were what DOPS was acting upon, although it is not supposed to consider anything other than the merits of the play and, if truly suspension-worthy, prior supplementary discipline taken against the player.

The truth of the matter is that Schenn clearly had a target on his back from DOPS from several previous plays in the series that it let slide -- the cross-check to the back of Evgeny Kuznetsov's knee (which was undeniable and crossed the "playoff animosity" line) and a couple of hits where it did look like Schenn launched himself into the hit. The Capitals sent a series of tapes to the NHL in the hopes of getting Schenn suspended.

The after-the-fact suspension for the Oshie play was a convenient way to try to "appease" both sides. The Flyers didn't lose Schenn for any playoff games for any of the previous, more significant incidents -- far more meaningful in a practical sense than a suspension that will end with 79 games left in the regular season and can be prepared for way ahead of time. Meanwhile, the Capitals frequent complaints "paid off" in getting the player a pretty harsh suspension for a play that hardly caused a reaction at the time it happened.

The reality of the Department of Player Safety, both when Colin Campbell was solely in charge of league supplementary discipline and ever since the independent-minded Brendan Shanahan left the head post to accept the Toronto Maple Leafs' presidency, is largely based on oiling the squeaky wheel and putting out fires rather than actually focusing on specific goals to increase player safety.

With Shanahan, at least there a discernible line of reasoning and a decent degree of consistency whether you agreed with certain rulings or not. Since then, DOPS backslid into resembling how it was during the Campbell years.

Currently, Patrick Burke (a former Flyers scout and the son of Brian Burke) holds the directorship of DOPS. The sometimes controversial Campbell, who heads NHL Hockey Operations, still holds significant influence of the department.

While it is normal for fans to think there's a league conspiracy against their favorite team, DOPS does not operate based on an agenda against a particular team. Rather, they operate from a "stuck-in-the-middle" framework that, like it or not, is very much influenced by how much attention a certain play or player gets in the national media and how much squawking DOPS will have to hear from the two sides involved if they do/do not suspend.

Flyers general manager Ron Hextall seems inclined to simply let DOPS go about its business and to focus on his own team, as does Dave Hakstol. Hextall got in a not-so-subtle dig at the Capitals by saying as much the day before Game 6.


FLYERS GOALIE 'DEBATE': COMPETITION IS A POSITIVE, NOT A PROBLEM

During Game 5 of the Flyers-Capitals series, as Michal Neuvirth was in process of creating a goaltending masterpiece that will go down in franchise history as one of the Flyers' best individual single-game playoff performances, far too many Flyers fans on social media worried themselves about who should be the Flyers "number one" goalie and used the occasion to dump on Steve Mason. The focus on Flyers vs. Capitals in an elimination game and to simply appreciate what Neuvirth was doing.

It's pretty disappointing.

First of all, the Flyers actually have two high-quality goaltenders -- both capable of carrying the ball for significant stretches -- yet that somehow seems to be a problem rather than one of the teams biggest strengths and something that was pivotal to getting a bubble team into the playoffs in the first place.

When Flyers players tell you they are equally comfortable playing in front of either goalie, they look you in the eye and say it firmly. It is meant sincerely, unlike times in the past where it was a platitude.

Yes, both Neuvirth and Mason personally crave to be the undisputed number one, but the reality is the "other guy" is too good to be a sparingly played backup. Neuvirth in particular has had annual injury issues but Mason has had some, too. Given that fact and given that there are normal ups and downs -- Neuvirth was sensational in the first half, Mason was the better goalie in the second half right up through Game One of the Washington series -- it really is beneficial to the Flyers to be able to give both goalies runs as the game-in and game-out starter until something arises where the other one needs to step up.

Hockey is so much a game of inches, and those tiny margins can dramatically alter perceptions.

Mason has gotten pilloried for two goals in particular during the series: the nightmarish center ice goal by Jason Chimera in Game 2 and a side-angle goal from high in the offensive zone by Alex Ovechkin in Game 3.

Note: Some have also blamed him for a rebound that led to a Kuznetsov goal in Game 3, but the more hockey-educated folks seem to understand that play was pure bad luck. That particular puck took a freakish bounce off the side-boards stanchion and suddenly caromed right in on the startled goaltender; a play that, for any goalie, would have been more luck than skill to snag cleanly by sheer reflex once it entered their peripheral vision. Similar caroms sometimes go into the slot but it's very rare for it to go directly on net much less glove high.

The center-ice goal is a once-in-a-career play that should never happen but sometimes does. Hall of Fame goaltender such as Bernie Parent, Martin Brodeur and Tony Esposito -- the latter two in the Stanley Cup Finals, Parent from three-quarters ice in a must-win game to get into the playoffs -- could commiserate.

What is forgotten is that, moments before the center-ice goal, Mason did the splits and authored a 10-bell save on a wide-open John Carlson. He'd have been better off in retrospect giving up a goal on that one, because the effect on the score board would have been the same and no one would have batted an eye. Mason was playing brilliantly for the first 1 1/3-plus games of the series until the Chimera goal. And he shook it off and played fine the rest of the way.

Mason played quite well in Game One; on the same level that Neuvirth did in Games 4 and 6. Game 5 was over and beyond the "played quite well" level. That performance by Neuvirth was an all-timer, which is just a credit to Neuvirth and not an indictment of Mason.

Let's go back now to the third period of Game Four.

The Capitals early period goal on Neuvirth that cut the deficit to 2-1 came directly off a preventable rebound. Mason critics would have had a field day blaming him for opening the door for the Caps. The storm was already brewing, however, and the reality for all goalies in the world is that not every first-shot is going to be caught cleanly, knocked down for a quick cover or knocked harmlessly into the corner. It happens. That's why the usual magic number for goal support in the NHL is three goals; two gets it done sometimes but three should be the target on an average night.

With the clock ticking down into the latter half of the third period, Ovechkin fired a puck -- using a scorching slap shot rather than a wrist shot -- from virtually the same spot where he scored on Mason in Game 3. As with Mason, Neuvirth was unscreened and there was no deflection. As with Mason, Neuvirth was beaten cleanly by the shot. This time, however, the puck whistled barely wide of the long side (rather than going in) and rimmed out around the boards.

If that puck had gone in and Washington had rallied from two goals back to tie the game, the odds of anything other than the Caps going on thereafter complete a sweep would have been very slim. The narrative would have then have been that both Flyers goalies "choked." The reality would have been that Ovechkin's legendary shooting ability can make any goalie look bad.The second puck, thankfully for the Flyers, did not go in. It went wide, so the play was immediately forgotten instead of lamented.

Neuvirth, under siege throughout the third period, was then able slam the door the rest of the way in Game 4 with multiple excellent saves. He singlehandedly won Game 5, aided only by the team in front of him solely by a fluke bounce that went into the Caps' net and an empty net goal in the final minute. Neuvirth also gave the Flyers every opportunity to win Game 6.

The reality of the series was that the Flyers scored six total goals in six games -- five against Holtby plus the Game 5 empty netter. Another reality is that, as great as Braden Holtby played, he was human, too. Andrew MacDonald's goal in Game 4 was stoppable. Sporadically, there were rebounds left on the doorstep where the Caps' defenders cleared them before a Flyers' attacker got to them.

There was also the matter of the Flyers' penalty kill, which was not a goaltending issue but rather a strategic adjustment. In going 5-for-6 in game one (the lone goal being a double-deflection off Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Chris VandeVelde), Mason had to be at his very best and also get help from a few crucial shot blocks.

Even in that game, the Caps carved up the Flyers' PK box with precision passing. From Games 4-6, the Flyers adjusted their PK approach to abandon the passive tight-box approach to pressuring Nicklas Bäckström on the right half boards and John Carlson at the point. Neuvirth weaved some magic on a 5-on-3 kill in Game 6 but he otherwise had much more help (beyond shot blocks, which were there all series) from his penalty killers than Mason ever got in Games 1-3.

As great as Neuvirth played in the series, I cannot help but feel for Mason. He was utterly luckless in the series apart from a few times there were breakdowns and point-blank shots hit the post. He did not play nearly as poorly as his series stats suggest, although Neuvirth was clearly the better of the two on the whole in the series.

I will also point out that Mason, who came to camp in great shape and had a stellar preseason, seemed poised to have a career season until a difficult family situation and some early season injury and illness (a bout with food poisoning) issues set him back. Thankfully for the Flyers, Neuvirth blasted out of the gates with an outstanding start.

The roles were reversed in the second half. Mason was the better goalie from January through April, and had to play a lot of hockey in a very condensed time when the Flyers had all those late-season back-to-back games. When Neuvirth hurt his knee, Mason thrived and carried it ably right until Jason Chimera scored from center ice. If he hadn't, the Flyers would have missed the playoffs.

Finally, I will add something that is easily forgotten and conveniently ignored. Back in the 2014 series against the Rangers, Mason was tremendous once he came back from missing the start of the series (due to a concussion) and was by far the number one reason the series even got to seven games -- and why Game 7 was a 2-1 final rather than a blowout.

The Flyers did not win that Rangers series for the same reason why Neuvirth wasn't able to get the Capitals series to a Game 7 and why Mason lost Game 1 -- there was no goal support. Six goals for a series and zero (twice), one (twice) and two (twice, once on 11 shots with an empty netter to "pad" it) is NOT a goaltending problem. It's a scoring problem.

The big picture for the next year is that the Flyers need BOTH Steve Mason and Michal Neuvirth for another year. The rotation works and is a necessity until such a time that they have an NHL-ready prospect ready to graduate to the NHL.

Trading one goalie would deplete the depth and leave the Flyers an injury away from Anthony Stolarz or Alex Lyon as their game-in and game-out starter. While both young netminders are fine prospects, only in delusional fantasy land would that be an upgrade over the enviable situation the Flyers currently enjoy in goal. Both Stolarz and Lyon need an additional year of development.

Both Mason and Neuvirth will be in pre-UFA contract drives next season; all the more incentive for the two to push one another to play at their highest level. Likewise, Stolarz and Lyon can push another at the AHL level.

Does every goalie worth his salt want the crease all to himself? Certainly. Does that mean someone should simply be handed the job and suitable competition avoided so that one goalie can feel more comfortable? No. The needs of the team come first.

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