1) As the Flyers enjoy vacations and/or family time during their five-night bye week, they find themselves right in the thick of the midseason playoff chase in the Eastern Conference. The biggest issue created by the 0-5-5 stretch and the team's 1-3-1 stretch after rattling off seven wins in eight games on the heels of the 10-game winless streak wasn't so much the immediate points gap in the standings.
Rather, what makes playing catchup in the standings so tough as the season progresses is that it not only forces a team to make up the initial gap (which can be done over a couple good weeks if the team(s) ahead hit a rough spell) but also the need to keep up a rather torrid winning pace thereafter to keep from falling back again. With lots of divisional games to play in the second half of the season, there will be many nights where the Flyers' will need to win simply to keep pace with other Metro teams who win and to prevent their own opponents from gaining.
As of Tuesday, the Flyers are one point behind Pittsburgh with three games in hand in the battle for the lower wildcard seed. They are tied with Carolina beneath the cutoff line but will move ahead via tiebreaker if the Canes (who have one game in hand) lose tonight in regulation to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Philly is three points in back of the Rangers for the higher wildcard.
The ROW (regulation/overtime win) tiebreaker could end up being vital by the end of the season. The Flyers have done a really nice job in recent weeks of racking up regulation wins. They are now up to 19 ROW (same as Rangers, one behind Pittsburgh, three ahead of the Hurricanes, one ahead of the Islanders). As with the Flyers, the Rangers, Penguins and Islanders are all on byes until Saturday.
From top to bottom in the Metro, the teams are separated by nine points. The Devils, also on hiatus until playing the Flyers on Saturday, currently hold third place with the coveted automatic playoff berth that comes with it. They hold a six-point lead on the Flyers but both teams currently have 19 ROW. A Flyers road win on Saturday of any kind but especially in regulation would be huge. Even an OT win, which would only shave one point off the deficit, would put the Flyers ahead in the first tiebreaking category.
As the late Gene Hart would say, "Buckle your seatbelts, my friends."
2) The Flyers asked me on Sunday to devise a "midseason awards" article with a slight twist. Rather than selecting the annual team awards (Bobby Clarke Trophy, Barry Ashbee Trophy, Pelle Lindbergh Trophy, etc.), I was asked to base it on the NHL's leaguewide awards: Hart Trophy, Norris Trophy, Selke Trophy, Calder Trophy and Masterton Trophy. Although there is still plenty of hockey yet to be played, it was a fun little assignment. To see the article on the Flyers' official website,
click here.
3) On Saturday, the Flyers officially announced plans for the 2018 Flyers Charity Classic. The second annual event, which will be held on July 18, benefits Flyers Charities and the Flyers Alumni Association. The city-wide event incorporates a 5k run/walk, 10-mile, 50k, and 100k bike rides, along with a Flyers Fan Fest at the Wells Fargo Center. As with last year, Flyers Alumni will be prominently involved as participants and fundraising team captains. The bike routes are different this year. For more information, visit the official website at
flyerscharityclassic.com or the
Charity Classic's Facebook event page.
4) I am happy to announce that the Outdoor Classic Alumni Game on Jan. 19 at Hershey Park Stadium, featuring the Flyers Alumni vs. the Hershey Bears Alumni will be broadcast live on Flyers Radio 24/7 and Phantoms Radio 24/7 starting at 7 p.m. ET. Phantoms announcer Bob Rotruck will be on the play-by-play and I will be doing commentary.
The Flyers Alumni roster is as follows:
Forwards: Erlc Lindros, John LeClair, Mikael Renberg, Danny Briere, Brian Propp, Arron Asham, Todd Fedoruk, Dave Brown, Bob Kelly, Riley Cote.
Defense: Kimmo Timonen, Brad Marsh, Joe Watson, Doug Crossman, Terry Carkner, Jeff Chychrun, Larry Goodenough.
Goalies: Rob Zepp, Neil Little.
Coaches: Bill Barber, Bernie Parent, Tim Kerr, Paul Holmgren.
The Hershey Bears Alumni roster also incorporates some Flyers Alumni, including Vaclav "Vinny" Prospal, Mark Freer, AHL Hall of Famer Mitch Lamoureux and former Phantoms forward Dennis Bonvie. Regular Flyers Alumni Team member and AHL Hall of Fame goaltender Freddy Cassivi, who backstopped the Bears to a Calder Cup, will be in net for the Bears Alumni.
5) The main topic on tomorrow's Flyers blog at HockeyBuzz will be about Travis Sanheim. For now, suffice it to say that I believe he needs to be playing again regularly -- whether with the Flyers or by taking one step back to take two ahead via another half-season in the AHL with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. I am also not a fan of withholding second power play unit ice time to Sanheim -- or Travis Konecny -- when the Flyers' PP2 has been so weak and they've recently found room for Brandon Manning in a 3F/2D adjustment. Manning was a decent power play point man in the AHL for the Phantoms but that's not the same as being someone you'd want on an NHL power play unit. Thursday's topic will be about the Flyers' goalie rotation moving forward after the bye week.
6) Later today on the Flyers' official website, I will have an in-depth profile and progress analysis on 2017 first-round pick Morgan Frost. I will post a link here tomorrow.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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