By Harry Allison
Don’t look now but the Flyers just finished their season as one of the most pathetic teams in town.
More pathetic than the Phillies or the Sixers.
Don’t laugh.
The Sixers have more than bottomed out and are on their way up, with young players that are fun to watch and lots of high picks in the June NBA draft that will help their future.
Everyone in town — with the exception of the clueless Phillies management — knew that they should have started retooling their roster at least three seasons ago.
But the Flyers?
The butt boy media wrote that they were a Stanley Cup contender after making the playoffs and losing a tight, first-round series with the eventual Cup finalist New York Rangers last season.
Then they traded Scott Hartnell and lost Kimmo Timonen to medical issues, and they failed to make the playoffs for the second season out of three.
And they were bad and boring, the worst of all places to be even in a hockey-crazy town like Philly.
This miss could cost coach Craig Berube his job.
Berube could be out after two seasons on the bench, though his fate was still undecided following the Flyers’ exit meetings on Monday.
General manager Ron Hextall will make the call soon if Berube has done enough to earn a third season.
His players gave, at best, lukewarm reviews of Berube following a 33-31-18 (84 points) season.
Hextall did not speak to reporters and was not scheduled until later in the week. His common response toward the end of the season on Berube’s status was that he would be evaluated like anyone else after the season.
Berube said Monday he had yet to meet with Hextall and was not concerned about the speculation surrounding his future. He also said he was fine meeting with his players during exit meetings.
”It wasn’t unsettling, no,” he said. ”I’ve got good relationships with all these guys.”
Jakub Voracek and Wayne Simmonds bemoaned a lack of leadership in the locker room. Vinny Lecavalier, once one of the best players in the NHL, made it clear he had almost no interest in a third season in Philly if Berube returned.
He scored a career-low eight goals in 57 games and was a healthy scratch for several stretches this season. At 34, Lecavalier said he had plenty left and could still become a valuable contributor to any team.
Well, except the Flyers if Berube is back.
”He’s got his views and he showed that,” Lecavalier said. ”I think 17 or 18 games, I was scratched, so it’s going to be tough to change his mind. But we’ll see what happens.”
Berube said he no longer sees ”eye to eye” with Lecavalier and the veteran has not accepted the fact he is no longer a No. 2 center.
”At some point, he’s going to have to accept his role,” Berube said.
Mason backed Berube’s return. Giroux, the team captain, said those decisions are out of his hands.
”We trust (Hextall) to do his job like he trusts us to do our job,” he said.
Voracek and Giroux spent most of the season in the hunt for an NHL scoring title and each finished with some stout stats: Voracek had 22 goals and 81 points (six points behind Dallas’ Jamie Benn) and Giroux had 25 goals and 73 points. Wayne Simmonds led the Flyers with 28 goals and Mason’s .928 save percentage was second-best in team history and his 2.25 GAA was the lowest for a Flyers goalie since 2003-04. Defenseman Mark Streit had 52 points.
The top talent is in place.
It’s depth, chemistry and talent issues around the rest of the lineup and inside the locker room that helped sink the Flyers.
Voracek said the Flyers missed the leadership from veteran defenseman Timonen, who never played this season because of blood clots before he was traded to Chicago.
”He always calmed things down,” Voracek said. ”That’s what we’re missing. Someone like Kimmo.”
Giroux said all players needed to assume that role.
”Maybe I haven’t thought about it as much as Jake did,” Giroux said.
Giroux is the lone holdover from the 2010 team that lost to the Chicago Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup final.
The Flyers have not won a Stanley Cup since hoisting two straight in 1974 and 1975. The Flyers have been close – real close to another: Philly lost in the Stanley Cup finals in 1976, 1980, 1985, 1987, 1997 and 2010.
The Flyers have missed the playoffs two times in a three-season span for the first time since they missed it five straight seasons from 1989-1994.
Now, a new coach could steer the Flyers back to the playoffs.
”What bothers me is not making the playoffs,” Berube said.
