The Philadelphia Flyers will avoid adding on to history as they will more than likely not finish with the bottom-ranked power play in the NHL for the fourth consecutive season.
However, their efforts this season have barely improved and it would be shocking if they decided not to part ways with Rocky Thompson at the end of the season.
It’s an understatement to say that power plays are important to team success, especially in the modern game. At one point in time a 20% power play was considered very good, which in today’s game would be ranked 22nd in the league.
Nevertheless, if you can convert on one of every five power plays, that’s still going to give you a slight advantage game-in and game-out. Unfortunately, the Flyers are converting at a measly 14.69%, although that’s 2.49% better than their showing in 2023-24.
Thompson isn’t the only power play coach that has failed in Philadelphia but he’s definitely been the worst statistically. Joe Mullen was the cream of the crop and his efforts on a yearly basis should never be forgotten, especially when we’re forced to watch the current form on a game-by-game basis.
From 2007-08 to 2016-17, Mullen’s power play was consistently one of the best in the NHL. He had 7 top-10 finishes within his 10-year span and his worst season was ironically in 2010-11 when they won the division. The Flyers power play clicked at a 16.61% clip, which would be better than anything we’ve seen over the last 4 seasons.
2007-08: 2nd in the NHL at 21.82%
2008-09: 6th in the NHL at 22.47%
2009-10: 3rd in the NHL at 21.38%
2010-11: 19th in the NHL at 16.61%
2011-12: 6th in the NHL at 19.70%
2012-13: 3rd in the NHL at 21.64%
2013-14: 8th in the NHL at 19.73%
2014-15: 3rd in the NHL at 23.44%
2015-16: 11th in the NHL at 18.90%
2016-17: 14th in the NHL at 19.49%
After Mullen’s departure the Flyers looked at Kris Knoblauch, who Ron Hextall plucked from the OHL. After two years at the helm, the new coaching staff led by Alain Vigneault went with the more experienced Michel Therrien, who had his fair share of issues as well.
2017-18: 15th in the NHL at 20.69%
2018-19: 23rd in the NHL at 17.09%
2019-20: 14th in the NHL at 20.80%
2020-21: 18th in the NHL at 19.16%
2021-22: 32nd in the NHL at 12.55%
2022-23: 32nd in the NHL at 15.56%
2023-24: 32nd in the NHL at 10.15%
While both had their flaws, they still pumped out power plays that were at or near the middle of the table outside of 2018-19 when they finished 23rd. From 2021-22 to 2023-24, the Flyers finished dead last with Thompson leading the charge for the latter two years.
Add in this year’s 14.69% that is ranked 30th in the league and Thompson’s seat better be white hot at this moment.
The frustrating part is that this year it has been more of the same even with Matvei Michkov running the show. Through all his efforts he has been able to ameliorate the league’s worst power play by nearly 3% but it shouldn’t fall on the shoulders of a rookie.
While Thompson’s power plays lack creativity, the most important ingredient was thrown out the window: simplicity.
You look around the NHL and there’s one common theme with nearly every team and that’s one timers at the bottom of the umbrella formation. It’s what made players like Alex Ovechkin, Steven Stamkos, and more recent names like Auston Matthews so successful.
Being able to pass from one-time option to one-time option to another one-time option would give even the best defensive unit fits. You don’t know which one is going to unleash a one-timer and the best shots were always in position to fire at will.
For whatever reason the Flyers went away from the one-time options and it’s not coincidental that their power play has dropped ever since. Everything they do now is easily telegraphed because even if the cross-seam passes are right on the tape, the shooter has to gather, position themselves, and then shoot, which makes things so much easier for the goaltender to react to.
By the time they let go of the shot, the goaltender is in position to make the save, he’s square to the shooter and not leaving any open holes to shoot at, and the defense is able to regroup as well.
All the Flyers had to do this year was have Michkov and Travis Konecny switch sides and it would have been almost a guaranteed success with either one being able to shoot one-timers at will.
The constant shuffle and line juggling of power play units hasn’t been helpful either. There’s no conceivable way to create chemistry and get out of the funk they’re in if they’re always changing things around.
At it’s core they don’t have the right net-front presence, they have the wrong player in the bumper, they don’t have one-time options, and the quarterback is always changing.
There lies the other major issue with the power play because they really haven’t had a solid quarterback since the early days of Shayne Gostisbehere. The quarterback of the man advantage is probably the most important piece of the puzzle because they essentially run the show.
They have the full view of the power play formation, the puck always comes back to them, and invariably they make most of the decisions. The Flyers have changed their quarterback so many times over the years that it has made things that much more difficult to create any semblance of chemistry. Not to mention that the players they eventually stuck with for a longer period of time weren’t really offensive minded options.
Personnel matters and Mullen had some of the best the Flyers had to offer in Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, Daniel Brière, Simon Gagné, Claude Giroux, and Jake Voráček. However, it’s not like Thompson was dealing with grinders and enforcers but it sure seemed like it.
Owen Tippett has come in and out of the power play, Jamie Drysdale, Travis Sanheim, and Cam York have been part of a revolving door of quarterbacks, which was strange considering their overuse of Egor Zamula, and they relied on less offensive options like Scott Laughton for far too long.
Sometimes they didn’t have a choice due to injury or trades but all they had to do was pin Sean Couturier in front of the goalie, Michkov and Tippett along the walls with their one-timers ready, Drysdale at the point, and Konecny in the bumper.
The second unit could have been just about anything else that was leftover especially at the start of the year when they had Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost at their disposal. With how well they played together you could run with Tyson Foerster, Noah Cates, and Bobby Brink alongside York and Sanheim and no one would bat an eye.
Getting into the zone with purpose and speed, setting up immediately, and using players in their positions of strength would make all the difference in the world. Instead we had to be forced into watching a team waste two minutes off the clock, lose momentum, and somehow get outmuscled and outmanned when up a skater.
In his recent interview with NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Ashlyn Sullivan, Tortorella talked about how annoyed he is with how people talk about Thompson and the power play.
“If I could have the people that think Rocky is some sort of idiot sit down and watch his presentation and how he handles himself as a coach and how he does things, I wish they could see that before those comments are thrown around. Because he is such an intelligent coach.”
He added that at some point the Flyers will need to add players to make the power play better and specifically pinpointed the quarterback.
“We need to add skill, we need a power play quarterback just to quarterback it,” Tortorella said. “There are a lot of different things. Certainly not shying away, it has been a struggle, it has been a struggle. We’re trying to get better at it each and every day, but no one person should be blamed for that.”
I’m generally okay with a decent amount of things that Tortorella has said or done as head coach but this is one I don’t agree with. A lot of things can be done to get this power play moving again but they refuse to open their eyes and get back to the basics of what makes a power play advantageous. The personnel might not be the best in the league but they still have plenty of options that could make a difference if utilized properly.
If they ever just went back to basics and focused on simply rush entries, setting up quickly, having their players get into their positions with speed and purpose, and just fire shots instead of making the pretty passes, this wouldn’t be a 30th-32nd ranked unit.
It will certainly be interesting to see if Thompson survives another year in Philadelphia and returns behind the bench for a fourth season as the maestro of the power play.
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