Philadelphia Flyers Free Agency: Carlo Colaiacovo
Mar 21, 2015; Edmonton, Alberta, CAN; Philadelphia Flyers defensemen
Carlo Colaiacovo(26) skates against the Edmonton Oilers at Rexall Place. Mandatory Credit: Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports
The Flyers, as currently constructed, are saturated at the blue line. The Flyers signed Nick Schultz to an extension during the season after trading away Kimmo Timonen and Braydon Coburn to provide depth. This offseason Ron Hextall saw it fit to sign Russian pro Yevgeny Medvedev, one would think in hopes that the Flyers could move Nicklas Grossmann or Luke Schenn out of here. And there’s still the matter of what the Flyers offer Michael Del Zotto.
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Throughout all this activity Carlo Colaiacovo has been an after thought. He should be anything but, considering the production he provided the Flyers at an incredible discount.
Coco, as he is affectionately called by his teammates, provided the Flyers with 6 even-strength points and had a CF% of 55.05. So he isn’t going to surprise you with a stellar offensive game, but as shown by his CF%, he is helping the Flyers keep the puck in the opponent’s end of the ice. As a matter of fact he was arguably the Flyers best defenseman post Coburn trade.
Carlo was the only Flyers defenseman who was creating more shots for, than against, per 60 minutes. Good stuff from a guy who was getting paid 625k. Another area that Coco excelled in is a relatively new statistic conceived by the talented team at War-On-Ice, high-danger chances.
Statistic and image developed by
. After you’re done the article click the link to check out this new statistic on their site.
Shots generated from the slot and low slot area are deemed high-danger scoring chances. In the tweet I linked above I included this new stat. Specifically I looked at the amount of high-danger scoring chances against per 60 minutes. Carlo Colaiacovo once again excelled in this area and gave up the least amount of these chances per 60 minutes.
Finally, I put together a simple chart outlining Colaiacovo’s effect on his teammates in regards to their CF%. If you’re familiar with David Johnson from Stats.Hockey.Analysis.com you’ll be familiar with WOWY.
WOWY is the measure of an individual player’s Corsi For with and without (WOWY!) a teammate. In the chart below you will see Coco’s top 3 defensive pairings in terms of time spent on ice together.
Chart provided by Tableau Visuals. Data taken from
Clicking on this image will take you to an interactive version of this chart.
Carlo Colaiacovo had a positive effect on Manning, MacDonald, and Schenn. Once again, some pretty impressive stuff from a guy who was picked up off the scrap heap to provide some emergency depth. He most certainly played beyond anyone’s expectations, if anyone even bothered to form any.
Now while all these charts and data paints a pretty flattering picture of Carlo, it should be taken with a grain of salt. He only played in 33 games, ending the season with just over 500 minutes played. If the Flyers were to install him into a top 6 role, would he be able to continue to produce at this level? I wouldn’t be surprised if these stats were to regress should he be given that opportunity; but if the Flyers were to sign him to another 1 year deal at 1-1.25 million I’d be on board.
The issue however is that Carlo might find himself as the odd man out given all the defensive signings made by the Flyers that I outlined in the beginning of this piece. I think it’d be criminal to see him leave while Nicklas Grossmann continues to dress; but this is probably the reality we’ll have to live in.
Next: Philadelphia Flyers Trade Target: T.J. Oshie