The Flyers fired John Stevens today.  They started the season strong with the Ray Emery signing and had only 5 losses through their first 15 games, but have been in a near tailspin recently.   after losing 6 of their last 7 games, the Flyers have gone from the team to beat, to barely average in the Atlantic.

Fan consensus has been that Stevens lost this team long ago and has been simply going through the motions.  They have the top power play unit in the league but the penalty killing unit has been falling fast, from the top ten to a ranking of 18th in the league as of yesterday.   It seems that when the refs call the penalty on the Broad Street Bullies it is a virtual given the opponents will score with the ensuing man advantage.

Emery has gone from being the man in goal, to being half of a two man defensive team with Boucher, with Stevens starting Boucher in goal 4 of the past 5 games.  All but one of those games have resulted in losses and Boucher is now 2-4 in goal despite a fairly decent 2.19 Goals Against Average and a save percentage of .924.   Emery, who was supposed to be the defensive solution to a Flyers team that could score, but lost too many games by allowing the easy goal, has become more of a part time player than the star attraction after a very strong start.

The Flyers have dropped to a last place tie in the Atlantic Division and have at best a couple weeks to turn their season around before they find themselves fighting for a playoff spot.  Two weeks ago they were being viewed as the potential best team in the division.

No word yet on who will be Stevens replacement, but the one thing that is certain is that unrest and unease are the predominant feelings in Philly tonight.