Mar 23, 2016
Thumbs to enigmatic Flyers, Melnyk's tirade
TSN's Dave Hodge isn't sure whether to give thumbs up or down to the enigmatic Philadelphia Flyers, but offers a thumbs down to Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk for questioning Dave Cameron.
By Dave Hodge
I watch the Philadelphia Flyers and I ask “Who are they?”, and “What are they?”
They’re not the Broad Street Bullies, but that was 40 years ago, and times have changed for them and every other NHL team. That doesn’t stop the Flyers from being a good team, but they aren’t, really.
And they’re not a particularly interesting team to watch. They’ve got Claude Giroux and Jake Voracek, who, at times, can be grouped with the NHL’s top forwards, but those times aren’t as frequent as the others that make them forgettable.
The rookie coach, Dave Hakstol, would be neck-and-neck with Carolina’s Bill Peters as the hardest answer in a “name that NHL coach” contest. Hakstol coaches a Flyers’ team that somehow managed to blow a 2-0 lead in Columbus last night by allowing the Blue Jackets to score shorthanded with 1:04 remaining and again at the 19:52 mark of the third period. Philly lost an ensuing shootout but used the less-than-satisfying single point to move into a playoff spot.
I honestly don’t know if that should earn the Flyers a “thumbs up” or “thumbs down”. They’re 11-3-3 in their last 17 games — that’s awfully good. But the lost points, like last night’s, and a 4-0 shutout loss to Edmonton, and a empty performance in a 4-1 defeat to Pittsburgh, arguably their most important game, are head-scratchers.
For Philadelphia, it isn’t about ending a Stanley Cup drought that began in 1976, it’s about earning lost respect. Making the playoffs after missing two of the last three years would be a start, but that’s all it would be.
The Ottawa Senators’ season hasn’t really been as bad as owner Eugene Melnyk made it seem with yesterday’s tirade, but Melnyk is fully justified to be critical, and to promise that things will be different next season, because, as he says, they must be different.
He declares it essential that his cash-strapped Sens make the playoffs. Ottawa fans would agree, and they should like the fact that Melnyk isn’t about to sit still for what they, and he witnessed this season.
There was just one problem with how Melnyk reacted yesterday. He made himself look foolish by labelling coach Dave Cameron’s goaltending decision in this season’s home opener “stupid”. He didn’t like the fact rookie Matt O’Connor made his NHL debut and lost in front of the home fans, never mind that first-stringer Craig Anderson had played the night before.
How mad must Melnyk have been at the time to use that example, from the third game of the season in October, to criticize his coach prior to the 74th game in March? It’s like a father telling his daughter not to marry her long-time boyfriend because the kid showed up for their very first date wearing green pants.
Melnyk had a chance to look good yesterday. Instead, it’s “thumbs down” to the Ottawa owner, for choosing words less wisely than Dave Cameron picks starting goalies. Or, more stupidly, I guess.