Philadelphia Flyers Remain or Remove: Jakub Voracek

The 29 year-old forward had another solid season offensively for the Philadelphia Flyers, but do his negatives outweigh the positives he brings on the ice?

Jakub Voracek was easily one of the most frustrating Philadelphia Flyers to watch in the 2018-19 season. He can go from looking completely dominate in one game just to vanish in the next, there’s really no in between with him. Voracek obviously has a plethora of talent, but is he worth keeping around with a 8.25 million dollar cap hit or should he be used in some sort of trade to shake up the roster?

Starting with his positives, Voracek ranked third on the team in scoring this past season with 66 points (20 Goals, 46 Assists) in 78 games played. That’s just under a point-per-game pace and was the third highest scoring mark of his 11 year NHL career.

The Czech Republic native also sat fifth in Shots-For, High Danger Chances For, and Expected Goals-For percentages among Flyers skaters who have played more than 500 minutes of time on ice at even strength, according to NaturalStatTrick.com. His actual Goals-For (GF%) and High-Danger Goals For (HDGF%) percentages were a different story, though.

Voracek was dead last on the entire team in HDGF% with a low 42.25%, meaning more goals were allowed in the most dangerous areas of the ice than created while he was playing. Not great! He still created chances in those areas as I noted above, but they just weren’t finding the back of the net.

Some of this could be attributed to where he was taking shots from. He took slightly more shots at 5v5 from the outer left-and-right areas on the ice this year compared to last, which opposing defensemen want him to do since it lowers the likelihood of the shot turning into a goal. He didn’t take as many shots this year, either, dropping from 228 in 2017-18 to 210. Again, the differences aren’t too drastic, but they could be part of the reason as to why his HDGF% was so low.

His lack of back-check and defensive effort is what I think really did him in.  I don’t have a fancy stat to throw at you that helps prove he doesn’t back-check but if you watched the Flyers at any point this year, the evidence was right there. His total Goals-Against was much higher than his Expected Goals-Against at even strength as well, and any GF% isn’t going to look good if you’re surrendering more goals than your scoring.

What it comes down to for me is what General Manager Chuck Fletcher could get for him in a trade package. Like I mentioned in my previous Giroux article, Fletcher won’t get equal value if he decides to move Voracek due to his contract. He would have to add some pieces to gain more value in return, but why trade more assets when you can just keep him around and put up with some of the downside he can bring. I’m also under the belief that talent almost always wins out and Voracek’s presence definitely makes the Flyers a more talented team.

While he frustrates the bejesus out of me sometimes and would be the guy from the Flyers core I’d be okay with trading, I simply can’t overlook his offensive production. Unless the right deal comes along, I’d keep Voracek around if I were Fletcher.

Verdict: Remain