Philadelphia Flyers: Nicolas Aube-Kubel looking solid despite low ice time

The 2014 second round pick is still scoreless through nine games, but has done plenty of other things right in his brief time with the Philadelphia Flyers.

Normally, not registering a point in nine games played would be a pretty big cause for concern for any player, but this isn’t the case for Philadelphia Flyers rookie forward Nicolas Aube-Kubel for a variety of reasons.

The 22 year-old forward is doing all he can despite the low ice-time he’s receiving. Aube-Kubel is currently averaging 5:35 minutes of time-on-ice, with the highest amount coming in his second career game against the Los Angeles Kings where he played for 8:01.

These minutes are extremely low, even for a fourth-line rookie. For whatever reason, it seems Head Coach Dave Hakstol doesn’t fully trust the young forward as an NHL player quite yet. That still hasn’t stopped him from making the most of his ice-time, though.

While the sample size is small, Aube-Kubel has shined through his possession metrics and advanced statistics. He ranks fifth on the team in Corsi-For percentage with 55.3% and third in Fenwick-For percentage with 58.3%. Having a fourth line player that can possess the puck better than the opposition will only help the Flyers, as it can help create more scoring chances and score more goals in the process.

Speaking of scoring chances, Aube-Kubel currently ranks ninth on the team in High Danger Chances For percentage with 58.33%. He also has a 50.00% Scoring Chances For percentage, which is a solid number for the young rookie. Generating the same amount of chances as your opposition isn’t a bad thing, especially if it’s coming for a fourth line player. At some point these scoring chances do have to turn into goals, though. I trust that if Aube-Kubel can keep this pace up or receive more ice-time, that he points will come sooner rather than later.

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It’s not like he doesn’t deserve more minutes, either, he’s done everything that’s been asked of him outside of getting on the scoresheet. I understand keeping him on the bench late in the third period if the game is close, but he should be getting more than an average of eight shifts per game.

There was some promise that he would see more time when Hakstol elected to make Jori Lehtera a healthy scratch the past two games, but it now looks like that’s about to change. Lehtera practiced with Dale Weise and Scott Laughton on the fourth line during practice on Tuesday, which is a sign that he could be a healthy scratch on Wednesday against the Buffalo Sabres.

This would be a mistake in my opinion. While Lehtera hasn’t looked bad as the fourth line center this season, Aube-Kubel provides more speed to the line than Lehtera does. He’s also played well on the forecheck, consistently putting pressure on opposing defensemen looking to make plays up the ice.

All of this goes back to Hakstol’s unwillingness to give young players an actual chance to show what they’ve got. I don’t care what he sees during practice, you make your decisions on a player on how they play in a game, and it’s nearly impossible to make a true assessment on them when said player is averaging just over five minutes a game.

Lehtera isn’t exactly lighting the world on fire from a scoring standpoint, either, nor was he was helping the Flyers ever-struggling team defense or penalty-kill. Hakstol has to let Aube-Kubel make the mistakes he’ll make as a rookie and learn from them. He can’t keep sheltering him on-ice or potentially putting him in the press box because it could hurt his development in the long run.

Next. Just play the prospects, Hakstol. dark

We’ll have to wait and see if Hakstol ends up scratching Aubel-Kubel against Buffalo. He doesn’t completely deserve it, but I can see why since he has yet to score his first NHL point. It’s hard to score when receiving such low ice-time, but Aube-Kubel has done almost everything else right and could be a solid, puck-possessing, lower-line player for the Flyers in the future if all goes well in his development.

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