At the end of the regular season and heading into the playoffs, most of the focus was centered around the Flyers’ offensive game. It made sense, given that Rick Tocchet’s new system had already revamped their defensive structure throughout the season, and the team’s power play was failing to get out of the basement and find a groove.
But while there were a lot of discussions about the forward corps, largely due to the young names that had fans excited, there was a transformation going on behind them. And when you consider everything we learned after the Flyers’ surprise playoff run concluded following Game 4 against the Hurricanes, it’s hard not to think that the evolution of this crop of defensemen may be the most impressive part.
Travis Sanheim can be a top-pairing defenseman
It is impossible to talk about this group of Flyer defensemen without mentioning Travis Sanheim first. The Canadian Olympian played his heart out in his first playoff experience since 2019-20, taking up the mantle as the Flyers premier defensive defender, while at the same time using his superior skating and vision to evade forechecks and get breakouts started singlehandedly. He took on the other team’s best forwards every night, and played a massive part in holding Sidney Crosby to just one goal in six games.
Sanheim has been the Flyers number one defenseman, sort of by default, for quite some time now. But his play during the stretch run and into the playoffs has elevated him to another level entirely, to the point where he can be relied upon and expected to succeed regardless of who is playing alongside him. While Rasmus Ristolainen was better than advertised throughout the playoffs (we’ll get to that), he shouldn’t be playing top-pair minutes for a team that is trying to compete deep into the playoffs. Regardless, it always felt like when Sanheim was on the ice, in any capacity, the opposition was going to be hard pressed to keep the Flyers hemmed in.
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