Dave Hakstol

The Flyers got their guy in Rick Tocchet. Whether it's the right fit remains to be seen. But for Keith Jones and Danny Briere, it needs to be the first in a series of right decisions.

At this stage of the Flyers season, now 55 games in with 27 still to go, the results are essentially meaningless. It’s not about wins and losses at this point. Despite that, when a head coach addresses playing with passion, accountability, and having a winning attitude as areas of concern, it raises eyebrows. He’s not the first to do it either.

In a 7-1 rout by the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Flyers losing streak reached eight games, with now three of those losses coming at the hands of the back-to-back champs. And the takeaways from this one are pretty simple. It can’t be much longer before more changes start coming. There isn’t much more to say about the play on the ice that hasn’t already been said during this streak. A season that was all about making the playoffs and getting back to winning has become the opposite in a hurry.

There’s really no end in sight for the Flyers losing trend, not without some serious adjustments. That was fully evident in the most recent defeat, a 5-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Sunday night.

After another lopsided defeat to the Rangers that eerily resembled last week’s 9-0 embarrassment, this time an 8-3 margin, the statements made this week mean very little. This team is fractured beyond repair. It likely requires some sort of significant change. And the worst part is that in a year where there is so much uncertainty and hesitancy to take action, the Flyers might be stuck.

What Alain Vigneault has brought in that time has been refreshing. For the better part of a decade, the Flyers lacked a coach that seemed to challenge a steady core group of players, that didn’t demand the same excellence the fans did, that was satisfied with a participation award in the playoffs, but never advancing. That’s not Vigneault’s style.

Which Flyers head coach has won the most games in team history?

622 days ago, the Flyers were a team in complete disarray. They needed a change and fired the GM. They followed by replacing the GM, firing the head coach and powering through with an interim coach and a rookie goalie in net. Now, they have claimed the top seed in the Eastern Conference for the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

From the beginning, Alain Vigneault brought in an authority and leadership that was lacking in the Flyers locker room. That leadership and guidance has given Vigneault a strong case for a Jack Adams Award nomination.

It was only natural to feel disappointment that the NHL season was put on pause at a time when the Flyers were the hottest team in the league. But for the sake of one of the driving forces behind the success and unity of this year's team, it was a necessary stoppage that provided a lot of perspective.