The Philadelphia Flyers once led the powerful Eastern Conference but now sit in sixth place, a full 13 points behind the league leading New Jersey Devils. The Flyers sit just four points ahead of the ninth place team for the final playoff spot. At one point it appeared that one or two moves to obtain superstar players was all the squad needed to propel itself into a position to be a certain contender, but Mario Lemieux and Milan Hejduk are in Philadelphia now and the team is struggling like never before.
The Flyers have the most goals against for a playoff team in the Eastern Conference and are among the worst team offences in the league. Despite being six games above the .500 mark, the team is just 4-6 in its past ten games and shows no signs of turning around.
The problem is basically that nearly every player the team has acquired has underperformed. Mario Lemieux has just 39 points in 50 games while Milan Hejduk is even worse off, with 34 points in 49 games played. Mark Parrish, acquired very early this season with prospect Rob Globke was expected to score 25-30 goals this season and sits at merely eight more than halfway through the season. Recently joining the team was Brian Leetch, but his 21 points is far below expectations.
Goaltender Andrew Raycroft has seen his stats skyrocket...and that’s a bad thing for a goalie. His GAA has soared to over 2.5, an increase of nearly .8 over the past twenty games and his save percentage has taken an even bigger turn for the worse. Backup Vesa Toskala has struggled when given the opportunity to take the starting job.
GM Matt MacInnis has made the league aware that he’s willing to move some top youth in exchange for help now. Mike Richards, Jeff Glass, Rejean Beauchemin, and the team’s first round pick are among the available players.