READING, Pa - Ask any hockey analyst and they'll say that defense wins championships. If that’s true, then the Philadelphia Flyers are in trouble. It's early in the season, but things are not going well for the Flyers' defense these days.

To start things off, Ryan Parent (shoulder) and Randy Jones (hip) will miss up to four months due to injuries. That has forced the Flyers to give the team's first round pick in 2008 (18th overall) Luca Sbisa an extended stay with the big club rather than send him back to his junior team. Sbisa became only the third 18-year-old in history to play for the Flyers. The Flyers could have brought Nate Guenin up from the Flyers AHL farm team, the Philadelphia Phantoms, but Sbisa has impressed the team with his aggressive style of play.

Because of the injuries to Parent and Jones, the Flyers made a minor trade Monday with the Boston Bruins for Andrew Alberts. The 27-year-old Alberts played in only 35 games last season and is not an offensive threat by any stretch. His size is his best quality (he's 6’ 5”), but his defensive game is average at best and is by no means a long term solution.

The news gets worse for the Flyers. After only three games, the Flyers' goaltending is tied for 22nd in GAA at 4.00. Considering they have cut down on their shots on goal average (ninth at 27.3), the goals-against-average makes things look worse. Last season the Flyers were 27th overall (31.8).

Sbisa has a team worst -3 rating, but then again, only one player on the team currently has a positive rating; that would be Braydon Coburn at +1.

Yes, the season is young, but one has to wonder. While most feel that the Flyers best defenseman is Kimmo Timonen, I beg to differ. If you want to say that he is the best “offensive” defenseman, you could make that argument. Last season, Timonen had eight goals and 36 assists, while Coburn had nine goals and 27 assists. Still, defensemen by nature are paid to play defense first.

Last season, that honor went to Coburn who had a team best plus/minus rating of +17, while Timonen was even. In fact, prior to this season, Timonen has only been a plus player in two of his nine seasons in the NHL. He as a +2 in 2001-02, and a +20 in 2006-07 in Nashville. Needless to say, the Flyers became enamored with Timonen when he became a free agent last summer.

That way of thinking has the Flyers in a quandary, as usual, having overvalued a player they’ve targeted. To make matters worse, Timonen is signed through 2012-13 with a huge cap number at $6.33 million a year. Only Daniel Briere’s $6.5 million is higher on the team.

While the Flyers were rumored to be in trade talks with Florida regarding Jay Bouwmeester in the off-season, the Flyers better hold the phone on that thought. Last season was a -5, only three other players on the Panthers were worse in that department.

Finding quality defensemen who are available are few and far between, and the competition for those players are always high. Even if Derian Hatcher comes back from injury, he is not the answer. Needless to say, help is far from being on the way for the orange and black anytime soon.

Still, the rumors will swirl by anonymous hockey bloggers who wish to crank up their hit counts. In the meantime, Flyers fans will have to watch the current crop of Flyers defensemen make due on any given night.

The key to the Flyers defense is to continue to cut down on the shots on goal. The Flyers also need to get balanced scoring from all four lines just as the team did last season. The problem is so far only four players have scored a goal this season - Simon Gagne, Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, and Scott Hartnell. The good news, however, is that Gagne looks like he is back to his old self having scored in all three games this season.

As they say, the best defense is a good offense. Getting people on board offensively as well as getting the team to play better overall defense from their forwards will be the key to getting the Flyers back on track, because it won’t be the overall quality of defensemen that can be counted on to turn the tide.

There's no reason to panic just yet. The Flyers have played better as each game as gone along; that's the good news. The bad news is the Flyers have Colorado, San Jose (twice), and New Jersey (twice) before the schedule lightens up at the end of the month. The Flyers must do no worse than .500 so as to stay in the hunt in the always tough Atlantic Division.

In the meantime Flyers' fans, watch the Phillies in the World Series, or watch the Eagles if needed. Let not your heart be troubled, and keep that faith. Better days are yet to come. It might take a while, but they will get there, eventually.

Contact the author at BJennings@insidehockey.com