There were some players on the Flyers roster that had a lot to prove this season, and Matt Niskanen was one of them. He knows all too well that he had to be better this year, as Niskanen is a vocal leader in the locker room. Niskanen knew if he did not improve from last year, then the Flyers could have missed the playoffs for the second straight year. Does it all fall on Niskanen? Well, no, but he is a class act, to which he would say it would.
Niskanen was dealt to the Flyers in exchange for Radko Gudas this past off-season. It was a cap saving move by the Washington Capitals to part ways with Niskanen. For the Flyers, it signaled a change in a big way on the backend this season. Gone are Gudas and Andrew MacDonald. Enter Justin Braun and Matt Niskanen. One thing that became apparent on the backend is that Chuck Fletcher wanted stability, and the ability to make it difficult for opponents to enter the Flyers zone. Moreover, Fletcher wanted voices, and those that can properly teach the young Flyers blue line to have successful hockey careers. Niskanen definitely provides all the above, especially for Ivan Provorov, and he sees a different Sean Couturier as well, “I think his skill level is better than I maybe previously thought,” said Niskanen, “I knew how positionally sound and smart he was. I thought he was a really good player, but I think he has higher end skill than I realized from afar and playing against him. When you see him every day, you get to see what he can do with the puck. His instincts are really high level. That’s probably what I’d say.”
In 2017-18, Niskanen’s Corsi-For percentage was 49.84%, his expected goals was 52.90%, and high danger chances was 52.20%. This past season, Niskanen’s Corsi-For dropped down to 36.99% (-12.85% from prior year), his expected goals was 44.44% (-7.46% from prior year), and high-danger chances was 45.65% (-6.55% from prior year).
Simply put, Niskanen had a down year. A down year by his standards. However, Niskanen remained fantastic in the locker room, according to his teammates. Moreover, his ability to take away space on the ice is something that the Flyers could benefit from in a big way. Especially, with how young the Flyers blueline currently is with the average age being 26.17-years-old, however, Niskanen sees a overall good locker room, “I’ve been on a couple where the feel is I hope we do well, I hope we can maybe win a round. Then I’ve been on some teams where you’re expected to make the Final at the minimum. We’re probably somewhere in between. The sense I get where we believe that we could do something, but I don’t think there’s a cloud hanging over us of the pressure that we have to win or bad things are going to happen. I think we’re in a great spot where we have a potential to make some noise and who knows what could happen. We believe in each other. But there’s not an overbearing weight of pressure. I think that’s a nice sweet spot to be in where we’ll see what we can do.”
Niskanen continues, “I think there’s’ some benefit to it. Mentally you just play free. You play as hard as you can and you play for each other, and who knows what could happen. You’re not worried about anything except just trying to win. I think teams that are for some reason the perception is that this has to be their year, they got to do it now. That’s a lot to bear for players. It takes a special, special group to be able to handle that. Often you see teams like that fail. It’s happened a number of times in recent years, just look at President’s Trophy winners. We’re in a nice spot here. We’re not going to surprise anybody. I think we believe we’re a really good team and we have a good a chance as anybody. We didn’t win the regular season by fifteen points like that either. We’re in a nice spot.”
Offensively, Niskanen’s numbers were similar from the Stanley Cup run in 2017-18. He tallied eight goals last season, which was a one goal improvement from last year. In addition, his 17 assists were five less than the previous year. Keep in mind that Niskanen missed some time with injuries in 2017-18, as well, so his numbers could have been higher if were 100% healthy the entire year.
“Nisky” is proving to be everything Chuck Fletcher brought him here for. Fletcher stated at the exit interviews, “You want to improve your talent level. We will actively look to do so. To me, that’s why the coaching situation is important. It’s about making sure going into camp next year, we have to change some details, change our mindset, and have a good start. A lot of reasons we fall behind in games is because we give up easy goals. It’s not about effort. It’s about thinking, about working smart and playing better.”
Niskanen has been exactly that and then some this season. He makes it tough for opponents to enter the zone, and has quick exits out of the defensive zone. This leads to a quick transition offensively for the orange and black. Niskanen has averaged 21:54 per night in ice time, has registered eight goals and 25 apples, tallied four PP goals and nine PP assists, 84 blocks to go along with 124 hits, and has registered 14 takeaways and 56 giveaways. Simply put, he has been steady on the backend, as Niskanen has played well in any situation the coaching staff asks of him, and he has some good thoughts on Brian Elliott, “I don’t think anyone questions that a healthy confident Carter Hart is our guy, but things happen in the playoffs, whether it be just a tweak, an injury that a goalie’s got to miss a game or two, or half a series,” Niskanen said, “To have a veteran guy who’s been there, confident, is a pro, that could step in and a moment doesn’t feel too big for him that could save you a series. Brian’s talented enough and experienced enough where he could play a month if he had to. We’d be confident in him. He’s got that kind of skill set. It’s good mentally for goalies to be pushed just a little bit. Whoever’s in net at the time, everybody will back him. There’s that little bug in the back of your head where it pushes them and they’re not too comfortable. You don’t try to ease up in the playoffs at all and I don’t think any player does, but it helps to have just that little bit of competition in the background that pushes everybody to be their best.”
Overall, Niskanen has shined for Fletcher and the Flyers young blueline. He appears to be the glue that holds it together, as teams always have that one player to do just that. Moreover, Niskanen is also an instrumental voice that holds the defense together in a big way for the orange and black in the locker room, and he leaves us with some kind words on Oskar Lindblom, “Everyone loves him. He’s just the greatest kid to have around. He’s a hell of a player. Normally in playoffs I would say you don’t need any extra motivation. That’s a nice little story that everybody can rally around. We think about him. We talk about him all the time. Oskar’s with us in this. Everyone feels that. We talk about it, so what a great story that he’s been just a champion through this. We can’t wait to see him again.”
