Surely, you’ve been on the edge of your seat just waiting to know what the two of us think EA is going to do with the rest of the Flyers’ roster. And if not, you’re here anyway so just go with it. After breaking down the forwards yesterday, we’re back with a look at both the defensemen, and the goaltenders.
Ivan Provorov
Final NHL 20 rating: 85
Kyle: Provorov honestly could deserve an 88 kind of rating to really solidify himself as a top defenseman in NHL 21, but I don’t think they’d go there. I think an 87 is pretty fair for him especially since his potential will still be strong, making him a quick riser in franchise. I have a feeling they won’t give him the two point increase although I think he deserves it.
Prediction: 86
My rating: 87
Brad: I originally had 86 as my rating, but seeing that Zach Werenski was rated an 87 87, I feel that Provorov is right there as well. Good top pair defender, but not among the best of the best. At least not yet. As a side note, how did Drew Doughty tie for the highest rating among all defensemen? Stop living in 2015.
Prediction: 87
My rating: 87
Travis Sanheim
Final NHL 20 rating: 83
Brad: I feel like for whatever the reason may be, Sanheim tends to be underrated in the NHL series, so I’m going to go off the board with no change here. A strong middle pair defender who can play up on the top pair if needed should be an 85 or higher, so that’s the rating I would give him. Although, honestly I could go even higher … he’s a top pair defenseman in my eyes, even with his struggles in the second round of the playoffs this year. But that’s a little extreme, I guess.
Prediction: 83
My rating: 85
Kyle: Can we seriously talk about how underrated Sanheim has been in these games? It feels like he’s been underrated since being drafted, either with his potential or the rating itself. I do think he gets to an 85 where I’d rate him, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he doesn’t either, given his history in these games.
Prediction: 85
My rating: 85
Shayne Gostisbehere
Final NHL 20 rating: 85
Kyle: Ghost obviously had his struggles last season, but I don’t think his rating drops too much. I think he ends up at an 84 but I would probably go with an 83.
Prediction: 84
My rating: 83
Brad: A bit surprising that Gostisbehere finished with an 85, but I doubt he takes that rating into NHL 21. I’ll go with an official 83, and an 82 from me. He’s certainly a great bounce-back candidate wherever he plays next season, and may end up right back at the 85. It wouldn’t be much of a surprise.
Prediction: 83
My rating: 82
Philippe Myers
Final NHL 20 rating: 78
Brad: Myers should be one of the bigger risers this time around after establishing himself as a top-four defenseman in the NHL. An 82 would be about where Sanheim was after his first full season, so that’s where my prediction falls.
Prediction: 82
My rating: 84
Kyle: Myers put together a really solid rookie season, and with that I think starts the year at the 80 mark with a strong chance of reaching the mid 80’s by the time NHL 22 is set to release.
Prediction: 80
My rating: 80
Justin Braun
Final NHL 20 rating: 80
Kyle: I don’t think Braun did enough for his rating to be lowered or increased this season, so him staying at 80 seems like the logical outcome. I really wouldn’t be shocked either way if he went up to an 81, or down to a 79, all depends on which individual ratings receive changes.
Prediction: 80
My rating: 80
Brad: Braun is Braun and I think he just retains the 80 that he already had. I really cannot pinpoint any takeaway from his season that would warrant an increase or decrease from there.
Prediction: 80
My rating: 80
Robert Hagg
Final NHL 20 rating: 77
Brad: In actuality he probably gets a slight bump because of plus-minus, but I’m going with the 76 here. Seventh defenseman, replacement level tier.
Prediction: 78
My rating: 76
Kyle: Hagg did have his highest points per game number of his career to date, although it being in just 49 games. I see him getting that slight boost to 78 overall as well.
Prediction: 78
My rating: 79
Carter Hart
Final NHL 20 rating: 84
Kyle: Even though Hart was great last year his base numbers are probably going to hurt his cause for a high 80’s rating. I think he gets the slight boost to 85 but I’d give him an 87.
Prediction: 85
My rating: 87
Brad: Yeah, as Kyle said, the base numbers are going to stunt his initial rating, and I could even see him staying at an 84. But I’ll go up one to the 85 in good faith. Thinking logically, I would go with an 86 here — but you can’t make me rate the man anything lower than a 99, you just can’t do it.
Prediction: 85
My rating: 99
Brian Elliott
Final NHL 20 rating: 81
Brad: Elliott is a very capable backup, but with an .899 save percentage in the regular season, I think he gets dropped an overall rating, possibly even two. I’m not down on him at all though, and actually feel that an 82 is where he should be. A good rating for a backup, but not for a starter.
Prediction: 80
My rating: 82
Kyle: Same as Brad here, Elliott is a proven solid backup goalie and 82 is just about perfect for that kind of goalie. But as with Hart, the raw numbers might hurt him in addition to another year older, so he probably does drop to 80.
Prediction: 80
My rating: 82
And that’s all, folks. Prior to Matt Niskanen’s retirement, we each went with an 83, and 84 respectively, and likely-Flyer Mark Friedman was left out of this exercise due to not being on the Flyers’ roster at the time of the final roster update. Just as Connor Bunnaman and Morgan Frost were in part one.
