VOORHEES, N.J. — There is, according to Philadelphia Flyers coach John Tortorella, a method to all of the early line-changing madness.
The Flyers have started games with 20 different forward line combinations this season, and from the look of Friday’s practice, there are likely to be at least one or two more on the horizon. It’s a topic that has blown up a bit in recent days with this post on X that also was referenced on the TNT broadcast before Wednesday’s game.
“It’s not like I’m a mad scientist back there just trying to throw things around,” Tortorella said.
Through six games, the Flyers have started games with 18 (!) different forward line combinations. Not sure how anyone is going to develop chemistry when things are in the blender that often.
— Kevin Kurz (@KKurzNHL) October 23, 2024
In the coach’s defense, his primary goal right now — other than trying to end a six-game losing streak — is getting individual players going, particularly those who are key parts of the future. At the top of that list are Tyson Foerster and Owen Tippett, a pair of forwards who took steps last season and who the Flyers are hoping will continue to incrementally, if not drastically, improve. They need to create, and score.
Foerster has already come out of the lineup once, sitting on Tuesday night in the first of two straight games with the Capitals but returning for Wednesday’s rematch. The 22-year-old mentioned on Friday that he needs to “hold onto the puck more, not just throw it away, and try and win my 50-50 battles. That’s what I was big on last year, and I’ve got to get back to that.”
As for Tippett, perhaps his goal against the Capitals in the second period on Wednesday, his first of the season, has him feeling good about himself going into the Flyers’ two home games this weekend. Tippett has a healthy total of 20 shots on goal through seven games, but has missed the net 16 times, tied for the fifth-most in the league.
Joel Farabee is another forward that hasn’t done much of late. He’s scoreless in his last four games with a minus-7 rating, and he skated for just 8:58 on Wednesday.
All of that has made Tortorella’s task of finding the right lineup, and the right lines, more difficult.
“Especially in the situation we’re in right now, we’re struggling offensively,” Tortorella said. “I wish I could just roll with it. But when you’re struggling offensively and you see something might work in a game after certain situations, I’m going to stick with it, so you have to change other things, too. … Don’t misconstrue (that) I’m back there just throwing people all over the place. Every decision I make with lines is, I’m hoping to help the team.
“When a team is struggling offensively, I think I need to. If I didn’t, you’d probably say, ‘Why the hell isn’t he changing his lines around?’”
So, what now?
Tippett, who has played more than 36 minutes with rookie Matvei Michkov at five-on-five, was instead on a line with Morgan Frost and Garnet Hathaway on Friday. Tortorella mentioned how he was hoping that Tippett and Michkov would develop some chemistry together, but it just hasn’t happened. They have yet to be on the ice together for a single Flyers goal at five-on-five (and two against).
So, instead, the coach is going to do something he was hesitant to do earlier — move their most dangerous forward, Travis Konecny, from the right wing to the left wing in order to get him back on a line with Michkov, because he believes there could be something there.
“I like that chemistry,” Tortorella said. “I’ve used Tipp and Mich quite a bit to see if something would work, and it hasn’t. Tipp sometimes has good chemistry with (Frost), I tried all three of those together, and I tried two of them together. It just hasn’t worked.
“A lot of it is, when a number of guys are struggling it’s hard to figure out who’s going to be (with) who. When (Konecny and Michkov) play together, there’s some chemistry there. So we’re going to try and stay with it.”
As for Farabee, Tortorella said he met with the forward on Friday. His task now is to give the 24-year-old a chance to come out of his slump, but also to give the other new combinations a chance to succeed.
“I’ve got to make a decision, if (Farabee) doesn’t play better, I may have to take him out,” Tortorella said. “And I don’t want to do that until I’m fair to him and give him an opportunity with some ice time. That falls on me.”
The biggest issue, according to Tortorella and others in the dressing room, is that the Flyers simply haven’t had the puck enough. That starts with a better forecheck, something that was the focus on Friday.
“We worked on the forecheck, so I think that was probably the point,” Scott Laughton said. “Get the puck up the ice, and we’ve got to win more puck battles. We’ve got to make it harder on guys to get out of their zone. Feel like we’re spending a little bit too much time in our zone, where we don’t have energy to get on the forecheck.”
That’s just one item on what Tortorella described as a “laundry list” of things the Flyers need to work on amid their difficult start. What he does believe is that even though the Flyers remain one of the NHL’s youngest teams, they’re better than what they’ve shown so far.
“We’re going to get punched. There’s no question about it,” he said. “But we’re not as bad as this.”
Luchanko’s status unclear
The Flyers are having ongoing discussions as to what comes next for rookie Jett Luchenko, who likely will be a scratch for the third straight game on Saturday.
Tortorella is hesitant to throw him into the lineup during a losing streak.
“In the mess we’re in right now at the start of the year, I’m not looking for an 18-year-old to try and get us out of it,” he said.
At the same time, the Flyers are surely aware that him sitting in the press box every night isn’t the way to develop him properly. Luchanko has played in four games and can play in as many as five more before the Flyers must decide to keep him or reassign him to Guelph of the OHL.
“It’s still a state of flux with him as far as what we do,” Tortorella said. “When I’m in that situation, I kind of have to turn to the team that’s really struggling right now and go with some veteran guys. It’s hard to throw him in there right now and try to help us out of that mess.”
In the meantime, Luchanko has some new roommates. He moved in with defenseman Erik Johnson and his wife in New Jersey about a week ago.
(Photo: Scott Taetsch / Getty Images)
