“[E]ven in toothache there is enjoyment,” asserts the self-loathing narrator in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Notes from Underground.
He cites the spiteful pleasure a toothache sufferer gains by moaning so obnoxiously that others are forced to suffer with him.
As the Philadelphia Flyers sit at an unexpected 3-0 to begin the 2022-23 season, many fans who spent last season and summer bellyaching about the franchise are clinging to their toothaches.
Are this year’s Philadelphia Flyers a great team? No, and no one is claiming that they are. Are there signs of optimism, however, three games into the season?
Yes, but you wouldn’t know it by much of the early responses in the Flyers’ internet community.
Scour Flyers Twitter, peruse Flyers message boards, and you will discover a plethora of Philly fans finding reasons to moan despite the team’s undefeated start.
Fans claiming that the Flyers were “supposed” to lose, and that they cannot even do that correctly.
Fans arguing that the Flyers were vastly outplayed in all three games and only won each game because of Carter Hart and good luck. Fans who receive so much perverse joy reveling in and pulling others into their misery and who will not let go.
Let’s address the two most common complaints with the Flyers 3-0 start:
- The Flyers are “Supposed” to be Losing.Numerous fans contend the Flyers should throw this season away, lose as many games as possible, and draft Connor Bedard, who then allegedly will miraculously save the franchise. Disregarding that many of these same fickle fans also complained about the Flyers not signing Johnny Gaudreau, a move that contradicts the “full-on tank” strategy, intentionally losing with the hopes of drafting a savior is not a plan, it is a prayer.
For one, losing is far from a guarantee of the first overall draft choice: The Flyers would be competing with dreadful teams such as Chicago, Arizona, and Montreal for the worst record in the league, and even the franchise with the worst record only has a 25% chance of winning the first overall pick.
Is it worth trading as many of the Flyers’ best players as possible (in a league where few teams can even take on the salary) and gutting the team in a likely futile effort to obtain even a 25% chance at Connor Bedard?
What if the Flyers were to end up with the equivalent of JVR or Nolan Patrick? Or Alexander Daigle? After all, league history is replete with draft busts and disappointments, and they would have dug themselves into an even deeper hole in the process. Even if the Flyers were to somehow luck into Bedard and he’s as good as advertised, is he going to be dominant enough as a teenager to take over a gutted franchise embedded in a losing environment and quickly turn them into winners?
Ask the Buffalo Sabres if drafting a so-called “generational” talent is such a surefire strategy – they missed the playoffs for six straight seasons with Jack Eichel and have missed the playoffs eleven straight seasons overall heading into 2022-23. Buffalo has been a league doormat for over a decade, struggling with fan interest, and this easily could happen to the Flyers if they endeavor down the intentional losing path.
- The Flyers have been Vastly Outplayed, and the Bubble is about to Burst.Plenty of Flyers fans have been eager to shout that the Flyers were on the short side of 5-on-5 possession metrics in each of their first three games. This allegedly proves that the Flyers have been “dominated” by the opposition and that it is only a matter of time before the bubble bursts, like it did after a hot start to last season. It therefore is silly, they scoff, to be upbeat about the victories.
Where this angle misses the point is that it implies the Flyers need to consistently outplay the opposition for fans to be justifiably pleased with their performance. This is inaccurate. The Flyers are coming off a 61-point season. Experts routinely predicted the Flyers to finish last in the Metropolitan Division this season.
The Vegas over/under for the Flyers’ total points dropped to 73.5 before opening night. They are missing their best player (Sean Couturier), last season’s leading scorer (Cam Atkinson), and their 2nd-pairing right-side defenseman (Ristolainen) because of injuries, and they lost their second-line right-wing (Owen Tippett) to injury in the first period of game one.
This is not a team that anyone expected to carry the brunt of play in, let alone win, its first three games.
When expectations are that low, fans who are not consumed by negativity seek signs of progress, not domination. For those watching the games, it has been obvious that the team’s effort without the puck is vastly improved. The squad is breaking up far more plays than it has the prior two seasons, is winning more puck battles.
Players coming off down seasons such as Travis Konecny appear reinvigorated, and Tony DeAngelo has been terrific. The team has battled back from two-goal deficits to win twice, something they did zero times a season ago. They went on the road and beat Tampa Bay, who has been to the Stanley Cup finals in each of the last three seasons with two Cup victories, in Tampa’s home opener, and with four regulars out of the lineup, no less!
These are all positive developments. Yes, goaltending carried the Flyers to a successful start record-wise last season, but this team looks and feels different. Even when last season’s squad was winning, they appeared disjointed, and once Couturier left the lineup, they seemed to quit.
The 2022-23 team, while undermanned, without Couturier and Atkinson, and having many elements to clean up in their play (as Tortorella acknowledges), has exhibited resiliency and effort lacking from the Flyers since the 2019-20 playoff bubble.
The squad surely will have its ups and downs, but if Torts’ team continues to exhibit progress and competes hard against better teams, the Flyers do not need to dominate play or make the playoffs for fans to enjoy the season by focusing on progress rather than pain.
Joe Kalia is a writing contributor at HW Hockey
Photo Credit: Sports Illustrated
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