As it stands, the Philadelphia Flyers have almost no chance of making the playoffs despite holding a spot there for most of the season. Aided by an eight-game losing streak right at the end of the season, things have gone south fast for them. However, they have made solid strides in what was a rebuilding campaign for them.
General manager (GM) Daniel Briere seems to be going for a more obscure route to his team’s rebuild. Instead of building up solely through the draft, he has built the Flyers on the fly somewhat, adding 22-year-old Jamie Drysdale to the defense instead of acquiring a high-end draft pick when prospect Cutter Gauthier demanded a trade from the team. It is a competitive rebuild of sorts — the team is building but also winning.
If Briere and the Flyers want to get better next season, the acquiring young talent part of the rebuild has to start at the center position. Getting a top-six center could take them from a fringe playoff team to a solidified one and be a long-term solution to their dearth at the position.
Flyers’ On-Ice Stats Could See a Drastic Shift
The numbers by themselves might make you think that the Flyers aren’t a very good team. They aren’t elite by any means, but they have tended to outplay their opponents this season. It turns out that just a few players have skewed the numbers in the wrong direction for just about everyone.
When looking at the 13 different Flyer skater stats prior to their contest against the Montreal Canadiens on April 9, the results are pretty remarkable. Without centers Sean Couturier and Scott Laughton plus veteran wingers Cam Atkinson and Nicolas Deslauriers, the on-ice stats for the Flyers go from subpar or relatively average to elite for essentially every player. The difference between those four players being on versus off the ice is astounding.
Both offensively and defensively, the Flyers have excelled without those four players. Wingers Atkinson and Deslauriers will probably see less ice time anyway, if not be off the team altogether.
Oscar Eklind, a 6-foot-4, 220-pound winger out of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), could take on that physical…
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