Quick Hits: March 16, 2020
1) On his most recent Flyers Daily podcast, Jason Myrtetus asked listeners to select his NHL Award winners if the voting was limited to Flyers players. Over the NHL All-Star break and Flyers bye week, I wrote an article selecting my choices for the Flyers team award winners (Bobby Clarke Trophy, Barry Ashbee Trophy, etc.) up to that juncture of the season.
In looking over the selections at the time, all of the award choices still hold. When we vote for the awards, we are asked to select a second-place and third-place pick as well as our pick for the winner. I listed those as well. There are a couple of awards that are not selected by the media -- the Pelle Lindbergh Award is chosen by the Flyers players themselves, and the Gene Hart Memorial is selected by the Flyers Fan Club -- but I made selections for those.
Bobby Clarke Trophy (team MVP): Sean Couturier Barry Ashbee Trophy (best defenseman): Ivan Provorov Yanick Dupre Memorial Award ("class guy"): Scott Laughton Pelle Lindbergh Memorial Trophy (most improved): Travis Konecny Gene Hart Memorial Award (most heart): Oskar Lindblom/ Sam Morin (co-winners)
2) All of the Skate Zone locations -- Voorhees, Pennsauken, Atlantic City, Northeast Philadelphia -- are closed until March 31. As Dave Isaac pointed out on Twitter, there are different access rules for the Flyers players, who train in Voorhees, but NHL players are still in the self-quarantine phase of the NHL's return plan.
3) The only thing certain -- from an NHL standpoint -- about Sunday's nationwide advisory from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to avoid gathering of 50 or more people for the next eight weeks, is that there's still a lot of uncertainty beyond the fact that no return to playing is imminent and no ticketed customers or non-essential personnel would be admitted any time soon.
Even an empty-arena game would have more than 50 people in the building between players, coaches, on-ice officials, essential team personnel (including equipment and training staff), broadcast crews, off-ice officials and essential arena workers (such as the ice crew). But the "50-person" guidance isn't a magical number; it's an estimate.
If and when the NHL returns this spring, there are a host of different possibilities being discussed for how to handle the rest of the regular season -- rescheduling certain games or all games -- how to handle the playoffs and what a realistic cutoff date to end the playoffs would be. In the meantime, players leaguewide appear to be taking the self-quarantine recommendation seriously. There is also a consideration for how long of an absence would increase the risk for injuries more commonly experienced during training camps and early in the season (such as groin pulls).
According to Igor Eronko and Darren Dreger, there has been discussion about the possiblity of expanding the playoffs from 16 (eight per conference) to 24 teams (12 per conference) with a play-in round as one of the possibilities. Personally, I would be opposed to that idea. I favor cutting off the regular season where it is, ranking teams based on points percentage, and seeding accordingly. It would cost the Flyers a chance at catching Washington for first place in the Metro Division, but I think it's the most equitable way to do it.
The reality, however, is that all discussions of playoff arrrangements and scheduling is still premature at this point. There are much bigger issues than hockey at work. The coronavirus pandemic affects the entire world and, on a daily basis, has been bringing about wider and wider restrictions within the United States and Canada. As such, pinpointing the return date for the NHL, NBA, Major League Baseball and the start of NFL free agency, is not high on the societal current priority list.
Bob McKenzie suggested that a best-case scenario for resumption of some kind would be eight weeks; i.e., the duration of the current CDC guidance.
4) Now the head coach of Swiss National League team EHC Biel-Bienne, former Ottawa Senators player Antti Törmà¤nen tested positive for coronavirus; believed to be the first confirmed case in pro hockey. The Swiss League canceled the rest of its season and playoffs last week.
5) Today in Flyers History: On March 16, 1985, Ron Sutter scored the 5,000th goal in Flyers' franchise history. It was the second goal of the game in a 5-1 home win over the Toronto Maple Leafs.
6) March 16 Flyers Alumni birthdays:
* Tough guy winger Riley Cote was born March 16, 1982 in Winnipeg. * Two-time Barry Ashbee Trophy winner Kim Johnsson was born on March 16, 1976 in Malmö, Sweden. * Longtime NHL forward Al MacAdam, who broke into the league with the Flyers in 1973-74, was born March 16, 1952 in Charlottetown, P.E.I.