Flyers have depth at Center and plenty of other options
There are plenty of pieces and many configurations in the Flyers puzzle.
After writing for years about bad problems, it is nice to finally have one of the good problems. The good problem is the position of center and the multitude of players and prospects who can play the position. This gives the Flyers great versatility and depth at the position and throughout the lineup.
An NHL team really is a type of puzzle, and the Flyers are no exception. The front office needs to get the pieces, or otherwise known as the players, to fit together in such a way that leads to the team performing well and have good chemistry.
Looking at the center position through the same lens typically a team only needs four centers dressed nightly. When I say center, I don’t just mean taking faceoffs, in fact forwards, centers and wingers, often split faceoff duties.
Center is more defined in terms of defensive coverage, and their role in transition play. Centers are expected to get below the circles defensively if required, and wingers are not.
By virtue of playing deeper in the defensive zone, centers at times are required to move the puck through the neutral zone where turnovers often time lead to goals.
The Flyers have a lot of good pieces at the center position to arrange.
Puzzle Pieces: The Corners
The corners pieces are the easiest to figure out in any puzzle. In the case of the Flyers’ centers, Sean Couturier and Kevin Hayes are the easiest to fit together. Couturier racked up 22 goals in the coronavirus-shortened 2019-20 season. Couturier is one of the top NHL centers and should be the top center on the team.
Kevin Hayes is a different story. He does not have the defensive skill of Couturier and he has played on the wing for the majority of his career. Signed as a free agent in the 2018-2019 offseason, he was certainly a revelation for the Flyers.
Hayes played big minutes at the center position and turned in a performance that was of the biggest reasons for the Flyers turnaround.
Hayes was a solid number two center, but a case could be made for Hayes as a number one center as well. The big man scored 23 goals last season, good for 19th in the league for center icemen. Only one of the 18 players in front of him, Adam Henrique, averaged less time-on-ice than Hayes who as at 17:43 minutes per game. What is more astounding is that Hayes only totaled 112:09 of time on the power play. That ranks him at 103rd for the 2019-2020 season.
As a comparison, an unquestioned number one centermen, John Tavares finished with 26 goals, but played 19:32 a game and played 191:01 minutes on the powerplay.
Between Couturier and Hayes, the Flyers have solid top tier centers for their first two lines.
Puzzle Pieces: The Muddle in the Middle, The Third Line
The middle pieces of a puzzle are the hardest to make fit. On the surface, in a group they look the same as compared to the corners, but they are all unique. Just a slight change is makeup is the difference between a union between two pieces and a complete misfit. Like a puzzle the Flyers have a lot of the middle pieces. Connor Bunnaman, German Rubtsov, Morgan Frost, and Nolan Patrick are the frontrunners who will be vying for a spot at center.
Nolan Patrick would seem to be the clear favorite if he is healthy. While reports seem positive regarding Patrick, he is hardly a sure thing.
With two years of NHL experience, a new contract, and the pedigree of being picked 2nd overall it would seem to be in the best interest of the team to give him every chance to earn the spot, but his migraine disorder is a tricky thing to put a time table on.
Patrick has been underwhelming at times, likely due to the lingering effects of injury, but is overwhelmingly talented. It will be interesting to see how coach Vigneault handles Patrick considering Patrick was little more than an afterthought last season.
Morgan Frost would seem to have the next best chance at taking the 3rd line center spot. Frost has been a beacon of promise and excitement since he was drafted with a pick the Flyers netted in the Brayden Schenn trade. In Frost’s draft+1 season he was second in the OHL in scoring with 112 points. In his second overage season, he finished fourth in points, playing in 10 fewer games than the leaders.
If Patrick is absent then Frost becomes the clear front runner. Frost has not torn up the AHL or the NHL in his stints in each league, but the Flyers would be looking for him to provide offense.
Puzzle Pieces: The Muddle in the Middle, The Fourth Line
Connor Bunnaman may not ever become a top-line NHL center, but he may be the just the man to take the helm on the fourth line. Bunnaman was a fourth-round pick of the Flyers in 2016 and was able to dress for the Flyers 21 times last season.
In his draft year, scouts liked his size, aggression, and skating ability which made him a formidable forechecker in the OHL. As someone that is partial to forechecking and an aggressive fourth line I am all in with Bunnaman, but he will have a tough task to win and hold a spot in the lineup given the number of other contenders.
Bunnaman’s fate may be directly related to the style of play Vigneault wants from the fourth line, where Bunnaman may be shown preference if forechecking is a priority.
German Rubtsov has alternated between showing great promise and showing hardly anything. Rubtsov was the team’s first-round pick back in 2016. He was hailed by scouts as a good two-way center with offensive upside while possessing a mature defensive game.
Unfortunately, it seems every time he got on track there was some kind of stoppage that halted his ascent. Injuries, trades, or global pandemics have made his development path look like a game of red light-green light.
Even with that, he did play four unremarkable games for the NHL club last season. Maybe this is his year.
With so many players and possibilities, this will start as the most fluid competition in camp and will provide Flyers’ fans a jolt of optimism and enthusiasm.