Well, Philly fans, here we are in the midst of another stinging Flyers' losing streak.

The Philadelphia Flyers are now winless for a franchise-equalling 10 games in a row, have lost the services of LW Simon Gagne for the season and now have lost their star center and leading scorer Mike Richards for three weeks.

These injuries come on top of Joffrey Lupul and Steve Downie (RWs) and three defensemen, including tall lumbering Mike Rathje and ex-Captain Derian Hatcher. In all, eight players are injured at the time of writing.

‘The challenge they will have, at least over the next couple of days, is knowing that the composition of the locker room is probably about to shift radically.’


After getting two points in each of 14 out of 19 games (with two overtime loses and three regulation losses) in the span from December 22 until February 5 and rocketing into first position, the Flyers switched gears and have since plummeted.

Nothing has gone right recently, including their loss against the Panthers where they conceded the tying goal in the last four seconds of regulation time. They now lie in 9th position, below the last available playoff spot and tied with the New York Islanders.

If it is any consolation, the league leading Detroit Red Wings are presently accompanying the Flyers in their horror trip, as the Red Wings have lost eight of their last nine games. Yet, they still lie in first place overall in the NHL, with 89 points, six ahead of the 2nd place Dallas Stars, and 11 points ahead of the Eastern Conference-leading Senators.

This doesn't actually make me feel any better, because the one big difference is that no matter what happens, the Red Wings will still make it into the playoffs, even if they are also suffering from a large contingent of injured players, including the supremely talented Niklas Lidstrom.

When a team hits this type of losing streak, even as professionals, they must figure out how to get out of the funk, without the team starting to snap at each other – the blame game must not get in the way of lucidity.

A team in the midst of such a streak needs to stay cohesive, look for and build on the small wins, even amid the losses.  The team needs leadership. The challenge they will have, at least over the next couple of days, is knowing that the composition of the locker room is probably about to shift radically.

With the trading deadline about to fall (February 26 at 3pm EST), you can only imagine that the Flyers will be active in the market in an effort to stay in the playoff hunt.

What of the future of Daniel Briere who has managed to take his career -5 +/- rating coming into the season to a frightening -28 (-23 this season thus far)?

Even if Coach Stevens says Briere cares, it is tough to look beyond the statistics and the $52m package.

There is rampant talk that the Flyers are out shopping, including trading the now-injured Mike Richards. It would be a shame to throw away talent needlessly for this season which started out so promisingly. Not that the Flyers are ready to build a Stanley Cup team, but with Simon Gagne's career hanging in the balance, I believe that the salary cap restrictions and regulations make the options limited for any quick fix.