Theres nothing I dislike less than context-less catch-all analysis like this. Let's take a look at those 5 years.
For the first three, we were rebuilding. Our highest profile signing was...Dale Weiss? Until Hextalls last year when he grabbed JVR. We traded away Brayden Schenn for pure futures. Hakstol tried utilizing a system that emphasized shots from the point when we had precisely one player (Ghost) who was any good at getting shots near/on the net. Square peg, round hole.
The year after, the Flyers played like legitimate cup contenders during most of the season, strongly utilizing an aggressive 2-1-2 forecheck system, smothering opponents. Until, of course, AV met the mighty non-playoff seeded Canadiens and decided to play dump and chase hockey against a defense that was less agressive and sat back, and speedier forwards. We would dump, the Canadiens low sitting D would get the dump and pass to a small speedy Montreal forward who would walk in on a breakaway. The only thing that kept us in that series was Hart outplaying Price. We then go to a NYI team who are willing to sit back as well, nullify the dump, and then take their time and pick chances. Our brilliant coach thought matching Nate the Great Thompson against Barzal was effective, despite often getting caved to the tune of a sub 20 CF% and A 1:8 HDCF:HDCA ratio. Even Hart couldnt save us from that. I don't don't know if saying round peg square hole is appropriate here. It's like AV just didn't even bring a peg to try and plug in anywhere.
I respect that they tried to bring a non-dinosaur coach first. I was hopeful when Hakstol was hired. But the Flyers organization has effectively wasted the last 5 years of their time by not pushing coaches to utilize what they have instead of trying to mold players into something they weren't. The Flyers don't have grinders. They can't play dump and chase. They have skilled, possession based forwards with defensemen who are very good at activating in the offensive zone to drive play. Stop forcing them to be turrets, and stop forcing the older, slower team to try and beat teams on a rush. Play a game the players can play and you'll have success. They demonstrated it in 19-20, but for some reason, absolutely refuse to go back to it, and I've got nowhere else to point the blame but the coach who thinks he's smarter than everyone else in the room. ( to be clear, the players aren't completely blameless here. Some of their displays were pathetic). Are changes necessary? Sure. But are they going to be effective unless there is a change behind the bench- be it mindset or personnel there, too?- Nope.
