Philadelphia Flyers: Ranking the Defensemen

Nine defensemen remain in the Philadelphia Flyers camp. Here’s my shot at ranking them 1-9 as roster cuts loom this week

The Philadelphia Flyers are now gathered in full force. Every player is back from the recently complete World Cup. Gudas is healthy to play (if the league lets him). And now the regular season opener is only 9 days away.

Thus far, the Flyers have sent a boatload of players to junior hockey and the AHL. Most of the decisions up until now have been pretty easy. The hard part is whittling down the 18 forwards and 9 defensemen still in camp to 13 and 7, respectively.

On each count, prospects Travis Konecy and Ivan Provorov headline the discussions. They are, however, only one player in each question.

Here I’ll take a crack at ranking all 9 Philadelphia Flyers defensemen, possibly gaining insight as to who will survive the final cuts.

#1 – Michael Del Zotto

Since the Flyers picked Del Zotto off the NHL scrap heap as an emergency acquisition to fill in for Kimmo Timonen, Del Zotto has resurrected his career in Philadelphia.

After scoring 10 goals in his first season in Philadelphia, Del Zotto morphed into an entirely different defenseman last season. He increased his phyiscal play, and became an all situations, de facto #1 defenseman for the Flyers last season.

Expect that to continue this season, with Del Zotto leading the Flyers defense.

#3 – Ivan Provorov

For a moment, I honestly considered putting Ivan Provorov at #1 on this list. Given that he has yet to appear in a NHL regular season game, that’s just too much.

Nonetheless, Provorov looks like a franchise cornerstone defenseman. It’s not his raw physical prowess, it’s his reading and decision making. Comparisons abound to Niklas Lidstrom, Kimmo Timonen, and perhaps even Mark Howe?

Provorov hasn’t even been officially selected to the team, but expect him to become a workhorse, game-controlling defenseman for this team sooner rather than later.

#4 – Radko Gudas

Radko Gudas‘ stock shot up last season from trade throw-in to core defenseman. There’s no doubt about his pure physical prowess, even if he sometimes (often?) crosses the line.

What was remarkable, however, was his on-ice effect. Gudas really drove the on-ice shot counts, both for himself and his teammates. He doesn’t skate like Ghost, but he was a very influential player last season.

With a new contract, this will probably be the first NHL season that Gudas enters with the expectation of being a core contributor. Let’s see how he follows up his breakthrough season.

#5 – Mark Streit

Getting disturbingly close to 40-years of age, Mark Streit’s best years are behind him. On the other hand, he’s only 1 season removed from a 50-point campaign.

Known for his offense throughout his career, he has relinquished power play duties to Ghost. This season the Flyers will likely ask him for a less aggressive offensive role, which suits his age.

Streit won’t be an impact player for the Flyers this season. But if he can play a veteran defenseman role as he did for Team Europe in the World Cup, everyone will be happy about what is almost surely his last season in Philadelphia.

#6 – Nick Schultz

Now we reach the point where there is a considerable dropoff in the quality of player the Philadelphia Flyers can put on the ice. Truthfully, all of Andrew MacDonald, Brandon Manning, Nick Schultz, and Sam Morin are fringe NHL players.

To head this bottom-4, I’ll take Nick Schultz purely for purposes of slotting into a role. Schultz contributions will surely be limited, but every coach likes having a safe, veteran option. Furthermore, the Flyers penalty kill needs all the help it can get.

#7 – Brandon Manning

At number 7, I’ll put a guy who looks like a textbook number 7 NHL defenseman. What I mean by that is Brandon Manning can  do a little bit of everything, but none of it terribly well.

He hits a little, shoots a little, etc. That’s perfect to be a flexible fill-in when your regulars go down, but it’s not enough to be a considerable contributor. He can put up decent numbers at times, but too much ice time exposes him.

Manning, Andrew MacDonald, and Sam Morin are all fighting for one spot. It’s anyone’s guess who gets the nod, but I’m guessing Manning has the inside track.

#8 – Sam Morin

Sam Morin is the guy lost in the shuffle of all the Flyers top defense prospects. It’s easy to forget that only Provorov was actually drafted higher in the NHL draft.

As an oversized, hulking defenseman, the Flyers are developing him slowly. That makes sense, because Morin projects into more of a role player on defense.

Morin is on the cusp of breaking into the NHL. He could certainly hang this year, riding a bit of a roller coaster from exciting plays to boneheaded mistakes. Perhaps it’s better to give it one more year in the AHL, and let the Flyers defense naturally turn over next season.

#9 – Andrew MacDonald

Yep, all the way down on my list is much-maligned defenseman Andrew MacDonald. Putting his contract aside, mainly because it’s a sunk cost and therefore irrelevant, MacDonald simply doesn’t add much to the Flyers.

As I wrote last week, MacDonald’s not terrible. He can eat up NHL minutes without the big mistakes, but he may kill you by a death of 1,000 cuts. MacDonald is a safe veteran, but I don’t like the likely results of dragging down whoever is defensive partner is. Especially when that may very well be Ghost or Provorov.

Next: Lyubimov the Stalking Horse for Flyers Forward Spot

So to recap, 1-9 is as follows:

1. Del Zotto
2. Shayne Gostisbehere
3. Ivan Provorov
4. Radko Gudas
5. Mark Streit
6. Nick Schultz
7. Brandon Manning
8. Sam Morin
9. Andrew MacDonald

Taking a step back, I think the top 6 are generally clear. It’s the bottom 3 where the big questions are, but we’ll know soon enough who Hextall and Hakstol like as their number 7 to start the season.