Good Morning Phaithful!
To think when this little endeavor was undertaken, we were hopeful for this hockey season. They barely missed the playoffs last season and that was due to them basically murdering their goalie through lack of ANY competent backup help. This season would be them building on that, and with the addition of our beautiful Russian wizard, they would have a real shot at Wildcard 2… It was a nice thought…
This season is dead on arrival. It officially died in early February, just before the 4 Nations Faceoff, but it was on life support from around Christmas until then. It just chose to roll over and finally die as TK sat in the press box for Team Canada. So we’ve been this zombie-esque team since, and everything was going fine. Torts was aiding the tank, Michkov was developing but not breaking out, and the team looked poised to grab a top 3 pick. It wasn’t what we wanted but there at least was a light at the end of the tunnel. The Torts had to say the quiet part out loud during a postgame presser after being pumped, as well as get into a screaming match with one of your young defencemen, and BOOM, he’s fired with 9 games left in the campaign. This was, to put it simply, a problem. Not because he was a great coach (which he is for a playoff team looking to get over the hump, not an incredibly young rebuilding team) but because it gave the boys something to rally behind, and to a lesser extent SOMEONE in Brad Shaw.
The result? The Fly guys rattle off three dubs in a row, and we’re staring at the 6th/7th overall pick in a draft with AT MOST 5 players in it… It seemed like the MOST Flyera thing ever. Grab a few victories out of the jaws of defeat and screw up the only solace fans like me could take from this season, especially after watching Michkov just GO OFF offensively now that Torts isn’t behind the bench screaming at him and/or benching him for making plays that violate the Torts system of good team defense and boring hockey. But as my grandma has told me since I was a child, “it takes two to tango”, and by that I mean that the other teams in the basement adjacent area of the NHL also have to lose to make this a reality for the Flyers, and that simply ain’t been the case. Teams like Boston, Seattle, Anaheim, Buffalo, and yes, even Shittsburgh have rattled off improbable wins that have placed the Flyers 2 points (1 win) below the Boston Bruins (albeit the Flyers have 2 games in hand…) for the 4th worst record in the league and thus the 4th most ping pong balls in the lottery machine.
So, this recap brings us to now, this moment in time. Tonight, the Flyers will travel up the highways (usually, people say I-95, but I’m more of an I-87 man myself) to the over-glorified train station that is Madison Square Garden to face off against the Rags. The Rags are the “first team out” of the current playoff picture and desperately need to win this game to keep any dimming hope of the postseason alive in New York. And although the Flyers would probably love to be the proverbial final nail in the coffin for the Rags, please, for the love of all that is Michkov and Luchanko, lose. Lose in regulation. Lose by 4. I don’t care how you lose; please just lose. The easiest way in my mind is to start Kolosov in the net. Give Ersson and Fedotov a nice night off where they can relax and maybe have dinner at Luger’s post-game after not breaking a sweat. Losing this game might be the difference between 4th and 6th.
Now I’m not naive, the Flyers have 5 games left, 2 at home and they are most likely not going to lose out (although that’d be fine too), and even if they did, Nashville would have to win out for the Flyers to take over the 3rd spot (it’s not gonna happen). So let’s look at the numbers for the remaining schedule and what they need to do to hold onto the 4th spot and be guaranteed either Hagens out of Boston College or Frondell from Sweden (however, I personally think the 4th overall spot will get the choice of either player). Anyways, with 5 games remaining on the schedule, 0 or 1 more win will 100% guarantee that the Flyers have the 4th worst record in the league. After that, the probabilities change drastically. with 2 wins we have a 56.25% chance to remain 4th under the Bruins, Kraken, Sabres, and Shitbirds. With 3 wins those odds cripple down to 18.75% and I’m sure you get the picture for 4 wins… So, again, the best path forward is a loss tonight. Please. I can’t deal with this purgatory we’ve been in for seemingly the last decade. Please!