Flyers at Worlds Update, Musings on 2017-18 Goalie Plan May 12, 2017, 9:42 AM ET [188 Comments] Bill Meltzer

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WORLDS: SIX FLYERS INVOLVED AS CANADA DOWNS FRANCE, 3-2



Canada survived a scare and went to squeak out a 3-2 regulation win over France in preliminary round action on Thursday at the 2017 IIHF World Championships.



With Canada trailing 2-1 late in the second period, team captain Claude Giroux sniped a power play goal from near the left circle to knot the score. Marc-Edouard Vlasic scored the game winner early in the third period. Ryan O'Reilly stepped out in front of the net and elevated a backhanded power play goal inside the far post for a first period 1-0 lead before France tied the game on an Olivier Dame-Malka goal from the top of the circle off the rush. A power play goal by veteran sniper Damien Fleury (Matt Read's linemate with Södertäjle SK during the 2012 NHL lockout) gave France a 2-1 lead before Giroux squared up the game again.



Giroux (13:51 TOI, three shots on goal on Thursday) has six points in four preliminary games. Sean Couturier (14:37 TOI) had a good scoring chance in the first period that was denied by French goalie Florian Hardy and then swatted the rebound out of the air and was turned aside again. Couturier has won 75 percent of his faceoffs (18-for-24) in his two prelim round games.



In this tournament, Wayne Simmonds (15:08 TOI) has played a supporting role for Team Canada more similar to the one he played in Los Angeles earlier in his career than to the more scoring-oriented one he plays for the Flyers. He is not a power play regular for Canada. However, he did show his familiar net-front presence on a couple of plays on Thursday in addition to digging pucks out and providing energy. At one juncture, he mixed it up with Dallas Stars agitator Antoine Roussel behind the net.



Brayden Schenn (11:01 TOI, two shots on goal) is also a supporting cast player on the Canadian team. He does not have a point through four games but has worked diligently and been hard to take off the puck when he has it.



Travis Konecny has been one third of an exciting and often dominant "kid line" for Canada, joining Toronto's Mitch Marner and Tampa Bay's Brayden Point. Konecny entered Thursday's game with six points (all assists) in three games. In the game against France, his line had one especially dominant shift that did not result in a goal. Konecny was on the ice for the first goal by France but was not part of the play that unfolded. Konecny's ice time for the game ended up fairly low at 9:47 but this was largely due to game circumstance and not punitive.



Jeff Skinner was tossed out of the game early in the third period for what was penalized as a spearing major. The Skinner penalty, which put Canada shorthanded for three minutes after an initial 4-for-4 for the first two, cost Konecny a shift or two as he does not kill penalties. Canada also had to later kill off a Mark Scheifele penalty.



Nevertheless, there were a few social media wisecracks from Dave Hakstol-bashing Flyers fans about Konency's ice time against France. Ignoring the actual game situations that unfolded in the third period, there were gripes that Team Canada assistant coach must have gotten into head coach Jon Cooper's ear to reduce Konecny's ice time on Thursday to the lowest on Canada apart from the tossed-from-the-game Skinner.



As noted in previous blogs, while Pierre-Edouard Bellemare plays a fourth-line defensive role and kills penalties for the Flyers, he typically plays on the top line and logs considerable all-situations ice time while playing for depth-challenged Team France (and, previously, when playing for SAIK in the Swedish Hockey League). He had a good game against Canada, although he did not score. Bellemare skated 30 shifts and logged nearly 18 minutes of ice time.



In the game's most memorable sequence for Flyers' followers apart from the Giroux goal, Bellemare had a scoring chance near the Canadian net and kept jamming and poking at the puck as it was covered by goalie Chad Johnson, including a jab at or just after the whistle. As is usual in such situations, this resulted in some shoving and chirping as play stopped. Bellemare and Giroux face-washed each other and traded some verbal jousts. Then they peacefully skated away. No penalties were called.



France is right back in action on Friday, playing Belarus. Canada, still undefeated, is off on Friday before opposing Switzerland on Saturday. Team Czech Republic (Jakub Voracek, Radko Gudas) faces Slovenia on Friday. On Saturday, Finland (Valtteri Filppula) plays Norway, while Russia (Ivan Provorov) is matched against Slovakia.



******



GOALTENDING PLAN FOR 2017-18 STILL UNCLEAR



On May 4, the Hockey News published rankings (created by columnist Matt Larkin) of the top 30 unrestricted free agents on the NHL market this summer. Among the goaltenders on the list, he had Ben Bishop (whom he ranked fourth among all available players) as his top goalie. Second among goalies was Brian Elliott (15th overall), followed by Scott Darling (21st overall) and then Ryan Miller (27th overall). Steve Mason, not among Larkin's top 30 players overall, was the fifth goaltender in his list with Chad Johnson, Mike Condon, Peter Budaj and Jonathan Bernier also receiving honorable mentions.



Since that time, Darling (acquired by Carolina and subsequently signed to a four-year, $16.6 million deal) came off the market. Bishop, acquired by the Dallas Stars this week, will come off the market if and when the Stars announce coming to terms with him on a contract.



Mason still seems to have his post-Calder Trophy years in Columbus weighed more heavily in national media perception than his body of work in Philadelphia. Mason's .908 save percentage this season -- and also Michal Neuvirth's league-worst .891 among goalies who played 15 or more games -- was partially his own inconsistency in the first six weeks of the season and also during a team-wide swoon for a month or so after the Christmas break.



However, Mason was a key part (including NHL Player of the Week honors) during the Flyers' 10-game winning streak. Later, over his final 17 starts of the season, Mason posted a 10-5-2 record, 2.14 GAA, .926 SV%, and two shutouts (plus a regulation shutout in the road finale in New Jersey). These segments of the season were closer to his overall body of work as a Flyer. For his Flyers career, Mason had a .918 save percentage -- above the leaguewide average in the .915 vicinity -- despite having some less-than-stellar defense played in front of him.



If it is the playoffs that get held against him, Mason had one outstanding playoff series in a losing cause against the New York Rangers in 2014 and two rough games after a strong one against the Washington Capitals in 2016 before Neuvirth took over and played brilliantly.



Hockey people from various organizations sometimes grumble about non-statistical issues or at least perceived ones with Mason. It's still not uncommon to hear questioning over whether Mason is a team-first or me-first type of player, whether he is mentally tough enough and focused enough for 60 minutes (complaints that date back to his Columbus years), whether he loses stamina in the third period of games, and whether he lets himself get distracted over minor annoyances (the color of his gear, the lighting or sightlines of a particular arena, etc.).



Are these criticisms fair? For the most part, I do not believe so.



In my own dealings with Mason over his time in Philly, I have found him to be consistently upfront and analytical of both his own game and the team's play in general. When Mason feels he needs to play better or let in a goal he felt he should have stopped, he said so very directly just as he said it about the team. Although typically much less verbose, Neuvirth has also had a few occasions -- I distinctly remember one after a game in Dallas during the 2015-16 season where he said in as many words that the team needs to box out better in front of him -- where he's called out the team directly.



To some extent, that's part of a healthy dynamic. The bigger question is whether teammates have confidence that their goalies will compete every night and play well enough most nights to give them a chance to win. That has been a non-issue in the Mason/Emery and Mason/Neuvirth years (especially in 2015-16) even when the team has struggled or the goalies themselves hit a rough patch for awhile.



As for his dealings with coaches and teammates, these things for good reason are kept where they belong --- on the ice and in the dressing room. I don't have a close enough relationship with any current Flyers players where I'd be privy to know but I never got the sense that Mason alienated teammates apart from periodic heat-of-the-moment situation here or there that blew over in a day or two when cooler heads prevailed. This type of thing goes on with most every team, though. With coaches, every coach-player relationship dynamic is different and some change for the better or worse over time.



I do think that Mason seems to like working with goalie coach Kim Dillabaugh. He has always gotten enthusiastic when asked about the work they've done together. It's hard to say how that relationship might be perceived in the other direction because Dillabaugh works very much in the background rather than in the public (and media) eye. As for Mason and Dave Hakstol, well, there have been thinly veiled disagreements at times; some of which were aired publicly by Mason in his extraordinarily candid, throw-down-the-gauntlet exit day interview. These were strictly hockey-related differences, though.



It never got personal at all, which is a vital distinction. The same goes for the apparent Mason and Neuvirth relationship. They both want the same thing, which is to be a clear-cut starter. Both have things that work in their favor and both have things (in Neuvirth's case, a history of too-frequent injuries shelving him) that work against them. While they may not be buddy-buddy, there is not even a hint of animosity.



Here are the most important rhetorical questions: If Mason were to be brought back on a new contract, could he and Hakstol continue to work together successfully in a situation where Mason is not going to enter next season with a promise of being the undisputed number one goalie unless his backup is an unproven young goaltender such as Anthony Stolarz?



In Hakstol's mind, the answer is probably yes in either scenario. At Mason's exit interview, he advocated for the latter scenario and vocalized resistance to the former.



For argument's sake, let's assume that Mason and the Flyers look at the goalie marketplace this summer and both were to decide they are best off staying together for a couple more years.



If Neuvirth is either protected in the expansion draft or otherwise retained to begin his contract extension and, furthermore, stays healthy, would the same 1A/1B situation reemerge? If so, could the bottom-line results be more like they were in 2015-16, when collective goalie play was one of the Flyers' biggest strengths?



Flyers general manager Ron Hextall has gone on record multiple times is saying that he believes it is important to have starter-caliber depth -- ideally including a third goalie that can step up from an AHL recall to perform capably if needed to do so -- in today's NHL and that there should be ongoing competition for playing time. Mason joked at his exit interview that sometimes wonders how Hexy himself was ever a goalie, given his views on playing time, leaguewide reduction of goalie gear size and a desire to see more scoring around the league.



When all the factors are added up as things currently stand, it still seems that the Flyers and Steve Mason are more likely to part ways than to extend the relationship. That does not mean that Mason's tenure in Philadelphia has been a bad one, but it does mean that change could be healthy for all parties. That includes Neuvirth with a new goaltending partner in a 1A/1B dynamic with the Flyers. If Neuvirth does somehow wind up elsewhere -- the gut feeling here is that it will not be with the new Vegas Golden Knights team, if so -- then the odds of Mason and the Flyers remaining together increase. There is also the possibility that an all-new tandem is created, possibly with Stolarz as the backup and a third-string vet signed to compete with Alex Lyon on the Phantoms and be available for NHL recall.



The waters are still murky here, in other words. The goaltending plan for next season may not clear up until July, but there does not seem to be much chance of another season of a Mason and Neuvirth tandem because neither the Flyers nor the Mason camp seem to want that arrangement. Could that perspective change? Yes, but probably not.