Mired in losing, Flyers show frustration

The Flyers have lost 17 of the last 20 games. They’ve already been through a 10-game skid and have not been able to put together back-to-back wins since early November. Looking at the big picture, the Flyers have shown progress despite all the L’s on their record. But the reality of the losses in the here and now is much less optimistic.

After the Flyers’ latest defeat, a 6-3 loss to the New York Rangers on Saturday, Scott Laughton was asked if the team’s inability to string wins together is getting frustrating. Laughton, the team’s lone alternate captain this season, answered with a simple but resounding “Yeah.”

According to the players and coach John Tortorella, the locker room is fine, and the bench is fine in terms of character. People get along. They’re supportive. They’re dedicated to improving. And when the team trails in games, the players are persistent in their encouragement and positive in their outlook.

The Flyers also spoke highly of the locker room they had last year, and they continued to insist it was a good one in the wake of a historically bad season. They said players stuck together and didn’t point fingers. But when Tortorella came in, he said he heard the locker room was splintered. Players denied that.

But the story line of a united organization seemed to falter Saturday, even before Laughton’s comment about frustration following the most recent loss. A storm of news struck that morning.

Lukáš Sedlák announced he was leaving the team. He said it had nothing to do with the Flyers, but he also said he wasn’t enjoying playing in the NHL as much as he expected and would rather play at home in the Czech Republic. The NHL team he was playing for when he found he wasn’t enjoying it? The Flyers. His teammates wished him the best, but they were surprised by the news.

“I don’t have much info on it,” Laughton said. “I just hope he’s happy.”

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The Flyers also announced before the game that Kevin Hayes would be a healthy scratch. He’s the team’s leading scorer, and he has been an alternate captain in previous seasons. He’s often described as the guy who arranges team dinners and welcomes new players. When asked about Hayes’ situation, Laughton kept his reply businesslike.

“The main thing is focus on the job,” Laughton said. “Have a couple conversations with him, but, yeah, worried about what you can do to help the team tonight, and that’s pretty much it.”

Tortorella has spoken often about how it’s not just a building process, it’s also a trimming process. Hockey is a business, but there still are friendships and feelings involved. And whether they’ll say it or not, Hayes and those who care about him will have feelings about his being scratched against his former team while other players who made big mistakes the night before stayed in the lineup. They’ll have to deal with even more feelings if Tortorella decides Hayes has got to go.

There also seems to be a disconnect between how Tortorella views the season and how the organization views it. On Dec. 1, Tortorella avoided the word “rebuild” but staunchly said the team is at the beginning of a building process. Meanwhile, general manager Chuck Fletcher, also avoiding the word “rebuild,” pointed out that the team can still be competitive this season. CEO Dave Scott hasn’t spoken this season, but when he last spoke, he said the Flyers still wanted to win now.

With a 10-15-7 record, the Flyers haven’t “won now.” Tortorella has said it’s all part of what’s going to be a painful, long process. The process will depend on a lot of hope — hope that the team responds to his teachings, hope that the players they drafted live up to expectations, hope that players stay healthy or return from injury.

Tortorella has his players working toward a bigger picture he sees in his mind. But the same young players he needs for the team’s future success are the ones who presently are slogging through loss after loss. And if a veteran like Laughton is feeling the frustration, they probably are, too, especially when future success is far from guaranteed.

Tortorella admitted in November that there needs to be a balance between focusing on the future and making sure the players aren’t demoralized along the way.

“That’s something we have to manage,” he said after the sixth straight loss of the 10-game skid.

The balance they’ve found so far? Ten wins to 22 losses.