The Flyers are three spots out of 8th in the East and 7 points behind while the Jets are two spots out but 10 points behind and it's highly unlikely, barring absolute disaster by another team that either are doing anything important this spring. Yet there is something eerily similar about these two teams. They certainly are two teams that many had hoped would be better than they are but what else draws them together?
The Jets and Flyers have the forever-linked tandem of Couturier and Scheifele from the 2011 draft class but there are other similarities. The top 2 centres in Giroux and Little are both 29, the former has 51 points in 71 games while the other has 39 points in 49 games. One is paid 8.275 million while the other is half that at 4.125.
Compare the output of Scheifele and Couturier. The former has 71 points in 69 games while the latter has 26 in 55 games. Although the contract imbalance between the two seems correct if you only look at point production. 6.125 million for Scheifele vs 4.33 for Couturier, maybe that's high for Couts?
Go down the list after these two though for the Flyers: (all ages current)
Konecny 20 Schenn 25 Simmonds 28 Voracek 27 Gostibehere 23 Provorov 20 Amac 30
Now look at the Jets
Wheeler 30 Perreault 29 Ehlers 21 Laine 20 Byfuglien 32 Enstrom 31 Morrissey 22 Trouba 23 Myers 27
These are two teams with similar makeups but underachieving if you believe they are better than the results suggest based on the rosters. The thing that makes me curious about these two teams is where their strengths lie as it pertains to the future.
The Jets have a bewildering lack of talent in the pipeline on defence but an abundance in forwards especially when you consider that both Kyle Connor and Jack Roslovic are yet to see the NHL in any regular fashion. Add in the likes of Copp, Armia, and Petan above them and unless the roster changes it’s going to be a battle for spots.
The Flyers have depth in the system too but in another place, defence. If you look at their future prospects they have Provorov already playing but they still have two defence players who seem likely to be pros at the NHL level in Morin and Sanheim with Myers not being too far behind when looking at what folks connected to the Flyers are saying. While there’s not fan of the Flyers hoping that MacDonald is still playing for them next season does the contract and other players force the Flyers into a similar situation as the Jets?
I’m not going to suggest a trade between the two, I’ll let your imagination create those, but I will say the two teams have similarities and face similar issues ahead when it comes to building a balanced roster. Right now, looking towards the future, they are both heavy on one side of the roster and have some aging star veterans who will need some level of support and transition.
Now look a the goaltending. What a mess for both. Just a travesty really and neither team is going to fix it by looking for help from the other, but they are being affected by the goaltending. The Flyers though seem to have a bit of a brighter future when looking at their prospects but that’s still a guess, goaltending is voodoo.
So these two teams play a basically meaningless game tonight as their seasons wind down but they face a similar future of tough decisions. How to fix the imbalance of their rosters and the inevitable aging and declining production from their older leaders.
This year with the expansion draft and the flat salary cap could be the best year to be bold and make moves if you can take on some short term risks.
That being said the Flyers and Jets have made the playoffs in the recent past and perhaps thought they might contend for them this year. The Jets are not near that caliber of team and neither are the Flyers unless some big ‘ifs’ happen. They could happen this off-season but who do you think makes the right move(s).