Philadelphia Flyers: Reading Too Much Into Preseason Lines

Previewing the Philadelphia Flyers opening day roster, by reading too much into their lines for their penultimate preseason game

Per the magic of the twitter-verse, we can see the lines that the Philadelphia Flyers will use tonight against the New York Rangers.

For the forwards, they are as follows:

Schenn – Giroux – Simmonds
Voracek – Couturier – Raffl
Konecny – Bellemare – Weise
Cousins – Gordon – Weal

Scratched: Read, Lyubimov, VandeVelde, Laughton

On defense, this will be the squad:

Del Zotto – Gudas
Ghost – Schultz
Provorov – Streit

Given that it’s preseason, everything is subject to change. What’s most noteworthy about these lines, however, is that some look like long-term arrangements.

The top 2 lines are basically the top-6 group from last year. This is where one might’ve expected to see Travis Konecny sneak in, but he’s on the 3rd line instead.

Also of interest is Cousins on the wing. Back when the preseason started, the presumptive 3rd line was Laughton-Cousins-Weise. There’s no resemblance of that line tonight, with Laughton among the scratches.

Now there’s 2 ways to read the scratch-list. Either players on it already have the job locked up and the coach doesn’t need to see more, or they already have one foot out the door. Looking at the 4 players scratched, I would guess it’s more of the latter for those guys.

The most pressure tonight will be on the 3 forwards in the lineup tonight still fighting for a roster spot–Konecny, Cousins and Weal. I really don’t like the idea of Konecny being on the Flyers’ third line this season, but this does complete his tour of Flyers lines. In the past 2 games he played with Claude Giroux and Sean Couturier.

This also implies that Lyubimov may be on the outside looking in. I liked what I saw of Lyubimov thus far, and his skills would look good on the 4th line.

And the Defense

Moving back to defense, we see Del Zotto and Gudas together. They were the closest thing the Flyers had to a number 1 pair last season until Del Zotto suffered a season ending injury. It makes sense for Hakstol to give them another shot.

After that top pair, the other 2 pairs are Provorov-Streit, and Ghost-Schultz. I could see these 3 pairs being the opening day set, honestly. It also represents the top-6 Flyers defensemen as I ranked them yesterday.

For starters, this sees Ivan Provorov playing the left side with a “steady” veteran. If the Flyers wanted to put him in a comfortable position to break in to the NHL, that’s how you would do it.

Regarding Ghost-Schultz, I’m not sure if Schultz is an upgrade or downgrade from being paired with MacDonald. Ghost primarily played with MacDonald down the stretch last season, and it probably weighed him down. Schultz isn’t necessarily an improvement, being slower than MacDonald, and also being the type of defenseman whose main defensive style is to block shots and/or back into his own net.

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The problem is that I don’t see a common-sense partner for Ghost in the Flyers lineup right now. I wouldn’t want him playing top pair matchups alongside Del Zotto, Gudas is a big of wildcard, and Provorov is a rookie. Schultz is the safe option, unless Hakstol is ready to unleash the hounds and make a pure puck-moving pair of Provorov-Ghost/Streit.

Finally, I’m not sure how MacDonald or Manning can claim the 7th defenseman spot from the bench. Again, MacDonald is a known quantity, or perhaps Hakstol is serious about carrying 8 defensemen at the start.

Either way, we’re getting close to the games that count. We have a virtual full-strength lineup for the Philadelphia Flyers for the first time this season, so it’s probably worth tuning in tonight for several reasons. This might be a preview of the opening night lineup, plus a few hopefuls like Konecny and Weal making their final bids for inclusion.