Grebenkin, Abols, Hathaway offer answers to Flyers’ fourth line question

While the Flyers are beginning to see more of their top-9 arrangements taking shape, now a month into the season, there still looms the question of how they want their fourth line to look and what they want it to do. There is the still present reality of the offensive vacuum that this line, in whatever configuration, has shown as, and the question begged of just what this line can do to in their minutes to make them somehow a net-positive.

It\'s a question that Phantoms head coach John Snowden, inadvertently, gestured towards after the Phantoms\' game on Saturday, as he spoke on how he wants his team to be approaching each of their shifts on the more macro level:

\"The biggest thing that we want to make sure that everybody does is, when you step on the ice, you’re leaving your shift, and you’re setting up the next line behind you, and that’s a big thing that we’re trying to really get through to the group is just understanding that your shift and how you set up the next line is going to impact the sequence that we’re in right now.\"

Given the established philosophy of continuity of system and mindset alike within the organization, it\'s easy to imagine that this same messaging is taking place on some level up with the NHL squad. And with the general lack of offense coming from the bottom of their lineup, to date, the question then is reinforced: \"what are they doing to influence play in the right direction if not putting points up on the board?\"

And the answer for the trio of Nikita Grebenkin, Rodrigo Abols, and Garnet Hathaway in particular, it would seem, is a whole lot.

Game Line CF% CF% Rel xGF% xGF% Rel 11/8 vs. OTT Grebenkin-Abols-Hathaway 87.50 29.53 97.00 46.12 11/1 vs. TOR Abols-Gaucher-Hathaway 66.67 19.13 30.58 -28.25 10/11 @ CAR Grebenkin-Luchanko-Hathaway 55.56 16.67 33.04 -7.25 10/25 vs. NYI Grebenkin-Abols-Hathaway 50.00 8.46 100.00 100.00 10/28 vs. PIT Deslaurier-Abols-Hathaway 50.00 -5.84 79.53 21.35

Here, we see the top single-game performances from the Flyers\' fourth lines (in five or more minutes together on a given night) by the differential of overall shot attempts. Only five times this season has this line so much as broken even in this area, and only twice have they done it while also winning the share of more dangerous chances, and both times it\'s happened, it\'s been this trio at the scene. It\'s a small sample we\'re working with here, to be sure, but it\'s an eye-catching emerging trend, all the same.

And while this line yes yet to combine for a goal in their time together so far this season, there\'s a lot that they\'re doing right within the framework of winning their shifts and getting the top lines coming on after them into a position where they\'re not having to immediately defend, and instead can let their higher offensive generators get to work more quickly.

Here, then, we see a breakdown of all 11 complete shifts this trio played in Saturday\'s game against the Senators, that truly dominant showing, where they began their shifts and how they ended them, what the next line was coming on into.

Shift start Shift end Outcome/occurrence OTF, d-zone regroup D-zone faceoff 2 CF, 1 SA from the point, stopped by goalie CI faceoff Clear into NZ, both sides change OTT transition into d-zone, cycling but no CA OTF, OTT NZ regroup NZ turnover forced, PHI d-zone regroup 2 OTT dump-ins retrieved, cleared into NZ OTF, after NZ turnover O-zone faceoff after OTT icing Transition up-ice, two in-zone passing sequences broken up OTF, d-zone regroup at end of PP Clear into NZ 2 breakout rushes attempted, broken up, then the final clear OTF, OTT d-zone regroup NZ change after OTT8 forced to dump the puck in to avoid hit OTT dump-in retrieved, puck taken all the way up-ice but turned around NZ faceoff OTF change while OTT pinned in their end OTT dump-in, board battle won to turn around and create breakout, slow passing entry, and 1 SOG D-zone faceoff NZ change 1 CA, shot block --> rush up-ice but missed connection on pass, 2 CF, OTT chipped out, PHI18 nice move to grab loose puck and pass to PHI46 to set up entry before going off OTF, OTT d-zone regroup O-zone faceoff 4 OTT breakout attempts broken up, 2 PHI SOG OTF, PHI d-zone regroup OTT cleared puck into NZ, partial change, PHI18 dumped puck deep before full change 2 failed exits, 1 rush CF NZ faceoff OTF, partial, PHI rush up-ice, full once set up in o-zone 2 dump ins, bit of zone time, turnover sent into NZ, then chipped into d-zone, no control and immediately turned around

This is a pretty general overview of the content of these shifts, but the main takeaway is this: more often than not, the Flyers\' skaters were in a better position when the fourth line was coming off the ice than they were at the start of their shift. Only once in that game did they come off the ice and leave their relieving teammates in a position of needing to immediately start defending, as compared to five times when they could jump right into ready set up offensive zone time, and then five which were net-neutral settings created. It wasn\'t flashy, but they made themselves dependable in their limited minutes to ensure that the ice wasn\'t turning away from their favor so long as they were out there, even at the ends of their shifts.

This line was a bit more active offensively than in past games, putting up a few good chances and bringing an offensive mindset even though they had just as many chances broken up before they could fully develop, but what stood out the most distinctly was how hard they were on pucks, how often they were able to hunt down dumped-in pucks and win them back along the boards to create a breakout going their own way, and how often they could create pressure on the Senators when they had cleaner possession of the puck in the zone, forcing turnovers and disrupting their own chances before they could grow dangerous. They were incredibly effective in taking away space and eating up time, in turn -- their shifts weren\'t the most active in terms of chances created, but they were very well able to flip things around and play a shot suppression game.

Altogether, would it be nice to be able to roll all four lines and expect that you could get some level of offensive production from any of them on any given night? Absolutely, but the reality is that, at this stage in their rebuild, the Flyers just aren\'t deep enough to do that yet. So the job of the fourth line, then, is more about killing some clock and creating some runway for their bigger guns to get the most seamlessly back to work on their offensive pursuits. Now, if they keep winning the territorial battle like this, and Grebenkin stays hot, maybe there\'s yet some more offense in the cards for them, but their role on a collective level remains otherwise defined.

It also remains that -- as signaled by Nic Deslauriers coming into the lineup tonight in place of Grebenkin -- this isn\'t a line that the Flyers are necessarily married to, but perhaps they should be, or should at least move closer to it. The amount of shuffling that\'s taken place so far this season of this fourth line is a clear nod to the fact that the Flyers are still looking for answers on the optimal arrangement for this line, and while perhaps it will take more good showings than just the one against the Senators (and to a lesser degree, back against the Islanders) to make the lasting impression on their coaching staff, this line has made about as strong of a case as any to get a longer look together. The Flyers are still looking for answers, but this trio is doing all they can to step up as just that.

All stats via Natural Stat Trick.

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