Photo Courtesy of Charles Fox, The Philadelphia Inquirer
Since the return of NHL hockey after the holiday break it’s evident the Flyers have been missing Sean Couturier. Despite the veteran Center playing injured and not looking particularly amazing while doing so his presence on the ice is something the Flyers desperately lack. The void his absence has left in the line-up has become unfillable for this team.
Couturier’s ability to control the pace and flow of the game through his hockey IQ, poise, and intelligent positional play on the ice even when not at 100 percent health has been sorely missed. Not having him on the ice playing crucial minutes in key situations during games has been detrimental to the Flyers as a whole and the team’s lineup. Essentially, it’s sent a displacement through the team’s forward corps.
Without Couturier the Flyers are lacking a first line Center and his inability to play while Claude Giroux is out on covid protocol currently has left the team’s Center depth in shambles. It’s unfortunate because with the way the schedule was shaping up, if the Flyers had a healthy team it’s certainly plausible that they could have been much more competitive in their prior handful of games. However, their lack of depth down the middle, arguably one of the most important positions when looking at how a team can effectively sustain puck possession, has been decimated.
Herein lies the substantial impact Couturier has on the Flyers line-up even when playing at well below 100 percent health as he was earlier this season. The team simply does not have another player that can control the flow of play like he can. When Couturier is on the ice it’s likely to be a shift that isn’t riddled with panic and uncertainty for the Flyers. As a result, once the longtime Flyers Center was out of the lineup, such calmness in their game that is apparent when he is on the ice is now completely devoid.
The most concerning part of Couturier’s inability to play is not that the Flyers are missing him on the ice but the fact that without him the team’s organizational flaws in terms of their depth have been magnified. Aside from Morgan Frost and Elliot Desnoyers (who is still a ways away from being an NHL regular) the team has no Center prospects that look poised to make the jump to the NHL anytime soon. This further demonstrates the lack of preparedness that has seemed to have taken a hold of the Flyers as a whole. There are not many NHL or close to NHL ready forwards the team has within their AHL affiliate the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Compared to other organizations this is not ideal as it seems almost a majority of NHL franchises have found a way to better adapt to their injury and covid troubles this season than the Flyers have.
Even though Sean Couturier has been subject to a lot of criticism from the Flyers fan base and media pundits alike throughout this season to date he is still the most important Flyers player. Objectively speaking this is for a variety of reasons and his on ice play factors into the equation. Although the team’s lack of NHL ready organizational forward depth may be an even more telling explanation to Couturier’s significance to the Flyers.
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If the team was ever to move on from Couturier there would be no potential replacement on the horizon for years to come. Barring a major trade bringing back a top line quality level Center or a free agent signing. To be realistic first line Centers are typically not acquired through these means in the NHL. Only cementing why the Flyers should hold on to Couturier and attempt to continue supplementing this franchise’s forward depth with as much talent as possible.
Disagree. How important can he be when the Flyers fail to make the playoffs year after year? The Flyers lose with him or without him.
He’s not good enough to build a team around and he can’t carry a team on his own. So again, how important can he be in the grand scheme of things?
The Flyers need to go with a pure youth movement.
No player can carry a team on his own, save maybe a hot goalie. Virtually everyone would agree that Connor McDavid is the best player in the world. Now in his 7th NHL season and he has just one playoff series win to his name. So by your logic, Connor McDavid isn’t good enough to build a team around.
What a stupid reply. “No player can carry a team on his own”
Show me where I said that. I’ll wait. I said you can’t build a team around him and yes, there are definitely players you can build a team around.
Sean Couturier is not of them.
You’re dumb. Number 1, importance is relative. Regardless whether the team is terrible or great they are going to have a “most important player.” Couturier is cleverly that. Number 2, he’s one of the top overall centers in the NHL. His possession game is tremendous and he gets the most minutes on the team consistently.
Edmonton has made the playoffs twice in 6 seasons with McDavid (not counting that COVID qualifying round bullshit). They have one won exactly 1 playoff round. He must not be important.