By Bob Herpen
Phanatic Hockey Editor
Sometime during the winter of 2015, between periods at the Wells Fargo Center, I hitched a ride on the press elevator from the press box down to the main concourse in search of sustenance more satisfying than popcorn, pretzels and candy.
Standing at the back, ramrod straight, were Flyers defenseman Kimmo Timonen – then taking a season-long sabbatical because of a recurrence of blood clots – along with then-assistant coach Joe Mullen.
The subject, the stagnant power play which suffered from a lack of puck motion and shots on goal. The conversation, it went something like this:
Timonen (a defenseman who quarterbacked the power play during most of his seven-year Flyers tenure): “So what do you think the problem is?”
Mullen (a 500-goal scorer, multiple Stanley Cup winner and Hockey Hall of Fame member): “I really don’t (bleeping) know. All I tell them now is ‘You have to have the mindset of shooting the puck; there’s one less (bleeping guy) out there so you have the time and the room. Just shoot the (bleeping) puck.”
Keep in mind, this was during the long stretch of time when the first unit was led by captain and center Claude Giroux, an adequate shooter but pass first player. And the second unit was led by Jakub Voracek, the only other forward on the roster more “pass first” than the captain.
The kicker is during that 2014-15 season, the first, only and last full season with Craig Berube as head coach, the Flyers posted an overall PP percentage of 23.4 (60 goals in 256 chances) according to Flyers History. That was the highest mark for any team since Paul Holmgren’s first as head coach clicked at 26.7% and the highest for any team in franchise history to date.
Things steadily got worse with the gradual jettisoning of Wayne Simmonds, Giroux, Voracek and others culminating in the nightmare of the last three seasons. To recap: 15.56% (32nd), 12.2% (32nd) and 14.95% (30th).
Is there hope on the horizon, as the meat grinder welcomes newly-minted assistant coach Jaroslav “Yogi” Svejkovsky as the head-victim-in-charge?
Finding and Keeping The Big Gun
To operate a successful power play, you’ve got to have a trigger man, one player on each rotation who can get open and fire away. Have the Flyers drafted and successfully developed a shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later-type-player who made an impact, well…ever?
The short answer is: Nope.
Jeff Carter is the only one who comes to mind, but he was not strictly “developed” by the Flyers. Carter, an 11th overall pick in 2003, jumped straight from Sault Ste. Marie in juniors to the Phantoms in the spring of 2005, helping them win a Calder Cup. He won a spot on the big club the following September and after compiling 48 man-advantage goals in 468 regular-season games and 6 more in 47 playoff outings, you know how that story ended.
As for the rest of the franchise snipers, those players who scored at least 37 in one season:
Rick MacLeish - acquired from Boston in 1971.
Reggie Leach - acquired from California in 1974.
Tim Kerr - undrafted free agent signed 1980.
Ilkka Sinisalo - undrafted free agent signed 1981.
John LeClair - acquired from Montreal in 1995.
For clarity’s sake:
Rick Tocchet - drafted in 1983, was not originally envisioned as that type of player and didn’t score 40 until his 5th NHL season (45 in 1988-89).
Simon Gagne - drafted in 1998, became that guy with Peter Forsberg and Briere acquisitions later in his career. Exactly half (37 of 74) of his franchise PPG total came from the 2005-07 and 2008-09 seasons.
James vanRiemsdyk - the infamous no. 2 overall in 2007. A victim of organizational ineptitude who was forcibly molded into a “power forward” type rather than a sniper despite playing for a UNH program which embraced skill, speed and scoring.
Scott Hartnell - acquired from Nashville in 2007. Aside from one glorious season in 2011-12 when 16 of his 37 tallies came with the man advantage, was not specifically brought here to be a gunner.
The whiffs:
James Neal - Perhaps the organizational change from Paul Holmgren to Ron Hextall as GM along with the club’s constant salary-cap conundra played a role. It is still hard to forgive the front office for missing this one.
In the summer of 2014, Neal, who spent the prior 3-plus seasons with the Penguins, was on the market. He worked primarily with Evgeni Malkin on the second unit, totaling 38(!) of his 89 goals there on the advantage.
The hopefuls:
Alex Bump - Fifth-rounder, Western Michigan, 2022. Here’s a kid who set the world on fire last year with 23 goals on 248 shots (four times notching double-digit SOGs with a high of 14 vs. Arizona State) across 42 games for the Broncos, winners of the NCHC playoff title and national champions. 
Courtesy of Western Michigan University
The 21-year-old roster hopeful won conference tourney MVP, earned first-team All America honors, faded out during the Broncs’ national championship run, recovered with 3 points in 2 regular-season appearances for the Phantoms then added 2 goals in 7 games during the playoffs on 18 SOG.
As long as Bump maintains a trajectory of consistence in his development with and without the puck in Allentown under the new Phantoms regime of head man John Snowden alongside assistants Terrance Wallin and Nick Schultz, I hate to say it, Bump “should be fine.”
But I’m still casting some serious side-eye until I see the plans come to fruition.
It was hardly surprising when I read Jackie Spiegel’s Inquirer column from May 1, which quoted Peter Principaled (and now “reassigned”) Phantoms head coach Ian Laperriere saying Jett Luchanko (13th overall, 2024, Guelph Storm), also primarily a puck mover who notched 9 assists in 16 games with the Phantoms at the end of this season, should be more selfish with the puck.
That statement alone should make long-time fans and those attuned to the organization with a critical eye tear their hair out. Why would the club want someone with an obvious desired and crucial skill set, which optimizes driving play, maintaining possession and dishing to the open man, to consider moving away from that skill set?
Here’s how it’s supposed to go, best of all possible worlds, with linear development:
Team sees prospect, drafts prospect. Waits an uncertain amount of years before prospect wants to turn pro, signs prospect to a deal and is either shuttled to the AHL or the NHL. If prospect goes to minors, he’s subject to the parent club’s development plan overseen by the AHL staff and is played accordingly until either his play, injury concerns or both warrant a look; if prospect has to be on NHL roster, he’s subject to the parent club’s development plan which involves more intensive and direct supervision.
Even considering non-linear development that factors in health, utilization, unexpected upticks or downturns in performance or changes in coaching personnel and systems, what is supposed to come out on the other side is supposed to benefit the parent club in the long term. There is a lot of trust placed with an organization that a high-end prospect will be dealt with on the level.
Problem is, up until this year’s draft, there was exactly one player drafted by either the Fletcher or Briere braintrust, who fits the mold of a puck-hungry winger with a knack for finding the open space and a shoot-first attitude: Alex Bump.
In need of more centers, Briere instead jumped the line in June and brought in both Porter Martone (No. 6, committed to Michigan State) and Shane Vansaghi (No. 48, also sporting Sparty next season).
Martone appears to be a rush job, a one-and-done who might bypass the Lehigh Valley altogether, so the responsibility is likely on both Martone himself and the big club not to bollocks it up. Vansaghi is an unknown, so is Jack Murtagh (No. 40, committed to Boston University), less so is the 20-year-old Denver Barkey who blitzed through his last 2 years of juniors with 184 points, a pair of OHL titles and last year’s Memorial Cup.
Has anybody heard anything from Noah Powell?
Nothing is Permanent but Change Is
Historically, it appears the Flyers follow three basic player archetypes for their power plays:
Defensemen who collect and move the puck at the point
Distributors who either remain static in the circles as a principal point of puck motion, or are given license to take play to the opposition
Bulky wingers positioned along the goal line for muscle and touch.
It doesn’t matter whether it’s Joe Mullen, Rocky Thompson or Svejkovsky, there’s only so much a particular coaching philosophy or player positioning in the offensive zone can accomplish with these skill sets cast in concrete. Can coaching make it worse? Is the Pope a White Sox fan? Coaching isn’t all of it. The right guys need to be given the right chances to utilize their skills and then given the chance, to execute.
With fewer individual penalties or clear manpower disadvantages called over the last 10 years league-wide and therefore fewer power-play chances available per season, the heat is definitely on a guy whose most famous move was scoring 4 goals on the Buffalo Sabres as a rookie 28 years ago. There’s also a ton of pressure on the presumptive Phantoms hires to properly shepherd the next generation.
Who on the current roster comes close to being a pure finisher? Most likely the Golden Child Matvei Michkov. Bump and Barkey are on deck but that does nothing to help the big club come October.
Courtesy of the Inquirer
According to Hockey Reference, no forward has finished with more than 10 power-play goals in an uninterrupted regular season since Wayne Simmonds notched 11 in 2017-18.
JVR notched 10 in the COVID-shortened 2021 sprint. The high water-mark over the last decade for power-play prowess was Brayden Schenn (17) and Simmonds (16) in 2016-17, the last time two players finished with more than 10.
Likewise, no defenseman has ever logged double-digit PP scores in franchise history and while Gostisbehere was the last d-man to have as many as 8 PPG, that was 10 seasons ago. Even team and Hockey Hall of Famer Mark Howe never had more than 8 in one season as a Flyer.
Another good question is how will Cam York and, eventually, Oliver Bonk be deployed?
The main question is not whether these prospect’s skill sets suggest a Johnny Vermont or Ghost Bear; it’s whether the organization’s vision for these players suits their skill set, or will they try to wedge them into a role for which they are ill-suited because the new PP strategy demands it?
There needs to be consistent, clear-cut communication between Snowden and Wallin, Tocchet and Svejkovsky, on up to Briere regarding what is expected from player and coach alike. Anything less would be a disservice to both the Flyers’ current roster as well as those in the pipeline.
Right now there are too many questions to sort out, only so many games and so many years before the next Phantoms and Flyers coaches are ushered out the door. Tocchet’s talking a good game but he’s the one who sets the rules and watches the kids play it. Maybe we should all just touch grass and lay in the sand until October.
