Phil Sheridan: After loss to Rangers, Timonen offers harsh assessment of Flyers

The players always know first. They don't always say it as clearly as Kimmo Timonen did Saturday afternoon, but they always know whether their team has what it takes to compete for a championship.

The Flyers' 5-2 loss to the New York Rangers signified more than two points for the Eastern Conference's top team. It was a game that underscored the gap between these two teams. More than that, this gap almost certainly means the Flyers, as constituted, are not contending for the Stanley Cup this year.

"They're a top team," Timonen said. "That's why they're at the top. They play the same way every night. They work hard. They do the same system every night. Their goalie plays really well every night."

As for the Flyers? The veteran defenseman saw a team that failed to show up for the 1 p.m. faceoff with the required focus or intensity.

"I'm disappointed at the effort," Timonen said, "the emotional level [against] a top team in the conference and the league. To be honest, I think we had half the guys going and half the guys not."

That is a scathing assessment, and it doesn't reflect well on his teammates or on coach Peter Laviolette. Maybe that's why Laviolette declined to endorse Timonen's point of view.

"I'll have to go back and look at it," Laviolette said.

The coach and general manager Paul Holmgren are in a fascinating spot with the NHL trade deadline looming on Feb. 27. This team was put together to contend immediately. With top defensemen Timonen (36) and Chris Pronger (37) on the back side of their careers, Holmgren splurged on free-agent goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, signed 39-year-old forward Jaromir Jagr, and reshuffled his front line by trading away Mike Richards and Jeff Carter.

It was a bold course of action, removing two cornerstone players from a team that went to the Finals just two years ago. Two things happened to foil the plan, at least so far. Bryzgalov has turned out to be a human thrill ride on and off the ice, and Pronger, the captain and dominant personality, was lost indefinitely with a concussion.

"Obviously," Timonen said, "he would help. But he's not here. We all should get by that by now. He's not coming back."

There are precisely two ways for Holmgren and the Flyers to go. Accept that bad breaks happen and write this season off, or make a significant trade or two that shakes up the roster and adds an imposing defensive presence.