Philadelphia Flyers World Cup of Hockey Player Reviews

The Philadelphia Flyers sent a number of players to the World Cup of Hockey. Here’s a look at how they performed over the past two weeks

Last week saw the end of the 2016 World Cup of Hockey as Team Canada knocked off Team Europe to clinch the gold and keep their international domination in tact. And while the beginning of training camp has stolen some of the spotlight away from the tournament, there were still seven Philadelphia Flyers who made the trip to Toronto to play. With the last of the participants expected in camp in the coming days, let’s take a look back on the tournament and the Flyers’ performance.

Shayne Gostisbehere

It would be very easy to just write ‘Shayne Gostisbehere was electric’ and call it a day, but even that feels like selling him short. Put simply, Gostisbehere proved that last year was no fluke. He played a ton of minutes for a team with a lot of good defensemen and ran the powerplay with efficiency. Gostisbehere had four assists in the tournament and finished tied for the team lead in points with forward Johnny Gaudreau. He could have easily added a goal, but his last second slap shot against Team Russia deflected off the post having never been seen by the goalie.

In a tournament where North America was the most entertaining team to watch on a daily basis, Gostisbehere was one of the most entertaining players. This kid is special and his performance should have everyone excited for the upcoming season.

Sean Couturier

The fact that Sean Couturier is only 23 years old is pretty incredible when you consider how long he has been in the league. This season will be his sixth full year on the Flyers, but he’s still just so young. Couturier joined Gostisbehere on Team North America and did pretty much exactly what he was brought along to do. He played some limited bottom six minutes and played a bunch on the penalty kill. And by all accounts, he did about as well as one could expect. North America went a perfect 11-for-11 on the penalty kill, including a 4-for-4 showing against an powerful Russian team.

Couturier missed some time last season with injuries and the Flyers suffered noticeably when he was not in the lineup. He also put up his best scoring numbers as a professional in spite of those injuries. If he can stay healthy this season, he should only get better.

Claude Giroux

Not a whole lot to report on the Flyer’s captain from this tournament. Giroux was unable to crack the lineup for a ridiculously loaded Team Canada and only saw the ice once during the tournament. Consider it a win that he didn’t get hurt and hope he comes ready to play when the Flyers hit the ice.

Jakub Voracek

Playing for an underwhelming Czech Republic side, Voracek managed to stand out as a bright spot.

He scored his team’s first goal of the tournament in a 3-2 overtime loss to Europe and added an assist in a win over the USA a few days later. More importantly, he looked like the Jakub Voracek of a few years ago and not the one we saw last year. Voracek’s goal came on a laser of a snap shot that beat the goalie on the far post. Voracek suffered a major dip in his shooting percentage last season, bottoming out at 5.2 percent, by far the lowest of his career. The Flyers are a much better team when he is scoring and his goal gave us a glimpse at what he may have in store for this season.

Michal Neuvirth

Neuvirth won the honor of being sacrificed to Team Canada in the Czech’s opening game of the tournament. He faced 50 shots over the course of the game and actually fared about as well as possible. He made 44 saved in a 6-0 blowout loss including some absolutely phenomenal stops. Neuvirth figures to be the Flyers backup goalie again this year but he will certainly command his fair share of starts if he plays like last season. As long as he is not facing 50 shots a night in Philadelphia, he should be poised for another strong showing.

Mark Streit

With all of the young defensemen the Flyers have in their system, it can be easy to forget about Mark Streit. Now 38, Streit has certainly lost a step in his game but he is not yet the complete liability that many feared he would be when he signed his contract. Streit’s age certainly showed as he played smaller minutes for Team Europe, but overall, his game was fine. And at this point of his career, that is a fair expectation to have for him. He may not being the dominant powerplay quarterback the Flyers wanted when they signed him, but they already have one of those in Gostisbehere. If his tournament play was any indicator, Streit can still provide some steady minutes as a second or third pairing player.

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare

Bellemare enjoyed himself a nice World Cup of hockey-coming home with an improbable silver medal with Team Europe. Europe rolled four lines pretty consistently throughout the tournament so Bellemare got his fair share of ice time and put up a goal and an assist to his credit. Bellemare also played difficult minutes on the penalty kill where Europe was highly successful, allowing only one power-play goal in their six game tournament.

Next: No Need to Rush the Kids

The penalty kill was a bit of a weakness for the Flyers last season and they need it to be a strength if they want to continue their upward trend. Bellemare figures to be a large part of the equation this year and his play in the tournament is hopefully a good sign of things to come.