Philadelphia Flyers
BOUNCE-BACK 6? These Flyers Need to Rebound This Season
If the Philadelphia Flyers are going to have any kind of success this season, they need rebound years from six players who were either injured or underachieved for most of the 2021-22 campaign.
Call them the Bounce-Back Six.
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Travis Konecny
He led the punch-less Flyers with 52 points last season, but produced just 16 goals. At 25 and in his seventh NHL season, it’s time for Konecny to regain his tenacity and take his game to another level. The right winger had 24 goals in three straight seasons before slipping to 11 (in 50 games) two years ago and 16 last season.
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Sean Couturier
The top-line center played only 29 games because of a back injury that required surgery. Will he be able to return at 100 percent? That’s the hope, but returning from back surgery can be tricky, and it will likely take Couturier a while before he resembles the terrific all-around player who won the Selke Trophy (best defensive forward) in 2019-20.
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Kevin Hayes
Another center who was slowed by injuries, Hayes seems more likely than anyone on this list to have a successful comeback. Hayes, who had 31 points in 48 games, had three surgeries in an eight-month span. That’s the bad news. The good news: After returning to the lineup last March 5, Hayes finished with 22 points (seven goals, 15 assists) over his last 28 games and was the Flyers’ leading scorer in that span.
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Ivan Provorov
He wasn’t a disaster, but he didn’t play like a No. 1 defenseman, either. Too many turnovers. Too many inconsistent games. He had a career-worst minus-20 rating and wasn’t nearly as effective as he was with Matt Niskanen as his partner two years earlier.
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Ryan Ellis
Ellis was the face of the bad luck that engulfed the Flyers last season. The 31-year-old defenseman played in just four games because of a pelvic injury and will be sidelined when the season starts Oct. 13. How much time will he miss? No one knows — or at least isn’t saying. With Ellis in the lineup, the pairings would be in sync: Provorov-Ellis; Travis Sanheim-Rasmus-Ristolainen; Cam York-Tony DeAngelo. But without Ellis, well, new coach John Tortorella will need to find the magic he created in Columbus.
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Carter Hart
Which version of Hart will we see? The one who looked on his way to stardom after his first two seasons, or the goaltender who struggled the last two years? Granted, Hart was much improved last season (3.16 GAA, .905 save percentage) over his previous year, but he still didn’t resemble the player with such a strong pedigree. The Philadelphia Flyers need Hart to be more assertive and show more swagger in the net.
Flyers, with optimal health and performance, are a playoff team, but not particularly improved over what they took into the 2020 playoffs–just older and minus Claude Giroux (so, kind of younger). Assuming Konecny recovers from his disappearing act, I’m having trouble trying to gauge how good they could be–again assuming they were at their collective peaks. This is assuming the big six as mentioned above bring their A game. Factor in Farabee, Frost, Allison, Brink, Laczynski, DeAngelo, Cates, and well…it’s a long list of variables and players who need to step it up.
I’m guessing…looking against the rest of the East…that would put them in as…middle of the pack. That’s largely dependent on how teams like the Rangers, Red Wings, and Devils improve and how teams like the Caps and Penguins continue to age. Mix in the unknown qualities of the Sabres (talent and underachievement) and Bluejackets (who can be both good and bad), and… you have to wonder why the Flyers have exhausted cap space as assets to be a middle of the road team.
The key phrase that keeps coming to mind is how the Flyers said “tougher to play against.” I suddenly get it. I used to think they meant just bring more physicality and competitive spirit/psychologically tougher (i.e. not be deflated and give up weak goals). It’s not that. This team knows it’s not talented enough, so the solution–if they can’t bring in or develop high-end talent, is to be physical and basically hope they can make the other team play worse (like Trotz’s Islanders). That’s very much in the line of thinking of the 1970s Bullies: if you can’t beat them, beat them up, and then maybe you can beat them.
I’m not sure how sustainable that philosophy is in the modern NHL. Flyers have been trying to get away from the bully rep. If they try to re-embrace it, I doubt NHL officials would be of much help. Also, I’m not sure the physically fragile team can assert itself physically when health continues to be an issue. Ask Allison and Hayes and Frost to give more checks and you could wind up losing them for 2-3 months. If Torts keeps pushing a team struggling to stay healthy, then it could all implode akin to Chip Kelly’s term with the Eagles.