said after practice on Monday, via PHLY\u2019s Charlie O\u2019Connor.<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cYeah, they\u2019re struggling. They want to get some points. I get it. We\u2019re playing long ball here, trying to get the team culture. It\u2019s hard to play armchair quarterback: \u2018Why can\u2019t you do this or do that?\u2019 I got some guys that are tired on the bench. I don\u2019t feel it\u2019s the right time (to use them).<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve heard some people (say) it\u2019s better to put this guy (in) this and that. I think that\u2019s bullshit, personally. This is a team thing, I\u2019m a culture guy, and we\u2019re building culture here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tocchet continued and went into the specific criticism regarding his usage of the fourth line with limited minutes left to potentially score an equalizing goal against the NHL\u2019s best team; and to give your team a fighting shot at walking away with two points.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, five minutes left, why do I have the fourth line out there?\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cWhy not? We have tired guys, some guys had a minute-and-a-half shift. I look at two guys, guys are tired. One guy came off early. I\u2019ve got to get a shift out of the guys. They\u2019re NHL players. Maybe you guys don\u2019t think \u2014 I\u2019m not saying you personally \u2014 think they are. So, I feel \u2026 put them out there. That\u2019s what I believe in.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Flyers head coach was then asked if they are doing enough other things that producing points. Because, of course, points aren\u2019t everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, listen, they\u2019ve got to produce. I get it. I get that part. And we\u2019re going to have to figure something out. But in the meantime, that\u2019s what we have. And that\u2019s what I\u2019m trying to build their confidence. I don\u2019t read tweets. I don\u2019t listen to podcasters. I\u2019d be out of a job.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tocchet really wanted to let people know that he made the right decision.<\/p>\n
But it is true. As fans, we don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on in and around the bench during games, or just how fatigued some players are. It just looks absolutely dreadful to run out potentially the worst line in the NHL during an opportunity to score and tie the game against the league\u2019s top team. It feels like a wasted opportunity to just about everyone but those who were really trying to manage the bench.<\/p>\n
So, we get it, but it also brings up the question regarding the actual fourth line itself.<\/p>\n
Flyers need to address fourth line<\/p>\n
If Tocchet wants to be able to depend on his fourth line to do something productive, and not rely so heavily on his top nine to do absolutely everything during the game, then the Flyers just need to get better players for the fourth line.<\/p>\n
Hathaway and Deslauriers have been absolutely useless when the game of hockey is actually being played, and Rodrigo Abols is an outstanding story and is a centerman who won his job in the preseason, but has been nothing since. Losing Tyson Foerster and cheapening your depth even further is only an excuse for a day or two \u2014 the Flyers should be looking at just about anyone who can actually score over any of those three forwards currently on the fourth line.<\/p>\n
Whether it\u2019s an internal option like Karsen Dorwart or Devin Kaplan \u2014 two forwards in the AHL who you don\u2019t need to play in the top nine but can also score; or just keep an eye on the waiver wire for NHL-caliber forwards elsewhere. Even right now, Carl Grundstrom is with the team and we have no idea why a player of his ilk didn\u2019t play against the Avalanche over Deslauriers.<\/p>\n
Again, just a wasted opportunity to not find out more about players but Tocchet will continue doing good by his veteran players no matter what, and that includes two wingers who definitely deserve to sit out for a little bit for their massive underperformance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Philadelphia Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet wants to let a certain group of fans who were heavily critical…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":337615,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-337614","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-nhl","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}