Tocchet: Flyers Will Be Looking for Ways to Generate More

The final media availability for Philadelphia Flyers’ head coach Rick Tocchet featured many topics. Some were more of a headliner than others – see Michkov, Matvei – but primarily, the focus was on where things came up short, how expectations change, and where things go from here to improve.

The most glaring issue was the power play, specifically, but offense in general dried up at the end. It’s a staple of the Carolina Hurricanes, who have allowed five goals in each series played so far. The Flyers scored just 10 goals in the final seven games they played in the postseason.

Tocchet doesn’t know what the roster will fully look like come October. That’s for GM Danny Briere to figure out. But at the moment, the Flyers lack that true offensive dynamo that sits at the top of the stats sheet year-round.

"How do you score goals, right? You don't have Connor McDavid, we don't have Nathan MacKinnon. So you have to think of other ways to score as a team,” Tocchet said. “Puck possession — we’ve talked about being a better wall team. Corner work and wall work is a very underrated thing. If you look at the teams that go far, you watch their inside game. That's something we have to improve on. Finishing, improvement of your shot. I coached Quinn Hughes in one summer, his shot went up 12 miles an hour. You can improve that."

Tocchet doesn’t feel that means changing a lot of what the system currently is. There are tweaks to be made to make the most of critical opportunities, but wholesale changes aren’t part of the plan.

"I don't think it's dramatic,” Tocchet said. “There will be some definitely some tweaks. We're going to dive into can we practice a little bit differently? I'm a believer, coming in here, we don't have that type of team, run and gun. To give confidence you have to stay in games. I disagree for a young player because I think you get no confidence. There's nothing worse than a young team getting the hell beat out of you every night and losing 6-3, 6-4. It doesn't build confidence."

And then there is the power play. Tocchet is well aware this is an ongoing problem, and it sounded like this was going to be a main focus of the offseason from a coaching perspective.

"It’s a five-year, six-year problem. It’s a focal point, it’s a mental thing and a physical thing for me,” Tocchet said. “I just felt some guys were nervous. As soon as we had a power play and we hit the ice, I could feel tension from some guys. We got to release the tension. That's my job, maybe less information sometimes. Giving too much information makes guys tighter. I felt some guys went out there and they were just clenching their stick."

The expectations will certainly be raised. Tocchet is looking for the next step from his team, being able to rise to the occasion in key moments, being prepared to seize opportunity.

“Being prepared. That’s the big thing being prepared for it,” Tocchet said. “It's no different [than] studying for an exam. For me, the expectation, it was clear for me when I took the job with Dan Hilferty and Brian Roberts and Jonesy and Danny where they wanted to see improvement from players. Can you get this player to get here? Or just the development of a player and we concentrate on that. But also, saying that, and I know it's the most overused word, but the culture and things like setting a standard. That’s what we're striving for. I'm going to this year, I’ve got to get better as a coach. So hopefully that'll help the standard too and the expectations just like our players.”

Kevin Durso is Flyers insider for 97.3 ESPN. Follow him on social media @Kevin_Durso.