The Philadelphia Flyers have had a few clear problems — and needs — in recent years.
The most important need is a top-line center, but those aren’t exactly easy to come by. A top-of-the-line defenseman would be nice as well. Travis Sanheim has proven to be a legitimate top-pair defenseman in recent years, but he’s never going to win a Norris Trophy.
Dan Vladar helped solve the Flyers’ goaltending problem, at least for now, as the veteran had a career year in his first season in Orange and Black.
But there is one glaring problem that has plagued this team for decades. And it’s one that should theoretically be easier to solve than getting a superstar center or solid goaltending in net.
Of course, we’re talking about the power play. As friend of the website Bill Matz always points out, the Flyers have had the 33rd-best power play over the last 10 years. The NHL is (now) a 32-team league. Twice in that span have the Flyers even cracked 20% on the man advantage. Their 20.8% in the 2019-20 season and 20.7% in the 2017-18 campaign rank 152nd and 156th out of 344 teams in the last 10 seasons.
Even a league-average power play in recent years would’ve seen the Flyers move up a few spots in the standings, and it easily would’ve helped them win at least a game in their second-round sweep against the Hurricanes. But the Flyers’ league-worst 15.7% clip in the regular season dipped to a paltry 8.3% in the playoffs. And that needs to be fixed as soon as possible.
That’s obviously easier said than done, as the Flyers have gone through various coaches — both head coaches and assistants — over the last 10 years, and the personnel has changed as well.
However, there is one player set to hit the open market who could re-energize the power play.
Flyers should sign John Carlson to fix power play
John Carlson has been one of the best power-play quarterbacks over the last 15 years. Sure, having the best goalscorer of all time to pass to certainly helps that, but the defenseman knows how to get set up in the zone and command a man advantage.
Since his first full season starting in 2010, Carlson ranks fourth among all defensemen in power-play points. His 278 points (49 goals, 229 assists) on the man advantage trail only Erik Karlsson, Victor Hedman, and Roman Josi.
The first 273 power-play points of his career, of course, came in Washington, but he also showed off his power-play prowess after being traded to Anaheim. He picked up five points on the man-advantage in 16 games, and two more in 12 postseason contests.
For reference, Jamie Drysdale led Flyers defensemen with nine power-play points in 78 games. Cameron York was just behind that with seven. No blueliner scored more than one goal on the man advantage for the Flyers this season.
Flyers can afford to overpay for a few years
Carlson is reportedly not going to take a pay cut on his next contract. The 36-year-old defenseman likely has a few decent years left, so a short-term deal would be in the cards for Carlson.
While many teams will focus on Darren Raddysh after a career year in Tampa Bay, Danny Briere could corner the market on Carlson.
Evolving-Hockey projects a three-year contract with a cap hit of $8.9M for Carlson. AFP Analytics has a more conservative projection at $7M for three years. Signing an aging defenseman to a deal like that would certainly come with some sticker shock, but the Flyers can absorb that for now.
The Flyers are in a good spot for the next few seasons as their younger players will still be on their entry-level deals or first contracts after that. They will have plenty of cap room to play with, so overpaying Carlson for a few years wouldn’t break the bank. Hell, they could even give Carlson a slightly higher cap hit for a year or two, as they did with Christian Dvorak, in order to make things work.
But why would Carlson want to come to Philadelphia?
The John Carlson – Todd Reirden connection
Todd Reirden did a great job with the Flyers’ defensemen this season, and he coached Carlson in Washington. Reirden was an assistant in Washington from 2014 until 2018 before taking over for Barry Trotz as head coach.
Carlson spoke highly of Reirden during their time in Washington together.
“From the moment that Barry and Todd got here, obviously Todd does the ‘D,’ so I dealt more directly with him in terms of the little things and nuances of the game, and just kind of formulating a plan to get better and how to achieve the goals that I wanted to achieve,” Carlson said back in 2018. “I thought he was crucial for my career and changed a few things, how I looked at the game, changed a few things with the ‘D’ that I think really benefited everyone on ‘D.’ He made it pretty clear what he expected of us and allowed us to go out there and do the rest.”
That connection could help sway the veteran defenseman to join the Flyers, especially after seeing what Philadelphia was like during the playoffs.
Carlson grew immensely under Reirden, and now he could help his former coach mentor some of the Flyers’ younger defensemen. Imagine the veteran passing along some tips to guys like Jamie Drysdale, Oliver Bonk, and even David Jiricek.
And it’s not as if Carlson is a one-trick pony. He’s averaged over 23 minutes per night in his career, including over 24 minutes during his 16 games with Anaheim. The veteran could play big minutes on the right side, adding some depth to the Flyers’ blue line.
There is always going to be some risk when signing a player as old as Carlson, but the rising salary cap helps with that, as do the several players the Flyers will have on their entry-level deals for the next few seasons.
If the Flyers want to take the first step in fixing the power play, Carlson could very well be the guy.
