“Batman” is widely known to be a protector of Gotham City. Well, on April 15, 2019, Alain Vigneault became the “Batman” of the Flyers (Although, it wasn’t known till now). The franchise turned to an experienced mind to right the ship that was starting to sail after Dave Hakstol struggled to navigate the stormy seas.
But ever since his signing, there has been a big myth surrounding Vigneault “He leans towards veterans over youth.” Through the first 7 games of the season, this is FALSE. False, False, yea False again. Jakub Voracek played in just 14:30 (TOI), against the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday October 12, 2019. This was his lowest ice total in a game, since the 2015-16 season. Voracek was not playing well, so his ice time went to the youth, such as, Oskar Lindblom (Aged 23- 17:11 TOI), Scott Laughton (Aged 25- 16:19 TOI), and Sean Couturier (Aged 26- 18:37 TOI). Some will say Couturier would have gathered the ice time anyways, while that may be true, Vigneault has stated time and time again, “Talent has no age.” Well, Voracek found that out first hand that night.
Some people say Vigneault would block the youth from playing. As a matter of fact, he inherited two young teams in the Vancouver Canucks and the New York Rangers. Vigneault inherited the young Kevin Bieska (25), Alexander Edler (20), Roberto Luongo (27), Ryan Kesler (22), and the Sedin Twins (25), when he was hired by the Vancouver Canucks in 2006-07.
Moreover, the youth led the New York Rangers team in 2013, when Vigneault took over at the helm, with the likes of Jesper Fast (22), Ryan McDonagh (24), Chris Kreider (22), Derek Stepan (23), Carl Hagelin (25), Michael Del Zotto (23), Marc Staal (27), Anton Stralman (27), and Mats Zuccarello (26). I mean Rick Nash was only 29-years-old, as well.
Both teams were very young (Against what some believe), much like the 2019-20 Flyers team that Vigneault has inherited. If Vigneault did not believe in the youth infusion that surrounds this young Flyers team, then he wouldn’t have been hired as the 21st Head Coach in Flyers history. Moreover, Vigneault also played young prospects Carsen Twarynski (Aged 21- 11:57 TOI), and Connor Bunnaman (Aged 21- 11:06 TOI), more than vets in Michael Raffl (10:11 TOI) and Tyler Pitlick (9:56) on opening night. So much for not playing the youth!!!
To further this point, look at last night’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights. Joel Farabee made his NHL debut, and he logged 14:35 in ice time. Farabee also played on the first Power-Play unit, as well. Yet again, Vigneault plays the youth with no problem.
The newly crowned Flyers Head Coach in Vigneault spoke about this after the home opener against the New Jersey Devils:
“Oh no, we are long way from where I think we need to get. I think we are doing some good things. Players are starting to understand certain aspects of the game that we want to implement, but we still have a lot of work to do to ensure our guys know what to do.​ Talent has no age, and I am firm believer that there is no doubt that Carter has a lot of potential and growth and development. He is still a very young player.”
Vigneault believes in the youth infusion that exists with the orange and black. What most Flyers fans can agree on, is that Vigneault is not afraid of giving ice time to the youth, in favor of a Vet playing poorly (Jakub Voracek knows first hand). The good thing is Vigneault will hold his Vets accountable, unlike what had transpired for the past few years. Flyers fans buckle up, this is going to be a great year of Flyers hockey.
Flyers Goal Leaders:
Konecny- 4
Lindblom- 4
Raffl- 3
Voracek- 2
Couturier- 2
Niskanen- 2
Hayes- 2
Provorov- 1
Twarynski- 1
Photo Credit: Zack Hill
