Yesterday, we gave one quick thought about each forward on the Flyers’ roster as they hit the one-third mark of the season. Today, we’ll do the same for the defense and the goalies. Some thoughts will be longer and/or more or less insightful than others. Again, statistics via Evolving Hockey unless otherwise noted.
Egor Zamula
As one of only two guys on the defense who can really be considered “young” by NHL standards, and as the one of those two with the significantly lesser pedigree entering the NHL, Zamula seemed like the guy coming into this season that the Flyers were going to have to let work through his issues. And boy, they are doing that, because it has not been a smooth ride for Zamula. On a team that’s currently controlling play at 5-on-5 at a rate of around 55 percent, Zamula is checking in at just a hair over 46 percent.
That said, the on-ice results haven’t caught up with those numbers yet (the Flyers are getting 62 percent of the actual goals with him on the ice, which is good), and I’ve liked his play in these last few games with Ristolainen (though he had a few iffy moments against the Preds on Tuesday). Zamula didn’t really get that much of a taste of The John Tortorella Experience last season, having spent only 14 games with the NHL team, so the hope is that he’s getting more familiar with what the coach and his staff are looking for from him. Given the aforementioned dearth of interesting young defensemen on the team (and, if we’re being honest, in the Flyers’ system as a whole), it’s worth giving the guy a fair bit of rope.
Travis Sanheim
Shoutout to Torey Krug. We had no idea.
Cam York
A thoroughly, remarkably sad question: If Cam York finishes this season out while consistently playing at the level he’s playing at now, where does he already rank among the Flyers’ best defensemen drafted of this century?
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