Flyers take off as Hakstol's system takes hold

GLENDALE, Ariz. - The Flyers entered Saturday hotter than Stanley Cup favorite Washington, hotter than Western Conference powerhouse Dallas.

Hotter, in fact, than any NHL team over the last month.

It's been a stunning transformation for a team that, in November, looked as if it might be in the hunt for the first overall pick in the draft.

Remember?

Entering Saturday night's game in Arizona, the Flyers were on a 10-2-2 surge, one that enabled them to climb past four teams and into the Eastern Conference's last wild-card spot. But the team's about-face actually started in early January. It was then that the players began grasping new coach Dave Hakstol's system, including the nuances of his forecheck and his emphasis on forwards being more defensively responsible.

After a slow start, the Flyers are 21-9-6 since returning from a winless West Coast trip after the holiday break. That type of upswing was part of the coach's resumé at North Dakota, where his teams showed marked improvement in the second half of the season.

In his 11 seasons at North Dakota, Hakstol's teams were 113-73-19 (.598) before Christmas and a staggering 176-69-24 (.699) after Christmas.

"There's so many different stories to those years," Hakstol said the other night. "We were building a completely new team every year, and I don't care how many players you have back; we had anywhere from half our team being rookies during that stretch to a veteran-laden team. But you're building a new team every year there. The same approach here: Show up. Work to win games. Work to get better. Every week, every month - and make sure you're playing your best hockey at the critical time of the year, which is now."

That would lend credence to the theory that it takes time for players - whether they be in the NCAA or NHL - to grasp a new system.

"Yeah, maybe I'm just too slow getting the message across," Hakstol said with a laugh.

Under Hakstol, North Dakota peaked at the right time and reached seven Frozen Fours in his 11 seasons.

He is hoping to start a similar trend of excellence in Philadelphia, but he deflects all praise.

"What's happening here," he said before the game against the dangerous Coyotes, "has nothing to do with me. It has to do with the group of guys who are making a natural progression. They're committed to it, and they have been from day one when I showed up here. They're committed to wanting to win, to improving what we're doing."

Captain Claude Giroux said "there's less hesitation in our game now and the way we want to play the system. When a new coach takes over, it takes a while to kind of get on the same page, and as the season has gone on, we've adapted to the teams we're playing and what works for us at a team. You always want to adapt to what works."

It's natural for a new coach - especially one from the college level - to take time to adjust to the pro ranks.

"It's a new league for him, so [he] tries things, and if it doesn't work, you adapt yourself, and that's something I think he's really good at - adapting to who we're playing or what works for us," Giroux said.

Radko Gudas, the rugged defenseman who has reduced his ill-advised penalties and entered Saturday with five goals in his last 10 games, said "some parts" of the Flyers' improvement can be attributed to their growing familiarity with Hakstol's methods.

"We have a lot of new players and getting used to each other [took time]," Gudas said. "We've gotten the feel for each other and I think we've done a pretty good job since Christmas, and we're just getting better and better."

Hakstol, whose farm system has a deep group of gifted defensive prospects, was brought here to get the most out of young players. And when you consider the development of Brayden Schenn, Sean Couturier, and Shayne Gostisbehere - and, to a lesser extent, Nick Cousins, Scott Laughton, and Brandon Manning - the future looks bright.

And, thanks to a metamorphosis that happened faster than most expected, so does the present.

scarchidi@phillynews.com

@BroadStBull www.philly.com/flyersblog