Defense and goaltending are huge keys to championship teams, but an anemic offense doesn't help a club's odds of making the playoffs.
And "anemic" is too nice a word to describe the Flyers this season, as Philadelphia's offense ranks last in the Eastern Conference and 29th in the NHL with 1.81 goals per game. It's not that the Flyers aren't shooting the puck, their 30 shots per game rank near the league average, but their inability to light the lamp has been a constant problem.
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Just don't tell that to general manger Ron Hextall, who likes the way his roster is built and believes his club will make the playoffs when all is said and done -- even if he admitted to being astounded by the lack of production
"Based on performance, I'm not surprised, based on personnel, we shouldn't be that low," Hextall said about the team's lack of goals, according to Yahoo Sports. "We can make the playoffs. Absolutely. We have enough talent, enough depth, enough high-end players."
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The talent is there on paper, but thus far, it hasn't been fleshed out on the ice and Hextall could be clinging to false hope.
Philadelphia has dropped eight of its last nine games -- including two in a row -- and the stagnant offense was blanked by the lowly Avalanche (5-9-0) on Tuesday. The terrible outing dropped the Flyers to 5-8-3 for the season and led to first-year coach Dave Hakstol putting his team through the ringer in a tough practice Wednesday, according to Philly.com.
The rookie coach was hoping that the practice would motivate his club to find its scoring touch, but it didn't work Thursday, as his club was defeated, 5-2, by the Capitals. The problems all start from at the top.
Claude Giroux (5-5--10) has held up his end of the deal, but his linemates Jakub Voracek (no goals) and Michael Raffl (1-1--2) haven't done much. Top-six forward Wayne Simmonds only has two tallies through 16 games. Voracek's lack of production is especially troubling, considering he was fourth in the NHL with 81 points last season.
The Flyers failed to reach the playoffs in 2014-15, calling for a coaching change heading into the new campaign. So far, Philadelphia appears headed down that same path unless it finds its offensive touch in order to turn things around.
Otherwise, Hextall is grasping at straws.
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