El Stinko

I never thought I’d say this, but given a choice between the Sixers and the Flyers, and forced to pick the team more likely to win a play-off series this spring, I would have to go with the Sixers.

Gosh, wasn’t that an absolutely cringing loss to Buffalo last night? Even the Capitals don’t let teams go for six in their building, blowing multiple leads.

The Flyers are a mess in their own end. How is this for a bold statement? Right now, they have one defensemen who is probably a plus in a series with a skating team like Buffalo or the Rangers: Pitkanen. Joni Pitkanen. Heaven help the faithful.

Hatcher and Rathje don’t bring much to a game that isn’t a physical battle down low. Heck, Rathje can’t even move right now. He’s still tough on the puck- but he simply can’t get to it. As I wrote last week, signing these two guys was a gamble- Clarke's bet that, come play-off time, the NHL would revert to the “old” clutch-and-grab, present your x-rays style of play. Hitchcock better hope so- because Hatcher and Rathje are a problem playing regularly against a club like Ottawa. I honestly think the only first round draw that the Flyers could win today is the New Jersey Devils- a team trapped in the same slug it out mode.

Johnnson and Pitkanen help- but Johnnson cannot get on the ice and Pitkanen is merely a nice player who can move the puck some- not a guy you can hang your defensive effort on thirty minutes a night. Ultimately, it is hard to imagine any Flyers’ success this season without both Johnnson ceasing to have magic visions and Pitkanen having the best four-six weeks of his life.

Therein is a non-factor, hurt and slow. Desjardins is now just an okay player- probably asked to do too much. Freddie Meyer probably would be okay on the third pairing- if the first two pairs were healthy. And Randy Jones would be a fine addition to the Phantoms or filling out any "healthy scratch" list.

Mix this in with really turgid special teams play (seriously, watch the Flyers kill penalties when the team throws it behind their net, they never get to it first) and pedestrian goaltending- and you have a team that really isn’t much better than .500.