Now that the All-Star festivities are behind us, it’s time to look at what lies ahead for the orange and black in the final 31 games of the season. At 21-21-9, Philadelphia sits six points behind the Penguins for the final wildcard spot and will get back to action on Monday, when they face-off with the New York Islanders.
- Continued growth from the team’s young players
One encouraging sign that occurred during the first half of the Flyers season, was the development of Philadelphia’s younger players and how they were the catalysts for the club most nights. Owen Tippett has made both noticeable strides in his skating and has been consistently finding the back of the net now. Defensemen Cam York, Morgan Frost and Noah Cates each have made significant impacts at both ends of the rink as well.
Andy & Rono and Nathan Graviteh on twitter have dropped each players “player index card”, which breaks down each players value in the offense, defensive, and neutral zones with tracking data from NaturalStatTrick, Puck IQ, and Corey Sznajdar. All three players’ underlining metrics match up relatively well with the eye test this season.
Even in the case of Cam York, who is still learning the nuances of playing defense at the NHL level with just about a season’s worth of experience under his belt.
Morgan Frost’s two-way growth has been a positive one so far this year, but his ability to carry the puck on zone entries (especially on the powerplay) has aided the Flyers this season, as they don’t currently possess a forward with his vision.
Then, of course, there’s Noah Cates. Since arriving in Philadelphia, Cates has proven to be a Swiss army knife of sorts and big-time favorite of the coaching staff. Whether lining at wing or center—on the penalty kill or the powerplay—Cates continues to prove to be reliable three-zone stalwart who always give his best. It’s hard to find fault in having a player like that.
The exciting part, Flyers fans? There’s more talent on the way and some may be up with the big club in the second leg on the season.
2. The Flyers “selling” at the trade deadline, but who goes?
It’s practically a certainty at this juncture that the Flyers are likely to part ways with impending free agent James Van Reimsdyk by the March 3rd NHL trade deadline. Reputable hockey insiders like Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman have linked Van Reimsdyk to the Calgary Flames in recent weeks, but could there be a market for others as well? While Justin Braun or Zack MacEwen could easily be added by a contending team looking for some cheap depth for a playoff push and those persistent rumors of Ivan Provorov being made available, could the Flyers’ lone all-star representative Kevin Hayes be had as well?
According to Kevin Allen, an NHL team is showing interest in Hayes and would like to move him back to his preferred position at center. To make that happen though, the Flyers would likely need to eat a significant portion of Hayes’ salary. The 30-year-old forward also owns partial trade protection, where he would submit a 12-team no-trade list to the Flyers to complicate matters further. It’s certainly not an impossible scenario where the Flyers trade Hayes, however, and Philadelphia should be open to anything as they continue to navigate the waters of their rebuild.
3. Will Sean Couturier play?
Among the many concerns the Flyers organization has now, Sean Couturier’s health should be at the forefront of those concerns. The former Selke-trophy winner is currently rehabbing after two consecutive back surgeries and his absence has been felt in a big way the last two seasons. According to Sam Carchidi, Chuck Fletcher said in a phone interview on Saturday that Couturier is progressing and could eventually play in some games this season.
This is an important piece of news for the long-term health of the organization.
Couturier, 30, is in year one of an eight-year, $62 million dollar contract that pays him an annual average salary of $7.7 million dollars. Knowing if Couturier can contribute as a top six forward—even if it’s in the last 10 or 15 games of this season and then logging a full, uninterrupted off-season of training and conditioning—would be a big-time boost to a Flyers team that’s in need of high caliber talent.
