Flyers

Flyers forwards Matt Read (left and Sean Couturier (middle) would be moved if NBC Sports hockey analyst was Flyers GM. (Lori M. Nichols | South Jersey Times)

DENVER — The Flyers must have had some bad Christmas eggnog because they once again transformed Dr. Henry Jekyll into the evil Edward Hyde.

The momentum from those three road wins in four days before Christmas was killed with two post-holiday break losses in a row, which was more of what we saw a lot of in October and November.

So what should we really make of these Flyers, who are 14-16-6 after losing 4-2 on the road Monday night to the Arizona Coyotes, a Western Conference weakling.

We asked Jeremy Roenick, a former Flyer who has scored 500 goals in a great playing career before becoming an NBC Sports hockey analyst.

Roenick's take on the Flyers, who close out the 2014 calandar year with a New Year's Eve game Wednesday night in Colorado?

"You've got a few things going on with that team," Roenick told NJ Advance Media in a phone interview on Monday. "The secondary scoring has been a problem for the Flyers for a little while and I think the goaltending has been questionable even though Steve Mason has played well at times.

"But to me when you have a team that goes into certain buildings like the Flyers did before the Christmas break beating Toronto, Minnesota and Winnipeg ... to beat those teams on the road and then all of a sudden lose games you think you have a chance, this becomes effort and attention to detail to the system. They've shown that they can win under (head coach Craig) Berube. They've shown they can do it, but when they're not consistent, that's on the players."

Roenick puts part of the blame for the Flyers' situation on Ron Hextall for pulling the trigger on his one big trade since becoming GM last May — Scott Hartnell to Columbus for R.J. Umberger in late June.

"I'll tell you, losing a guy like Scott Hartnell was not good for the hockey team," Roenick said. "Umberger has come in and not done anything for this team. It's not been a good trade-off for the Flyers and Hartnell was one of those guys who will make people accountable. And then losing Kimmo Timonen, not having him in that lineup and not having his veteran leadership has really hurt them."

His solution is drastic.

"I've thought that the Flyers were going to be in that trade market for some time now for a couple reasons — because of their secondary scoring and because of their defense," Roenick said. "We'll see what happens. I think you have a few of their forwards you can trade."

Who would Roenick look to move?

Three younger forwards who have star potential: Matt Read, Sean Couturier and Brayden Schenn.

"You have three guys that will play really good hockey, and then you won't see them for awhile," he said. "And I like all three of them. It's just their consistency. They can't keep coming in and out of the scoresheet. You can't just do it for 10 games and then go away for 10 games, do it for five games and then go away for 15 games. That doesn't work for teams."

Roenick isn't ready to give up on the Flyers just yet. He still likes their potential, likes their talent. But he doesn't always like what he sees from them in games.

"It comes down to their attention to detail," he said. "It comes down to their preparation. It comes down to their focus. And it comes down to their ability to grind through the different things that happen — whether you're tired, whether you're hurt, whether you're sore, whether you don't like a building, whether you don't like the team that you're playing against. So there are a lot of things that go into how you prepare into games."

If the Flyers become more consistent, Roenick sees them having a shot to sneak into the playoffs.

"To me, it's 50-50, and I will tell you the first three weeks of January probably will tell you for sure they're not making it or they have a good shot of making it. These next three weeks after the Christmas break are crucial."

Randy Miller may be reached at rmiller@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com Philadelphia Sports on Facebook.