Philadelphia Flyers’ Fourth Line Needs to be Revamped

GM Chuck Fletcher has done a good job improving the Flyers’ fourth line with Phil Varone and Corban Knight, but the improvement shouldn’t stop there.

If there’s one thing Chuck Fletcher has been able to do in his short tenure in the general manager role so far is chipping away at the team’s dead weight. This offseason, he’ll likely move on to bigger things, such as adding a top-six forward and/or a top-four defenseman.

However, that doesn’t mean the bottom of the forward corps doesn’t need to continue to be improved.

And that doesn’t mean that Phil Varone and Corban Knight haven’t performed admirably in their roles. Here’s a rundown of some of the fourth-liners that have plagued the Flyers’ fourth line in the past few years: Chris VandeVelde, Jori Lehtera, Dale Weise, Ryan White, Boyd Gordon, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare. I would take Knight and Varone over any of them.

But standing pat is the last thing Fletcher should do. Although Knight and Varone are improvements, they’ve still only managed a combined eight points — all but one from Varone — in 58 games. Even if you throw in sometime partner Justin Bailey, you still end up with nine total points. It’s not too uncommon of a sight to see an offensive chance from the fourth line result in a whiffed shot or bad pass.

Of course, Scott Laughton, Ryan Hartman, and Michael Raffl have played on the fourth line at different times and those are fine players for a bottom line. But Knight, Varone, and Bailey have played together often in the team’s recent hunt for a playoff spot.

For those who think having a fourth line that can contribute offensively isn’t important, just look at the Carolina Hurricanes. The ‘Canes will likely finish in a Wild Card spot — a position the Flyers should be competing for — and their current fourth line of Warren Foegele, Greg McKegg, and Brock McGinn have a combined 45 points. They aren’t household names, but they’re definitely helping the team.

Luckily for the Flyers, there are some simple ways they can improve that part of their lineup.

In the prospects ranks, Bailey could still be an option for the fourth line. He plays the game hard and has a lot of speed. Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Mikhail Vorobyev are other options.

Philly could explore the trade and free agency markets this summer, too. There are plenty of those options when the free agency market opens on July 1st.

But maybe the easiest option is just by improving the top of the team and seeing a trickle-down effect. If Fletcher adds a second-line center, Laughton would shift to the fourth line. Hartman’s already playing on the fourth line when the team’s fully healthy and Raffl is a candidate for an extension to help fill out the three-man unit.

It really doesn’t matter too much how it’s done, but Fletcher needs to improve his fourth line. Luckily for him, he might be able to kill two birds with one stone in some moves this summer.