from Sam Donnellon of the Philadelphia Daily News,

He won't say it, but it's there, in the undercurrent of every answer he gives about his foundering Flyers. Ask Dave Hakstol anything, frame it as fiercely or as friendly as you want, and his unblinking answers will inevitably laud effort while underlining missed opportunity and the minutia that separates games this time of the year, especially those low-scoring ones among the league's have-nots.

Here's what he means, each time: The Flyers are not nearly as talented a team as many fans think or wish them to be, and the fact that two of the stars they leaned on so heavily during their unlikely run of a season ago - Claude Giroux and Shane Gostisbehere - are just now beginning to resemble even a sniff of their old selves only makes this more so. But the coach, still supported by the general manager who coerced him from a cushier college job, is loath to say that, perhaps fearing that the one thing they are capable of, and have given him - effort - would dissipate as a result.

Clearly, we can at least say this about the Flyers after 68 games played: They are drowning in a sea of have-nots. They have no pure goal scorers, no game-changers, no shutdown defenseman, no stand-on-your-head goaltender who can steal games because to do so on most nights would require a shutout.

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