Jamie Drysdale wants the Flyers to stop sitting back. The problem is that his coach appears to be asking for something else entirely.
Heading into tonight's home game against Ottawa, the defenseman put it bluntly. “I think we just need to attack more,” he said.
He kept going. “Not careless, but like just kind of go for it, attack, have that mindset rather than, you know, sitting back.”
“I think that only leads to kind of what's been happening,” he added. Nine games in, what's been happening is a 0-6-3 record.
Dave Skutnik spotted the disconnect right away, pointing back to a Rick Tocchet presser from days earlier where the coach asked players to slow down and let plays develop.
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Picture two GPS voices fighting over the same dashboard. One says ease off and wait for the turn, the other says floor it.
Rick Tocchet's seat heats up with Ottawa in town tonight
Look at the hedge again. A player slipping in “not careless” before calling for more aggression sounds like a player choosing his words around a system he doesn't fully buy.
And Drysdale isn't exempt from the mess. He's been held scoreless through nine games with a -6 rating.
That comes on a $6,500,000 cap hit. Tough to sell the attack-more pitch when the guy making it hasn't found the scoresheet.
The team numbers are uglier. Philadelphia has scored 11 goals all season and owns a -22 goal differential.
Nobody in the Metropolitan Division sits lower. The Flyers haven't won a home game in four tries either.
Here's where this goes. When players start publicly pitching a different style than the coach, a change behind the bench usually isn't far off, and this one feels close.
Daniel Briere doesn't need more evidence than a locker room openly debating its own game plan.
Ottawa beat Philadelphia 2-1 in the first meeting on Oct. 8. The Senators arrive sitting first in the Atlantic.
Should the Flyers come out tonight playing Drysdale's way, that tells you who the room follows. Sitting back again would leave a defenseman alone on a limb, with Colorado coming to town Monday.
Has Rick Tocchet lost the Flyers locker room after Jamie Drysdale's attack-more comments?
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