Philadelphia Flyers Season Reviews: F Sam Gagner

The Philadelphia Flyers and forward Sam Gagner often seemed stuck with each other this season, but Gagner mostly made the best of a tough situation.

You couldn’t blame Sam Gagner for feeling like he was never really wanted by the Philadelphia Flyers. He came to the Flyers in an offseason salary dump, with the Flyers ridding themselves of Chris Pronger’s contract and Nicklas Grossmann. Taking back a contract such as Gagner was just the price of doing business.

There was immediate talk of a buyout after the trade. Ultimately, the Flyers elected to keep Gagner on the roster, but that didn’t translate to a lineup spot when the season began. For much of the first half of the season, Gagner saw only sporadic playing time. He showed some flashes and offensive sparks, but he remained largely relegated to the fringes of the roster, playing alongside other marginal players.

A concussion hurt his chances of integrating into the roster, and the lowest point of his season came when he was waived and consequently sent down to the Phantoms in the AHL. Gagner soon got a reprieve from AHL banishment, and played out the rest of the season shuffling around the second and third lines.

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Sam Gagner ended the season with a line of 53 games, 8 goals, 8 assists, and +4. At less than a point every 3 games, this was the least productive year of his career. Granted, he also played the fewest minutes of his career, and got the fewest offensive deployment opportunities of any past season. This was hardly a successful reclamation season, as I hoped to see along the lines of Steve Mason and Michael Del Zotto.

Viewed slightly differently, Gagner did what he could. At +4, he was the fourth best Flyers forward on the team behind Michael Raffl, Sean Couturier, and Nick Cousins. He was also a positive possession player relative to his teammates.

He furthermore seemed to get better as the season went on. When the Philadelphia Flyers playoffs snuck into the playoffs, Gagner was finally able to make his playoff debut after 614 regular season NHL games. He made the most of it, being one of the few Flyers who was noticeable offensively. His 2 points in 6 playoff games hardly seem overwhelming, but recall the Flyers only scored 6 total goals. Similar to the regular season, he was one of only 4 Flyers to be a positive plus-minus player in the series, and he was by far the Flyers’ best engine in creating offense as measured by team shot attempts per minute while he was on the ice.

Sixteen points in 53 games isn’t going to blow any one away. A look at the underlying numbers and consideration of the circumstamces, however, show it would’ve been hard for Sam Gagner to do much more this season. Stuck in roster purgatory for most of the season, Gagner never got consistent time with talented teammates. Nevertheless, he won over at least a few fans here.

Gagner will be an unrestricted free agent this summer. The big deal the Edmonton Oilers gave him a few seasons ago that carries a cap hit of $4.8 million per season is over, and he won’t be getting anywhere near that now. Furthermore, given Gagner’s sporadic use by coach Dave Hakstol, re-signing Gagner hardly seems to be a top priority for the Philadelphia Flyers.

Gagner may end up in a very similar situation to defenseman Evgeny Medvedev–he won’t command big interest or dollars on the open market, but he could be a very nice value signing for some team out there. It would’ve been nice to see Gagner resurrect his flagging career in Philadelphia this season, but most Flyers fans will likely wish him well next season at a team that actually wants him there.