Grading the 2009 Flyers: Scott Hartnell

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In almost every category, Scott Hartnell had a career year.  He played every game for only the second time in his 8 year career and set career records in goals, assists, points, time on ice, and even strength goals.  Amazing what playing with Jeff Carter and Joffrey Lupul can do for a guy's stats.  Take nothing away from Hartnell:  he was given an opportunity and he performed, settling himself right into core of this team.  At only 27 years old and signed through the 2012-2013 season, Hartnell projects to be an integral part of the Flyers for the foreseeable future.

On the team, he was fourth in goals, fourth in points, fifth in plus/minus, fifth among forwards in time on ice per game, fourth in penalty minutes, and seventh in hits.  Hartnell achieved this while playing against average competition (0.01 qualcomp) with excellent teammates (0.18 qualteam), but the numbers should not be credited solely to that.  Lupul had even better teammates with slightly worse competition, and scored five fewer goals, ten fewer points, and was only +1.  Bottom line, Hartnell was given a great opportunity and he took advantage of it.  The Flyers scored 63 goals while Hartnell was on the ice (second most on the team) equalling a 3.50 GFON/60, also second best on the team.  While his GAON/60 was high at 2.84, he still finished a +12 including special teams play.  While that shows his defense isn't great, at least he makes up for it in the offensive zone.  Not the best excuse, but it could be worse - See Knuble, Mike (+4), Nodl, Andreas (-14), and Asham, Arron (-3).

Obviously, Hartnell still has much to improve.  First and foremost, he needs to cut down on mental errors.  We all laugh now, but when he threw his glove in the waning seconds of the game against Tampa Bay, it appeared he had just cost the team two points.  Further, his penalties in the playoffs were especially painful.  Spending four minutes per game in the box by himself, Hartnell put a severe dent in the Flyers chances.  On a related note, his turnovers could also improve.  In general, Hartnell just needs to get better mentally; avoid lapses in judgment, stop taking bad penalties, and be smarter with the puck.  Put all of that together with his style of play and obvious scoring touch, he could be a great player.  Either way, he's already a great sport.

Motion pictures ATJ

Just had to put the video up there.

Up next in our Grading the Flyers series: Claude Giroux