How Could The Philadelphia Flyers Power Play Units Look in 2019-20?

Who could slot in on the Philadelphia Flyers first and second power-play units when the 2019-20 season gets underway?

The Philadelphia Flyers power-play unit as a whole was nothing short of a disappointment this past year. Former Assistant Coach Kris Knoblauch could never get the squad to produce at a consistent level and made various changes to the structure and personnel in hopes to get the unit up and running, from little-to-no avail. The Flyers man advantage ended up finishing 23rd among NHL teams in Power-Play Percentage with 17.09% in 2018-19. Knoblauch is now gone, and longtime NHL coach Michel Therrien will take over his duties for the 2019-20 campaign. General Manager Chuck Fletcher added a new face to the roster over the offseason, too, and one or maybe even both of the units could look a little different when the new year begins.

To be honest, I don’t see a whole lot of change on the first man-advantage as far as the players go. The top power-play should one hundred percent consist of Claude Giroux, Jakub Voracek, James van Riemsdyk, Sean Couturier, and Shayne Gotisbehere. The only change as far as structure goes should be placing Giroux back on his natural left side.

I would also like to see more movement once they’re set-up in their own zone and not just have them sit and wait around for somebody to do something. I remember seeing it happen briefly between Ghost and Voracek last season as Jake would rotate to the point and Ghost would slide over to the right side. That’s not to say everyone should switch positions every single time the opposition loses a man but is just something to use on occasion.

The second unit is where we, as fans, should see the most change. I likely don’t need to tell you how much that part of the Flyers power-play has struggled over the years, but I’ll just summarize it by saying they haven’t had an adequate second squad for a while now. It could improve this upcoming year, though. Adding a guy like Kevin Hayes, who’s been effective on the man advantage to the unit since 2017 in terms of shot rates, and putting him alongside Travis Konecny Nolan Patrick, and Oskar Lindblom should only help the group get going.

I’d also like to see Travis Sanheim get consistent minutes on the unit over Ivan Provorov. Provorov’s always created most of his point production at even-strength throughout his NHL tenure, and Sanheim’s skill set is better suited for a spot on the point. The Flyers 2014 First Round pick also showed that he could produce on the man advantage during his final stint in the AHL in 2017-18, scoring 15 of his 16 points when the Lehigh Valley Phantoms were up a man. As far as positioning goes, I’d put Konecny on the right, Lindblom in the middle, and Sanheim on the point. I don’t care which of Patrick and Hayes take the left or net-front because I think both can be useful in either spot.

I’m not sure what Therrien will have in store for the power-play this next season, but hopefully, he’s able to right the ship and get them back into the top-half of the league where they belong.