Coming out of the Olympic break with the playoffs looking like a longshot proposition, it is due time for the Flyers to play younger options, throw the lines in a blender, and try and find some combinations that could work for the future.
Whether it be a Tippett-Zegras-Michkov line that loads up on offence, moving Denver Barkey onto the power play full-time, or a host of other more radical moves that could be made to shake things up, there’s really no limit on what the Flyers can do at this point in the season.
Currently however, Rick Tocchet and the Flyers are keeping things pretty stable. Zegras remains on the wing alongside Dvorak, Owen Tippett and Barkey are still playing with Sean Couturier in the middle. Even on defense, all that has really changed as of recent is the re-introduction of Emil Andrae to regular playing time, and Rasmus Ristolainen being put on the top pair, likely as a means to showcase him ahead of the trade deadline.
Flyers experimenting with just Carl Grundstrom at center is non-factor
The one radical change that Tocchet has made comes regarding the fourth line, where Carl Grundstrom has been moved to center for the first time in his eight year NHL career. With Rodrigo Abols out long term, and without another fourth line center to take his place outside of the unimpressive Lane Pederson, Tocchet has chosen to use Grundstrom in place of an actual center for the past few contests alongside Nikita Grebenkin and Garnet Hathaway.
And while the line created some chances and looked like they had a bit of pace on the forecheck, it is puzzling to see Grundstrom being given an opportunity down the middle in this particular circumstance. The problem isn’t with Grundstrom himself, he has played well enough this season to earn the right to play in at least the majority of the games the rest of the way, but the fact remains that discovering whether or not he can play fourth-line center, doesn’t really help the Flyers in any meaningful way.
Whether or not you agree with playing Zegras at center long term, this is the ideal time to give him some serious run at that position with very little downside. If the experiment doesn’t work, if the team plays worse or Zegras just can’t keep up his production with the added defensive responsibility, then you now have appreciable data that you can use to make a decision on ultimately resigning Zegras.
Putting Grundstrom at center doesn’t inform anything, and also shows a willingness from Tocchet to ignore the fact that they’ll be losing more faceoffs, which is obviously one of the main roadblocks to playing Zegras through the middle.
But even if you abandon any idea of putting Zegras at center, there is still an argument to be made that bringing up another player from the Phantoms, like Anthony Richard or the newly acquired Philip Tomasino, makes more sense. Grundstrom’s hot stretch in December only happened because he was given a chance to try and re-establish himself after starting the year in the AHL. If you were to bring up another body and have them swap in and out with the struggling Garnet Hathaway, or as an injury replacement for a situation like the one that just occurred with Travis Konecny, maybe you can re-energize another career like you just did with Grundstrom.
Found money does not magically appear, and frankly, every Phantom that has come up this year, maybe outside of Pederson and Adam Ginning, has outplayed their expectations in stretches. They seem to be ready when called upon, and it’s not as if guys like Hathaway, Noah Juulsen, or even Emil Andrae have really cemented their spots in the everyday lineup.
It might not even result in anything positive, but getting as much info as possible throughout these last handful of games should be the primary objective.
