This season marks the third time in the last five years the Flyers will be missing the playoffs. With the elimination from playoff contention, the club became the first team in NHL history to have a 10-game winning streak and miss the playoffs in the same season.

When you look at the Flyers' roster, it's filled with fire power: Claude Giroux, Jakub Voracek, Wayne Simmonds, Brayden Schenn, and Shayne Gostisbehere. With a pretty impressive core, why do they continue to underachieve?

Goaltending

The tandem of Michal Neuvirth and Steve Mason got the job done last season, but have been quite awful this year. The duo has a combined save percentage of just .900 - the fourth-worst mark among NHL teams.

Poor goaltending can have a trickle-down effect on a team's defensemen. Knowing their goalie can't make routine saves, a defenseman can have a tendency to want to just "make the safe play" and might end up gripping their stick a bit too tight. This can limit creativity on the breakout.

Defense

Philadelphia's defense can't blame everything on the goaltending, though. In fact, you could make the argument that the Flyers' blue line is the main reason why the goaltending has been so horrendous. It's your classic chicken vs. egg scenario.

There's a lot to like about Ivan Provorov, the club's seventh-overall pick in 2015, but playing defense in the NHL is much harder to do at such a young age compared to forward. He has shown No. 1 D potential, but as a rookie, he has been prone to mistakes. His 80 giveaways are 15th-most in the league.

Gostisbehere has had a turbulent season to say the least. He hasn't produced at the same rate offensively compared to last season and was even a healthy scratch for a few games earlier in the year because of his poor defensive zone play.

Provorov and Gostisbehere should be nice building blocks moving forward, but the rest of the defense is comprised of players who belong on a team's bottom pair, rather than playing top-4 minutes.

Big names didn't meet expectations

Voracek, Giroux, Schenn, and Simmonds are a combined minus-73 this season. Plus/minus is far from a perfect stat, but a number such as that is quite telling.

Giroux in particular is at the forefront of the team's struggles. He is the captain of the team and has a cap hit of $8.275 million through 2021-22.

Assuming Giroux doesn't reel off 10 points in the last three games of the year, this will mark the fourth straight year in which his point total has decreased.

In addition to Giroux, Voracek is having a second consecutive underwhelming season after tallying 81 points in 2014-15.

Where do they go from here?

The Flyers have two "B" rated prospects coming up on the back end in Travis Sanheim and Samuel Morin, according to Hockey's Future. Along with Provorov and Gostisbehere, this would form a top-4 that could be very effective a few years down the road, even if it results in some growing pains over the next couple of seasons.

Given the youth on the back end, it might be smart for Philadelphia to move one of their big names up front for more youth and depth across the lineup.

Simmonds could be an ideal trade candidate. He has scored at least 28 goals in five straight non-lockout years, but his rugged style of play suggests that he won't age all that well. The 28-year-old has a cap hit of $3.975 million through 2018-19, so there would be no shortage of teams interested.

If the Flyers decide to go in the direction of a rebuild, signing a big-name goaltender like Ben Bishop on July 1 wouldn't make too much sense. It might be worth giving 23-year-old goalie Anthony Stolarz a shot to start next season to see what they have in him. It's quite clear that neither Mason or Neuvirth is a long-term answer between the pipes.

Stolarz has shined this season, albeit in just three starts. The former second-round pick has posted strong numbers in both the AHL and OHL throughout his career.

A rebuild certainly isn't what Flyers fans want to hear, but it might be the best thing for the organization. Retooling rather than rebuilding is also a possibility, but it's a move that rarely works.

(Photos courtesy: Action Images)

Copyright © 2017 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.