Photo Credit: Kyle Ross/Icon Sportswire
After undergoing his first full practice at Flyers morning skate in February/March. That was the first time in some time that Sean Couturier was on the ice with his teammates. Couturier was wearing a yellow no-contact practice jersey, he felt pretty good afterwards, “The goal ever since I have gotten surgery was to come back this year,” Couturier said following that particular morning skate. “Here we are getting closer, maybe get a practice in by the end of the week, and go from there.”
Unfortunately, that never came to fruition as he missed yet another season of Flyers hockey. A 30-year-old standout in Sean Couturier has proved to the entire league that he’s a force to be reckoned with, when healthy. That’s just it went healthy as he hasn’t suited up in the game since December 18, 2021 against the Ottawa Senators. Coots could be the heart and soul of this young Flyers team, and without his services it really depletes this team down the middle. There was no doubt he was the MVP of the team in 2020-21, and it might be because is no stranger to playing through pain.
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“I feel great. I feel like I’ve pretty much done a full offseason of training already and I’m starting again. I’m already excited for camp, and obviously it’s a big summer of training for me. I’m going to work extremely hard to get back to the pace of the game. Just looking forward to next year.” – Sean Couturier
John Tortorella is happy to have Couturier back in the fold and it’s been a long time coming. It’s been 663 days since Couturier last played in a regular season game, but Tortorella understood why Couturier would have liked to get into some games last season, “No (To playing this season), haven’t even thought about it.” This was a good way to operate if you were the coach of the Flyers. If he hyped up the expectations of him playing in a handful of games towards the latter parts of the season, and it didn’t happen then Tortorella has to do damage control as to why it did not occur. With him saying this above, it would come as no shock if he did not play, regardless of how Couturier feels at this time.
Couturier played through a torn in MCL in games five and six versus the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2018 playoffs, and he mustered four goals and two assists in those aforementioned games. Unfortunately, he had back revisionary surgery on October 27 in Dallas, Texas, but he also knows he has to get back into game shape, “Probably just going to have to skate a little more. I’ve trained a lot in the last year and a half, and I feel strong again, I feel back 100%. So, it’s just a matter of getting back to the level of a high NHL player. It’s going to be on me to just get ready. Obviously, I’m disappointed I couldn’t get into a few games and see where I’m at, but only time will tell if it was a benefit or not. We’ll see next year, but I’m for sure going into this offseason motivated and with a lot to prove coming into next year.”
“I’m not going to be saving this organization coming back. I think it’s important to do this rebuild the right way. What I’m saying is, if you look at kind of like New York a couple years ago, they send out that letter and you think it’s a big rebuild – three, four years – and next thing you know they’re in the playoffs the following year, two years later, and they’ve been good since. It’s like I said, things can change quick in the NHL. We’ve seen it the last two, three years, we were supposed to be one of the top-end teams and we went to the bottom of the standings. It’s on us as a team, as players, as an organization to switch it around and get back to where this organization belongs.” – Sean Couturier said
Coots missed a large part of last season, which turned out to be a season ending injury. He underwent successful back surgery and wound up missing the remainder of the 2021-22 campaign. Couturier was sidelined from December 18, 2021 (As stated above), and has yet to play a meaningful hockey game since. It was labeled as an ‘Upper-body” injury by the Flyers, but Couturier ended up having surgery to not further delay his possible return. Accountability is a missing element from Couturier on and off the ice. This was a strong word that was used for the Flyers before the 2022-23 season began. Couturier is no stranger to holding himself accountable, and that rubs off on his teammates, as well. Even while rehabbing he took the time to mentor Noah Cates on faceoffs at practices, as he continues to groom the youth, while wanting to return to game action, “He plays a mature game,” Couturier spoke of Cates. “He’s really reliable defensively, and I think he has some undercover really good offensive skills, also. I think if you give him maybe a little more opportunity offensively – power play and stuff– I think he can maybe produce a little more. He’s just one of those guys that you can throw out in any situation, and he’ll find a way to succeed. It’s like I said, he’s one of those guys that that you need to make runs and win.”
Couturier plays in all situations and does them well. Finally, Coots is back and in the fold once again. It will be great seeing him back on the ice, “Whatever the captain situation is, or leadership group is, I’m still going to be the player and the guy I am and try to lead by example and do the right things all the time. So, doesn’t really change much for me.”
