Guten Morgen Philadelphia Flyers fans, this is my first official overseas piece, as I have completed my move to Kaiserslautern, Germany and will be here for the next few years. For me, that means 1 AM games and Schnitzel instead of my seats at Wells Fargo Center with a tall Labatt Blue and a slice of Lorenzo’s, or bucket of crab fries. It will take some time to get used to but I believe that OUR Philadelphia Flyers fan base will grow to the German soil, as I will expose as many of my new friends to the orange and black as possible. As the 24-team playoff for the Stanley Cup approaches the potential line structure for the Flyers must be discussed and these are the lines that I have put together.
I think that all would agree on this first line, it really is a no brainer. At center, I have none other than the Selke Trophy finalist himself Sean Couturier. Flanked to his left by Captain Claude Giroux and filling in the right slot Jakub Voracek. This is a point producing line with a combined total points of 168, led by Couturier (22 G, 37 A). One can expect this veteran trio to score goals. Although, Jakub Voracek was only able to score 12 goals this season, which just happened to be his lowest since 2015-16 season. He did lead the Philadelphia Flyers in assists with 44. Expect this line to be buzzing around the net, and have a few highlight reel finishes during this playoff push.
This second line combination is my favorite and most interesting of the line combinations to me. I have Kevin P. Hayes at Center, with James Van Riemsdyk at Left Wing, and Travis Konecny on the Right side. The first two lines should be your scoring lines and it was easy for me to move JVR up from the third line, placing him with the play making talent of Hayes and Konecny. Konecny finished the season leading the Flyers in goals scored with 23 and finished tied for second on the team in assists with 37. His linemates in Kevin Hayes finished with 23 goals for the season, and JVR had 19. I expect to see Hayes bring the puck up to TK where he will find JVR sitting in front of the net waiting for the well-placed pass and finish. These top two lines produce a perfect 1-2 scoring combo that will be hard for teams to contain during the round robin and playoff series.
The third line for me should be a gritty, hard-nosed, power line. Like the uppercut to finish off the jab-straight combination thrown by a boxer and that line for me is made up of Scott Laughton, Joel Farabee, and Nicolas Aube-Kubel. Laughton and NAK are not afraid to use their bodies as the stat sheet shows, together the tallied to total 191 hits on the season. Combine that with the persistent play of the rookie Joel Farabee this line has the potential to be a real morale buster for those they face. Laughton and Farabee are crafty players who can find the net, and NAK is a no-nonsense type of player who allows no room for the opposing team to bully his line-mates. I do worry about the discipline of this line, all three of these players are known to take stupid penalties once their emotions get the best of them. If coach Alain Vigneault can control the tempers of this line the Flyers will benefit greatly from their ability to wear down the teams they will face.
While I was crafting these lines, I felt that my third and fourth lines could be interchangeable, finding myself jumping back and forth swapping players from line to line. I decided that Derek Grant at fourth line center was best, with Michael Raffl and Tyler Pitlick on the wings. I originally had Grant centering the third line, but after some review I felt he would be best suited here. I believe that his veteran play and vision will pay dividends for the young talent of Tyler Pitlick who always seems to find the puck. Pitlick’s speed and tenacity has proven frustrating to his foes and I expect nothing short of that same energy during his first playoff run. Michael Raffl is your typical fourth line player who will give you solid minutes night in and night out while creating stability on the left side. I do not expect too many fireworks from this line but that is not what we are asking of them. However, do not get me wrong the ability to put points on the board is not absent with this line.
Like the construction of the first line, I felt the defensive pairings that I came up with were what most, if not all are expecting. The Flyers defense has shown promise this season, the additions of Matt Niskanen and Justin Braun by General Manager Chuck Fletcher were quality acquisitions, and the re-signing of Ivan Provorov all proved to be successful for restructure of the Flyers defensive core. My defensive pairings mirror the pairings from most of the regular season, with Ivan Provorov with Matt Niskanen, followed by Travis Sanheim with Philippe Myers, and Robert Hagg paired up with Justin Braun. I also expect to see Mark Friedman with the team, where he could possibly see some playing time during this longer than normal playoff format. Absent from my set lines is Shayne Gostisbehere, a blue line sniper that was once would make the Flyers that much more dangerous, however with the inconsistency of Shayne’s play this season I do not expect to see him getting much playing time during this playoff run.
Goaltending for the Flyers this season has had its ups and downs. Carter Hart struggled during the first half of the season with games on the road, but the solid back up play from Brian Elliott was enough to secure the Flyers the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference. Now, with the round robin format and the possibility of securing the number one seed overall the Flyers will need that same top-notch play from both of their netminders. The second half of the season leading up to the break in play due to COVID-19 was better for Hart and Elliott. They put together a nine game winning streak before losing their final game of the regular season to the Boston Bruins, a team they will face in the round robin play. Alex Lyon will be the back up incase there is a need to replace either Carter Hart or Brian Elliott, but I do not see Lyon getting any playing time over either of these two if they remain healthy.
I believe that the Flyers are poised to make a deep playoff run, going into the round robin they have nothing to lose and everything to gain. With the possibility of moving from the fourth overall seed in the Eastern Conference to the first overall seed, look for the boys in orange and black to be hungry. They were playing with a team chemistry that has not been seen for several seasons, if that momentum can be picked up look for the Flyers to be playing late into the Summer and early Fall.
-The Gunny
