We all have a little bit of breathing room. In the hectic time of the year known as the Philadelphia Flyers season, there is a brief respite. The NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off is taking place for the next two weeks and our beloved Flyers are not all together on the ice again until Feb. 22.
This sizeable break comes at a time that feels just right. The Flyers are in the middle of their descent down the standings to really move the rebuild along and with under a month until the trade deadline, there is now a pause in action to really evaluate where the team is at and how their plan is coming along — and, generally, what they can do on March 7.
That is what management has to do during this break. The players are off enjoying some beaches around the globe before eventually returning to the ice. Well, some of them are. So when it comes to the Flyers roster members who are not participating in the 4 Nations tournament — everyone but Travis Konecny, Travis Sanheim, and Sam Ersson — who is going to benefit the most from this recess? Let’s rank them.
5. The Phantoms Guys
A collection of players were swiftly sent back down to the AHL Lehigh Valley Phantoms to get some reps in before the Flyers season resumes. Centers Jacob Gaucher and Rodrigo Abols, Anthony Richard, and defenseman Emil Andrae are all the recent Flyers skaters who now find themselves back riding the bus.
The Phantoms have five games before the Flyers are back and all four players should have a sizeable role. The older depth forwards in Gaucher, Abols, and Richard, will most likely use this time to actually get some points on the board and get their scoring touch back. It’s not always a good period of time to be a depth NHL player just playing defensive hockey and not worrying about putting the puck in the back of the other net. With the Phantoms, they will at least get more opportunity to do that.
And for Andrae, this is certainly about minutes and role. He should have always been in the NHL this season, but has been back-and-forth between the leagues due to an overcrowded blue line; but if he performs as expected in Allentown, he should be right back up with the main club.
While their spots aren’t guaranteed to be on the Flyers this season, as some players like Ryan Poehling should return from injury, we have no idea who is going to be left on this roster after the trade deadline. If Scott Laughton and someone like Andrei Kuzmenko are shipped out of town, these depth forwards will be right back up with the big club and will be warm and ready to go thanks to this trip down to the minors.
4. Tippett, Poehling, Ristolainen, and Zamula
Briefly mentioned above, but the Flyers are a little hurt right now. A whole whack of players are currently labeled as out day-to-day with a variety of injuries and should most likely be back to full health once the Flyers are back.
Owen Tippett is still dealing with something after being rocked in New Jersey. Ryan Poehling is speculated to have a concussion after Maxim Tsyplakov’s suspension-worthy hit. Rasmus Ristolainen is dealing with an upper-body injury that is keeping him from representing Finland. And finally, Egor Zamula is out with an upper-body injury, as well. Ouch.
These guys could just use a break to heal up and lick their wounds. With no hockey going on and even their head coach John Tortorella out in Montreal and Boston on USA’s coaching staff, all they have to worry about is getting better enough for the rest of the season. Thanks to this break coming at the right time, they can actually take the time needed without missing out on actual hockey games going on.
3. Nick Seeler
We know those players above are all dealing with injuries severe enough to keep them out of the lineup, but as we all know, hockey players love to play through bumps and bruises as the season goes on. And maybe more than any other Flyer right now, defenseman Nick Seeler has to be dealing with something.
The 31-year-old blueliner is a fearless competitor and has rarely been injured enough to be off the ice. But when you consider that among every single skater in the NHL, Seeler has the third-most total blocks with 130 this season; and if you want to see how often he is blocking a shot when he is on the ice, he is at the very top. Again, among all NHL skaters with at least 10 games played, Seeler has the highest blocks per 60 minutes, averaging 9.08 per hour of ice time.
And when it comes to his Flyers teammates, only Sanheim even competes with him in this category. The 28-year-old blueliner who is currently suiting up as the seventh defenseman for Team Canada, has blocked 126 shots but in over 500 more minutes than Seeler.
Hopefully there are plenty of bags of ice wherever Seeler has decided to spend his break.
2. Sean Couturier
While on the topic of players not listed as injured but are most likely dealing with something: Sean Couturier.
While nothing has been directly said or reported about Couturier’s health status, the captain has been given less of a role on this season’s team and has mainly been Just Okay. He does what he does: Wins faceoffs, controls defense, prevents scoring chances for the other team, and chips in offensively every several games or so. But, a break could maybe do wonders for him.
Maybe it’s just us wishing to see that Couturier we saw early last season, where it seemed for a month or two there that he was back to his Selke Trophy-earning ways, could return for the rest of the season. Just to let us be comfortable that he can just hang in the Flyers’ middle six for the rest of his days and continue doing what he loves to do, but also chipping in just a little bit more offensively.
Some more centers are going to be coming sooner or later, and we will be fine with Couturier being in his certain role, but for the remaining 25 games this Flyers season, it would be fun to see old-school Couturier once more and a substantial break can maybe help that.
1. Matvei Michkov
While other Flyers recover from various injuries, and the depth players get to play some major minutes for the Phantoms as we wait for the NHL to resume, the one player that needs this break more than anyone is Matvei Michkov.
Without a doubt, and admitted by Tortorella himself, the rookie is gassed. Michkov has not played this much hockey before, and especially because of the condensed schedule due to this midseason tournament, he is feeling it.
Michkov’s rookie year so far has been essentially split into two opposite seasons. In his first 27 games, he appeared to be the next great thing. A point-per-game rookie before he turned 20 years old and making this Flyers team so much better had every single person extremely excited for what could come with the rest of the campaign. And unfortunately, a wall was hit.
In the 28 games since then, Michkov has scored five goals and nine points while also having his role lowered because of how exhausted he is at times. It’s been miserable to watch a Calder Trophy-winning season slip through his fingers just because he doesn’t play this much hockey normally and has not undergone an NHL-level offseason focused on conditioning.
But now, Michkov has two glorious weeks to rest and recover. Even before the break, seeing him score two goals against the Capitals and then be back above 18 minutes of ice-time in the final pre-break game against the Penguins, was enough for us to hope for a stellar final 25 appearances. We all know how competitive he is, so we wouldn’t be shocked to see him not even leave and he is spending every day in Voorhees. But even that would give him a break from the level of activity he has had to endure so far.
And if he continues this level of play? Well, we can then be fine with the Flyers’ draft lottery odds increasing and putting our hope in Michkov having an even more important summer.
