Photo taken by Jamey Baskow at Training Camp
“Winning, winning, is the difference from this year to last year,” a Flyers star defenceman in Ivan Provorov said to me in terms of his game. Provorov is a star already, and he’s only just 23-years-old. This young star is making his 6-year $40.50 million deal ($6.75 Million AAV) look like a bargain at this rate. Provorov has elevated his game this season, and he contributes that to ‘Winning.’
“Provy,” was rated as a top prospect in 2014-15, and he was selected seventh overall in the 2015 NHL Draft by the Flyers. He finally fulfilled his lifelong dream of playing in the NHL. After being drafted by the Flyers, Provorov continued playing with the Brandon Wheat Kings for the 2015-16 season. Provorov won the WHL championship with the Wheat Kings in 2015-16, and was named WHL Defenseman of the year. He signed an entry-level contract with the Flyers on July 3, 2015.
This young stud in Provorov is quickly becoming the face of the franchise for years to come. Proof in the pudding came after a game on November 2, 2017, against the St. Louis Blues. The orange and black defeated the Blues 2-0, as Provorov played nearly half the game amassing 27:11 in ice time. This marked his fourth consecutive game that he was above 27 minutes in ice time. Even more impressive, Provorov was a human shield by blocking a whopping 10 shots. His nine blocked shots through two periods were a franchise record, a record that has stood since 1997.
The former Wheat King product, in Provorov, has registered 39 goals, and registered 83 apples for a total of 122 points in 296 games played for his NHL career. Provorov has earned this new/fair contract, especially after playing with one arm in Game 6 of the 2018 playoff series against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Provorov is averaging 24:54 in TOI (Time on Ice), per night this season. He plays against top line night after night, with his partner Matt Niskanen, “He’s a great player, great guy, with tons of experience,” Provorov said of Niskanen, “He does everything right out there. He’s very steady, and makes the right plays all the time. It’s fun to play with him.” Moreover, Provorov has tallied six Power Play goals this year, which is a career high. Provorov is the face of the blue line for the orange and black for years to come, and he’s only 23.
This star defenceman in Provorov also contributes his improved play this season to Alain Vigneault and the coaching staff, “Overall, the system changes allows us to play faster,” Provorov said. He has been phenomenal this season, a beast, and for his efforts Provorov should at least be mentioned as a Norris Trophy candidate this season, “Just I think our team is playing well. The team is going and winning games, but we can do better.”
Great article! Provorov is our do it all number one defense-man by a wide margin, and we have him with great contract tied to next six seasons, which is a reason to celebrate at it self! Our defense have two expendables in Braun, who we must trade assets back, which we wasted on him as a rental! And Ghost who we should trade for forward depth, which we sadly currently need(because of Oskar”s and Nolan”s cases), and possible trade partners could be Toronto and Columbus. In Toronto they need skill defense-man with good term, we should try to trade Ghost there for Kasperi Kapanen, a talented player with term, who suits well in our currently using system! Or trade Ghost to Columbus for physical and skilled player in Josh Andersson, because we badly need physicality our team, which NAK and Raffl has show”d us, and Andersson can also fight and stand up for our teammates, which is great because then we don”t need these tourist”s, like Chris Steward or Andy Andreoff any more!