Philadelphia Flyers Season Review: Defensemen
May 19th, 2021
The true weakness of this team was their team defense as a whole and their defensive corps. Whatever could’ve gone wrong, went to hell this year and the team suffered dearly. Everyone knew that when Matt Niskanen suddenly retired, it was going to be an impactful loss but not as impactful as it became to be. It left a huge void on the backend and the Flyers were never able to recover or replace him.
Matt Niskanen approached general manager Chuck Fletcher about retiring after being eliminated in the semi-finals to the New York Islanders. I’m not sure what Fletcher was expecting but when he told Niskanen to potentially sit on the idea and give it another thought, I don’t think he expected him to actually retire. He had a whole month to put a plan in action and potentially find a replacement but that never happened. He quickly re-signed Justin Braun to a two year extension and then went out and signed Erik Gustafsson to a one year deal. He presumably lost the battle to TJ Brodie because Toronto was willing to up the ante by offering him a no-movement clause and it didn’t seem like he was ever in on the Alex Pietrangelo sweepstakes.
Whether he didn’t have a plan or his plans got squashed quickly became irrelevant because he was satisfied with going into the season with Ivan Provorov, Shayne Gostisbehere, Travis Sanheim, Phil Myers, and Justin Braun as the 5 locks on D. The 6th and final spot would have to be fought over by Robert Hagg and Erik Gustafsson. Provorov had a spectacular season in 2019–2020, where it looked like he was finally breaking out and becoming the elite defenseman the Flyers were been hoping he would become. Sanheim and Myers stepped up big time last year, forming a formidable second pair. Braun was a very good bottom-pair-stay-at-home-defenseman who did exactly what he was supposed to do. The question mark that remained was probably Gostisbehere. He had a relatively disappointing season, where he dealt with his fair share of injuries and lack of offensive prowess but his skill was always there and a potential bounce back was always in the cards.
It was obvious that the Flyers front office was banking on a replication from last year and to be fair I think most of the fan base was as well. Losing Niskanen was something that needed to be addressed immediately but if the Flyers season was going to be a failure it would be because everyone took a step back and what were the odds of that happening…? Apparently very high.
The Flyers foundation on defense starts with Ivan Provorov. He is extremely talented and we have seen glimpses of him being the elite defenseman everyone tasked him to be. He survived playing with Andrew MacDonald for a few years and then stood out when paired up with Niskanen. He was a master of getting the puck out of the zone with ease, utilizing the long stretch passes, jumping up in on the rush, and always making the right defensive play. His strength and determination has never been in question either as he has yet to miss a game
This year he looked like a guy who thought the team’s defensive performance was solely on his shoulders and he had to carry the load. He is the leader of the backend but it didn’t look like he was communicating or playing as a team. His slow decision making proved to be pretty fatal this year as well. He kept holding onto the puck in his own zone for far longer than he needed to. By the time the opposing team had changed lines they were rushing him in his own zone because he held onto the puck for too long trying to make the perfect play. At that point he would hesitate and try either rimming it around the boards or doing a ditsy-cute drop pass to his unaware partner. His offensive prowess was nowhere to be found either, he passed up on glaring shooting opportunities for the extra pass, and his quarterbacking of the first unit was a momentum killer.
His comments at the end of the year sort of reverberated the attitude that he played with. When asked about his season/performance he said he had a solid year and then when asked about Niskanen’s absence he said that it was a chance for someone else to step up. I don’t think he had a solid season, let alone a decent season. On top of that, if anyone was to step up after Niskanen’s retirement, it should’ve been him. Not sure if he was trying to be overly confident or if he was just oblivious to his own game but comments like that didn’t sit well with me.
I just want to be clear in saying that he wasn’t the worst defenseman. The issue going into the season was that he needed to be their best defenseman, hands down. Him playing down to his abilities is far more dangerous than a struggling Robert Hagg or Erik Gustafsson. It’s expected that your bottom pair defensemen are going to make mistakes but it can’t be coming from your supposed number one. He’s young and extremely talented, which is why I’m not too worried about a bounce back next year. However, his decline in play this year seemed to cause the trickle down effect, where each player just got worse and worse.
A lot was expected from both Travis Sanheim and Phil Myers. They were an outstanding second pair last year and they were supposed to take on an even bigger role this year. They were both horrendous from the on-set of the season. Giveaways galore, bad positioning, missed assignments, and poor decision making seriously plagued them. Travis Sanheim really improved by mid-season and you could tell he got his swagger back. He was more aggressive and started jumping in on the rush a lot more. His turnovers dropped and he was making strong plays all throughout.
Phil Myers just didn’t seem to have it this year. He was visibly frustrated and that translated into his play. He always made one too many moves or passes on the offensive side of the game and he seemed to be caught quite a bit defensively. Alain Vigneault wasn’t afraid of calling him out or singling him out after a bad game and it showed when he was frequently scratched, especially near the end of the season for Sam Morin. it was a rough way to end his sophomore season and even more rough when you were counted on for big-heavy minutes.
The two surprises were Shayne Gostisbehere and Justin Braun. Out of everyone, Gostisbehere dealt with the most scrutiny from the coaching staff. It seemed like he was held to a standard that no one else was being held to and he was either being benched or scratched because of it. He surprisingly ended up on the waiver wire and the trade rumours were churning all year. After going through all that he came out on top and proved to be the Flyers best defenseman. His impact was noticeable when on the ice but even more noticeable when he was absent from the lineup. He was scarcely used on the powerplay at times and when he was being used he was slated on the second unit. Whenever on the ice together, his chemistry with Giroux and Voracek was the only thing working for them. For whatever reason, Michel Therrien decided against that time and time again.
Justin Braun was his usual consistent self and that’s exactly what was required from him. He did more than he was expected to do by season’s end as he was paired up with Ivan Provorov for most of the second half. He blocked shots, hit when he needed to, and played a defensively sound game. The glaring issue here is that, no offence to Braun, but he is not a top 2 defenseman, let alone a top 4 anymore. He would be perfect on the bottom pair but because the Flyers defensive corps struggled so much, Braun’s consistent play stood out even more.
When it came to the rest, I’ll just leave it short and sweet. Robert Hagg was awful most nights, it turned out he came into the season with 2 pulled groins and then suffered a shoulder injury. Erik Gustafsson was somehow even worse. Maybe he wasn’t given the right situations or opportunities to succeed but in saying all that, he was probably the worst defenseman we had dressed all year. Nate Prosser had no reason to be dressed this year but he was given an opportunity nonetheless. He randomly scored a goal but aside from that he was non-existent. Samuel Morin had a few good games and a few bad games but all in all he performed fairly well for a defenseman-turned-forward-turned-defenseman.
It was a bad year for almost everyone that wore the orange and black and that statement couldn’t be any more true for their defensemen. The goalies looked even worse than they actually were because the defensemen put them in situations where they would inevitably fail. Missed assignments, constant defensive breakdowns, and poor decision making plagued the entire corps and inevitably spelled their doom. This was the Achilles heal of the 2020–21 Philadelphia Flyers and it became even more obvious that they missed the boat on replacing Matt Niskanen.
Heading into the most important off-season of the past decade, acquiring a top defensemen needs to be at the top of their list. They need to find a steadying elite option that can play with Ivan Provorov. It’s not going to be easy and there aren’t many options available but it’s such an important need that the Flyers have to do whatever it takes. If that means they have to pay the big bucks for Dougie Hamilton or give a little extra to Nashville for Ryan Ellis, then so be it. This team’s success needs to come from the backend. They are not a team that has faired well at the beginning of games, they have trouble scoring the first goal, and for whatever reason they’re always somehow playing from behind. That is not a recipe for success in the NHL. If they can fix that problem by addressing their biggest need, then the 2021–22 Flyers will be in much better hands.
