Last season, the Flyers carried the puck into the offensive zone at five-on-five on just 42.24 percent of their zone entries, which was significantly below the league average of 49.1 percent that tracker extraordinaire Corey Sznajder found in his league-wide work.
This season? They’re all the way up at 51.19 percent controlled entries (eight of ten games tracked), a near-ten percentage point jump. Opponents 44.69%
They’ve outshot the opposition in seven of ten games, leading 334 – 267 (+67) in aggregate. They’ve outchanced opponents (per Natural Stat Trick’s public chance metrics) in seven of ten games as well. And at five-on-five, the Flyers have earned a 55.91 percent expected goal share, ranking them seventh in the NHL, and well above where they finished in 2022-23 (47.24 percent — 24th in the league).
How does a team like the Flyers, who are trying to open things up without completely sacrificing their defensive soundness, decide when to stretch the neutral zone, and when to hang back? For Tortorella, it’s the distinction between “anticipating” and “cheating.” One is desirable, even encouraged in the new environment in Philadelphia. The other? Not so much.
“When it starts working — and it has, I think we have played a much quicker pace and a much, much quicker style offensively — when it starts working, they think they can do it all the time,” he said. “And they start anticipating maybe a little bit too quickly on our first touch. And that’s when it starts turning into cheating.”
Tortorella noted. "I do not want to overcoach them. I want us to take chances. I do. That’s a big part of my coaching here this year, is if there’s a mistake made — a turnover when they’re trying to make a play at the blue line, or leaving the zone to try to create offense. If I think they’re doing it for the right reason, and it’s the right timing, and they’re trying to make plays and it doesn’t work? I don’t say anything,” he explained.
Tortorella acknowledged that the coaching staff does pay attention to tracked stats like controlled entry and dump-in totals, that he relies upon assistants Rocky Thompson and Brad Shaw to comb through the data and pick out any positive or troubling trends that appear, and present that information to him if they deem it necessary. He’s still going by his eyes and his gut to tell him what the right balance is, when anticipation is crossing over into cheating or when players are starting to stray a bit too far from the structural gains they made in 2022-23.
“I’ve always said: sometimes the head coach gets blinders on,” he admitted. “Sometimes the analytics (have) to bring me back, (if) something really good is going on, or we’re going off the rails in this area. My coaches let me know.”
The Flyers are playing much better hockey so far this season, even if the record doesn't show it yet. Why? They're opening things up.
allphly.com
Told you Torts likes an aggressive style of play, just had to install discipline into this team.
I saw this looking at CBJ, Torts isn't going to run a Florida offense first scheme, but he's not a Hakstol/Trotz defense first HC either. He wants a team that attacks, takes measured risks, but doesn't cheat on fundamentals.
This team doesn't have the talent to really make this system work, they struggle to finish and don't have the defensive core to move the puck consistently. But the structure is being established, once that's in place, inserting more talented players will be easier. It's a fun team to watch now, they're still going to lose, but there's lots of action for both teams.
Fletcher was fired, last I heard.
