Flyers Game Six Line Up Question: How do you replace Couturier?

If the Flyers Selke Finalist Center is Injured, Who Can Take His Place?

After the victorious glow of, what was for me, the most emotional game of the season, we were left with a big question.  Who is going to play for Sean Couturier?  Couturier suffered what appeared to be a knee injury in Game Five.  By the way he limped off the ice, it would be surprised to see him in uniform for the rest of the series.   This leaves a huge hole, literally, down the middle of the Flyers’ lineup.

If you examine the Flyers postseason roster there are some possibilities, none which are as good as a healthy Couturier.  If we use the game five lines as a starting point there are changes that could be made.

If Couturier was still healthy, I was advocating trading out Derek Grant and inserting Michael Raffl.  Raffl has been streaky in the playoffs, with the good outweighing the bad.  Alternatively, Grant has, consistently, just kind of been there. Grant has made a few give-aways, none that ended up behind Carter Hart, while contributing very little offensively as of late.

Grant is rumored to be an excellent faceoff man, but is only winning 47% of the draws.  Grant does contribute on the penalty kill.  He has played the third most minutes on the kill, trailing only Hayes and the fallen Couturier.  The root question is can Pitlick, Laughton, Giroux and Raffl pitch in enough to replace Couturier and Grant.  I think they can.

In my mind I would like to see a Raffl paired with Nicolas-Aube-Kubel.  NAK has been forechecking with gusto.  The problem is he is often alone in his efforts. Most of his best work seems to happen as his line mates are changing.   Raffl can be an effective forechecker when tasked to do so.  Raffl, when compared to Grant, brings a little more scoring touch, and seems more adroit on the cycle.  If Raffl is healthy, they should make the move to pull Grant from the lineup.

This still leaves us with Couturier out of commission and a first line without a center.  One has to ask if it makes sense to fill the first line with someone already in the line up.  The first possibility is to move Laughton to the first line.  He did pretty well in that role in the overtime, but he and Travis Konecny seemed to be the tonic James van Riemsdyk needed to get moving.  I am not sure if I want to break up a third line that is just starting to heat up.

By the same logic and reasoning, I would be hesitant to bring Konecny up to the first line.  With the Hayes-Farabee-Pitlick combination working well I am not sure there is wisdom in dismantling that line, as that line is close to a sure thing as far as the Flyers’ forwards are concerned.

Oskar Lindblom you say?  Boy, wouldn’t that be poetic drama. Imagine Lindblom takes the ice, scores four goals as the Flyers rout the Islanders in game six?    As Cher said in Moonstruck “Snap out of it!”  Lindblom had just completed chemotherapy and has not played hockey since Christmas.  Even if he was ready to play, I am not ready to risk Lindblom’s health by sticking him on the ice at the most wonderfully vicious time of the year.  Rest up Oskar, get your sick flow back, and we will see you next season!

In this playoff season coach Vigneault has proven that he has a bit of gambler in him. I think the gambler’s move may be to dust off Morgan Frost letting him split time at center and wing on the first line with Giroux.

My reasoning is simple.  Defensively there is no one that can replace Couturier.  Full stop, argument over.  Offensively Couturier was starting to find his game but he still seemed out of sync at points.  In the meantime, Jakub Voracek is playing his best hockey in five years and is looking for help.

Giroux’s play has been slowly building over the course of the playoffs and now, finally, is showing up on the score sheet. Maybe it is time to replace defense with offense. Frost is a plus offensive player.  He has speed and vision.  It would be a huge stage for the young Frost to step on to, but he will add an offensive dimension that can’t be copied by Andreoff, Grant or Bunnaman.

If Frost is effective and able to continue to fuel Giroux and Voracek, then the Flyers become a match-up nightmare with four very solid lines. If putting Frost on the first line does not seem to work, Raffl would be dressed, if possible, and could step in on the wing with Jake and Giroux.

Giroux  would then be used at center exclusively.  It is a role the Raffl has played in the past. If Frost stumbles he could play on the fourth line with NAK and Nate Thompson.

In a time when the future is now, where Flyers’ prospects like Hart and Sanheim have come of age, Couturier’s injury may allow us to see if Morgan Frost’s time has begun.