The Philadelphia Flyers (24-23-10) dropped an important and ultimately heartbreaking game to the Columbus Blue Jackets Tuesday night.
After storming back from a 2-0 deficit in the second period, the Flyers, following a familiar script from this season, failed to maintain the pace and tempo that allowed them to claw their way back into the game and eventually succumbed via a final score of 5-2.
A win would have brought them to within four points of the Boston Bruins and the final playoff spot in the East. The loss keeps them in No-Man's - or, perhaps more accurately, No-Postseason - Land.
The Flyers, as currently constructed, are not a Stanley Cup-caliber team, so while it would be preferable to fans of the franchise that they reach the NHL season's second act, it won't really matter much in the end anyway.
What does matter is the business that Philly GM Ron Hextall is able to attend to prior to the NHL's trade deadline in early March and in the offseason as he attempts to right the many wrongs done to the organization by former GM-turned-team president Paul Holmgren.
Hextall took care of a smaller bit of business Wednesday which could have farther reaching ramifications when all is said and done when he locked up veteran defenseman Nick Schultz for two more seasons in the Orange and Black.
The 32-year-old Schultz has been the Flyers most consistent and perhaps even arguably best overall defenseman this season - he has two goals, 11 assists and a plus-6 rating in 55 games. The long-time Minnesota Wild player's new deal carries a cap hit of $2.25 million, according to Sam Carchidi of The Philadelphia Inquirer.
What's most interesting about Schultz's deal, per Frank Seravalli of The Philadelphia Daily News, is that it may increase the chances of the Flyers trading either Braydon Coburn or Nicklas Grossmann - a couple of expensive blueliners with another year left on their deals.
"With Schultz, the Flyers now have seven defensemen under contract for next season, not including restricted free agent Michael Del Zotto, whose rights can be retained with a $1.5 million qualifying offer," writes Seravalli.
Del Zotto, despite a little mid-season malaise, has been a pleasant surprise for the Flyers as well after languishing on the free agent market in the summer and eventually climbing onboard the Philly Wagon with a one-year deal worth $1.3 million.
He's a candidate to be dealt - along with the soon-to-return Kimmo Timonen, who he ironically was signed to replace, and Coburn and Grossman - as the team looks to make way for youngsters Sam Morin, Shayne Gostisbehere and Travis Sanheim next year and beyond, but is a restricted free agent and could be kept if Hextall believes his ceiling is high enough.
Coburn and Grossman on the other hand, are older, higher-paid and have performed poorly as main components of one of the worst defensive groups in the league.
All signs point to the blueline looking very different for Hextall and the Flyers next season - beyond Schultz - all that remains to be seen is whether Hextall can find a way to begin that change ahead of the NHL's March trade deadline or if the Flyers faithful must wait until the offseason before the dead weight can be jettisoned.
