The Philadelphia Flyers have a problem. It’s a problem that we came into this season dreading but it reared its ugly head immediately and now we have to suffer through the issues to start this interesting 2024-25 season.
Of course, the blue line health is the problem and how shallow the talent pool is for this team that has desires to be as competitive as possible. With Nick Seeler yet to make his season debut after blocking a pass in the preseason that caused some weird numbness in his foot — this is now multiple weeks ago — the Flyers have had to rely on veteran Erik Johnson to play some semi-important minutes on the blue line.
In their mind, Johnson is the replacement for Seeler alongside offensive speedster Jamie Drysdale. No one can truly replace Seeler’s rugged, old-school, willing-to-die-for-this style of play completely, but the thought process was clear when putting Johnson on that pairing, even if his handedness doesn’t jive.
Unfortunately, it has been a complete mess. Easily the worst pairing on the Flyers through their first five games. It is still early, but of the 103 defensive pairings that have played at least 30 minutes of 5-on-5 together, the Johnson-Drysdale sits 92nd in terms of expected goals for percentage (37.5 xGF%) and 98th when it comes to shot attempt for percentage (36.5 CF%). They are simply getting absolutely murdered when they are on the ice.
So, what is the solution to this? Because it isn’t just bad luck that this is happening. Johnson is visibly slow and unable to keep up with Drysdale and that gap in skill is more than enough to seek out a change.
Well, we assumed that when Emil Andrae was recalled after his very impressive training camp — where he appeared physically different and actually able to protect the puck with his body despite his smaller height, and still showed all the skill that got him drafted in the second round — that it meant he would get in a game or two. He has not, and now there are rumors that he might be getting sent down the minute this sentence is being written. We will carry on.
With seeing what Andrae did during the preseason, and seeing what Johnson is doing during games that matter, there has to be a conclusion that the younger, homegrown defenseman would provide a better chance to win the hockey game, no? He won’t do all the leadership-y stuff, or block a whole lot of shots (maybe he would, we don’t know), but just look at what an opportunity the Johnson-Drysdale pairing had during this first slate of games.
According to MoneyPuck, Johnson and Drysdale have started 14.6% of their shifts in the offensive zone, that is the highest among all Flyers pairings, so Tortorella is clearly giving the young blueliner a chance to score some points next to the elderly skater. Going down the line, they have started 12.2% of their shifts in the neutral zone, 9.8% in the defensive zone, and a normal 63.4% on the fly. That just spells out handing them as many chances to get goals while set up in the other team’s end.
So, would it be all that crazy to have a pairing with two offensively minded defensemen on that pairing? We understand the success Drysdale had next to Seeler last year — providing a stable foundation so that Drysdale can try some things and not worry about it — but maybe they can grow together and now have two options to do either job. Just look out west to Vancouver. That pairing of Quinn Hughes and Filip Hronek control play at a level that could make them the best pairing on the blue line in the league. They don’t need to think too much about defensive coverage because they are just both so good at carrying the puck and keeping possession — why can’t Drysdale and Andrae be the poor man’s version of that?
Neither have the talent of Hughes, of course, and they are both still figuring it out in the NHL, but it might be worth a shot just to see what it could be like.
John Tortorella won’t stop talking about pace of play and the Flyers being able to keep the puck moving faster than the other team — both of these guys can play at that high pace. So, truly, why not?
Well now that the Flyers are home, they are going to be comfortable keeping just six healthy defensemen on the roster and Andrae is making his way to Allentown. Hopefully, we can see the 22-year-old back with the big club after earning a shot earlier this month.
