Flyers' Hextall: Big offseason moves unlikely
General manager Ron Hextall sees how the Flyers play against elite teams - in the last five weeks they have defeated Nashville, St. Louis, the New York Rangers, Detroit, and Chicago - and doesn't think he needs to make many offseason moves.
General manager Ron Hextall sees how the Flyers play against elite teams - in the last five weeks they have defeated Nashville, St. Louis, the New York Rangers, Detroit, and Chicago - and doesn't think he needs to make many offseason moves.
"There's not going to be a massive turnover," Hextall, who will have limited offseason cap space unless he can shed some salaries, said while watching the Flyers whip the Blackhawks, 4-1, at the Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday. "I think we're a better team than we've played."
The flip side, of course, is that the Flyers have played miserably on the road and against NHL lightweights - an indication that the roster needs changes.
"There's more there than we've given some nights," Hextall said.
Especially on the road, where the Flyers are 9-20-10. At home, they are 21-9-6. By comparison, Chicago is 22-9-5 at home, and 22-14-1 on the road.
The Flyers' 12-win discrepancy between home and road records equals the franchise's greatest since 1991-92, when they were 22-11-7 at home and 10-26-4 on the road.
The Flyers, who lost right winger Wayne Simmonds (leg) and defenseman Andrew MacDonald (hand) to season-ending injuries against Chicago, have no answers as to why they have dominated good/great teams lately and struggled against also-rans. The Flyers have points in 13 of their last 14 games against teams that were in playoff spots when they met, compiling a 9-1-4 record.
Conversely, they have no wins in their last nine games (0-6-3) against teams that were not in playoff spots when they faced them.
"I wouldn't say it's mental," said winger Jake Voracek, who entered Thursday tied for the NHL lead with 74 points.
"It's frustrating. We're not in the playoffs, but we know we can play against the good teams," Claude Giroux said. "It feels like when we are ready to play, we play our best games."