Photo Credit: Rebecca McCormick
“He is a great player, skates well, is able to make plays,” Ivan Provorov said when asked thoughts with playing with Tony DeAngelo earlier in the season. “Very good passer and it has been fun so far. We are going to just continue to get better.” Finally, Provorov appeared to have a capable partner to lead the rush of the ice, and make quick zone exits. Provorov looked more like himself, and it was a thing of beauty to watch.
When looking at the play of Provorov both last season and the 2020-21 season, it’s clear the defenseman wasn’t at his best, neither was the team in general. Coupled with Provorov’s high ice time and usually starting his shifts in the defensive zone. It’s only going to make a defenseman who logs a lot of ice time have less than ideal statistics. We’re not even factoring that his defensive partner has been an influx for approximately two years, finally it appeared Provorov had a true number one defenseman playing alongside him, an offensive defenseman at that. However, then the wheels started to fall off the bus as little over a quarter way into the season with DeAngelo’s bad habits of being out of position, or always looking to engage offensively. What that did was make the Flyers that much easier to beat with giving more space for their opponents to create, thus being out of position 9 times out of 10 for a goal against.
Yesterday, like John Tortorella has done effectively in the past was politely call out his defenseman, “We want to try to help him,” Tortorella said. “We feel he needs to get better defensively, without taking away any of the great offensive ability he has.”
DeAngelo has since been relegated to the bottom pairing, while being paired with Nick Seeler. The Flyers had to do their due diligence with obtaining a Shayne Gostisbehere “Ghost” esque defensman. They wanted DeAngelo to provide offense and Power Play numbers, while being just “Ok” defensively. That doesn’t sit well with Tortorella, and it shouldn’t:
“I’m a little bit, not disappointed, but the defensive liability is something we need to work at.” – John Tortorella on Tony DeAngelo
To DeAngelo’s credit, he must have heard Tortorella’s presser before the game as he played very well defensively against the Edmonton Oilers. Tortorella has a unique, creative way of getting his message across to players. A player can take that with a grain of salt or move on, and most choose the latter.
DeAngelo has definitely re-energized the Power Play. He has 15 Power Play points and it’s the way he cycles the puck that is most interesting. He is not afraid to pass the puck along the boards to keep the puck in the zone, nor is he afraid to make that one risky pass. DeAngelo offers a dimension with the man advantage that makes them less predictable…his shot from the point. He really can blast the puck, and hits the net nine times out of ten for a juicy rebound, or let’s JvR stand his office to deflect pucks home.
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The one area that DeAngelo needs to be more consistent with is playing a defenseman, rather than a forward. It’s easier said than done, but last night could be a big step in the right direction for DeAngelo. Like Tortorella said they are working extensively in this area with him to get him to better understand playing the right way, while not limiting his offensive abilities. He was crisp with his decision, and was speedy last night, so let’s hope he gets it now.
Linus Högberg:
The Flyers have placed Högberg on conditional waivers yesterday with the purpose of terminating his contract. He will be returning home to Sweden. This makes sense it was going to be tough to see him with the big club. Zamula is waiting in the wings, and Adam Ginning has moved up on the overall depth chart it appears. Högberg has been a healthy scratch the last three or so games.
