Photo Credit: Yong Kim/Philadelphia Inquirer Photographer
Zero days into training camp and the Philadelphia Flyers are already down three key players for at least the first few weeks of the 2022-23 NHL season.
Defenseman Ryan Ellis, who appeared in four games for the Flyers last year, has made no progress in his attempt to return from a “pelvic region” injury. Forward Joel Farabee injured his back during off-season workouts. He has been skating with the veterans and has been around the team, which is good news, but until he is cleared to play, the expectation is he will miss camp and probably a few weeks into the regular season. And now, the devastating news of another back injury for Sean Couturier. There isn’t much known about this one yet, other than it’s significant and he won’t play for a few months. Does that mean November? Does it mean February? Will he even play at all this season? Who knows.
What is known is that the Flyers will open the season missing their top defenseman and two-thirds of what was expected to be their top line. There is no overstating how important Sean Couturier was and still can be to this team. He is a do-it-all center with elite skill, both offensively and defensively. Without him, Kevin Hayes becomes the team’s top center. Hayes is a good player and showed that he is back to his pre-covid self at the end of last year. On a playoff team; however, Hayes is a third line center. It forces Morgan Frost to play top-six minutes and likely play in all situations. Scott Laughton likely moves to third-line center. Patrick Brown isn’t moving from the fourth line unless the Flyers lose another center.
The lines may now look something like this:
- JVR – Hayes – Atkinson
- Laughton – Frost – Konecny
- Cates – Anisimov/Laczynski – Tippett
- Deslauriers – Brown – MacEwen
The Powerplay units may now look something like this:
- JVR – Hayes – Atkinson
Konecny – DeAngelo
- Cates – Frost – Tippett
Sanheim/York – Laughton
Penalty killing pairs could end up something like this (in no specific order):
- Hayes – Atkinson
- Frost – Cates
- Laughton – Brown
Losing Couturier changes the entire makeup of this team. With him, the team had a reliable top center who could play in any situation. It had a first line of three dynamic two-way players of Couturier with Farabee on the left and Atkinson on the right. It had a decent second line with a fully healthy Kevin Hayes in the middle and multi-time 20-goal-scorers James van Riemsdyk and Travis Konecny. It had a third line of young players who have hit some bumps in the road in their development but really started clicking at the end of the season. It had three lines that could be rolled out and felt at least comfortable knowing what they had in them. Now, Morgan Frost is going to be playing in every situation being matched up against second line centers like Evgeni Malkin, Jack Hughes, and Mathew Barzal. And that’s only in the division.
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This is a huge opportunity for Frost. He, like so many others in the organization (not only on the ice), seems like he is running out of chances with the Flyers. Frost signed a one-year deal earlier in the summer. He took the same type of contract as Nolan Patrick did in his final year with the Flyers. Hopefully things work out differently this time and Frost solidifies himself as a building block in the Flyers’ future.
Before the Couturier injury, this was realistically a bottom-10 team or so in the NHL. Now, it’s closer to the bottom-seven. Not only does this put more on the plate of Morgan Frost, but it adds a lot for Carter Hart too. Hart has had one year with a good defense in front of him. The defense the Flyers have put together this year should be more improved. They replaced Justin Braun on the top pair with Tony DeAngelo. While offensively minded, DeAngelo is simply a player better than Braun. They re-signed Rasmus Ristolainen because the pairing of him and Travis Sanheim yielded Sanheim’s best season as a pro. On the third pair, Cam York will have a full year to develop and learn the league playing next to a steady pro in Braun, who replaces the now retired Kieth Yandle.
