The Flyers abymsmal power play has become a five-alarm organizational fire.
My deep dive into what's gone wrong, the unique way they are trying to fix it, what it might look when the season begins.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5819296/2024/10/06/flyers-power-play-problems/
by kkurznhl
4 Comments
Excellent article thanks for sharing. Learned a ton.
Part 1:
PHILADELPHIA — Rocky Thompson is comfortable as the center of attention. He became used to it as a mostly minor-league brawler who racked up nearly 2,000 penalty minutes in the American Hockey League over parts of 11 seasons. His flowing, frizzy hair flopping this way and that while wildly throwing meaty fists toward an opponent’s jaw kept him employed as both an enforcer and a crowd pleaser.
So when he got up to present to the NHL Coaches’ Association in 2015 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, ahead of the entry draft there, he was at ease strolling into a room full of established NHL coaches (some of whom attended out of sheer curiosity, considering Thompson’s playing career) and talking them through various offensive-zone tactics. His presentation was so impressive he immediately became a hot coaching prospect. The OHL Windsor Spitfires essentially hired him on the spot to become their new head coach.
Nine summers and a few jobs later, Thompson made another presentation. As the Flyers assistant coach in charge of the power play, dead last in the league for each of the last three seasons (two of them under the current coaching staff), Thompson offered a room full of team personnel a detailed overview of that part of their game this summer. There were statistical models, examples of what’s gone wrong, suggestions on what could be done better and thoughts on specific personnel and how they could be utilized — all aided by visual examples.
“I was really impressed with Rocky’s presentation,” said John LeClair, hired as a special adviser to hockey operations in 2023, and who was invited to the meeting. “It was very well thought out, very professional, and it was good — really good. He brought examples that were really clear cut; you didn’t have to imagine anything.”
Another invitee, special adviser Patrick Sharp, agreed that the presentation was “very detailed. Rocky has a great understanding of what’s going on: the personnel, and how we want to attack it going forward.”
General manager Daniel Briere relayed in his 2023-24 season-ending presser that the organization was going to utilize everyone it had at its disposal to offer input on the team’s dreadful power play, which finished with just a 12.2 percent success rate last season — nearly 3 full percentage points behind 31st-ranked Columbus (15.1 percent).
Had the power play been just a smidge better last season, the Flyers would almost certainly have qualified for the playoffs.
Consequently, the power play has become a five-alarm organizational fire. It’s why guys like LeClair (118 career power-play goals), Sharp (102), Briere (106) and pro scout Dany Heatley (143) were all brought into the meeting with John Tortorella, Thompson and the coaching staff. Flyers president of hockey operations Keith Jones, who had a brief stretch of power-play success himself, tying for fifth in the league with 14 power-play goals in 1996-97, was also there.
Thompson’s presentation set the table. Lively and robust conversation and debate followed.
“I thought it was a great meeting,” LeClair said. “You have some pretty sharp minds in there, not just with the staff we have now with Rocky and Torts, but you add Danny and Sharpie and Dany Heatley — there’s a lot of goals there. They know the game. They understand what a player sees at certain times.”
Said Tortorella: “I’ve never done it this way. I’ve never brought other people in from other branches of the organization that’s not with the coaching staff sitting in a formal meeting. … I thought it was very productive.”
Step one, of course, is identifying what’s wrong.
Thompson has theories.
My guess is that you have never actually played real ice hockey.
You do realize that they scored 8 Power Play goals in 7 games in the preseason???????????????????????
Also, screw New York media.