The Flyers are still looking for a true Matt Niskanen replacement. Can they find one in-house?
Matt Niskanen’s retirement dropped a big hole in the Flyers defensive core. The uncertainty of next season weighed heavily on Niskanen’s mind as he decided it was time to hang up the skates. With that, the team was left looking for someone to replace his minutes.
That started with the Flyers re-signing Justin Braun. The veteran defenseman was likely heading back to free agency up until that point. Niskanen’s retirement, in a way, forced the team to bring Braun back. He was a steady force on the penalty kill and took a massive pay cut to return.
The Flyers then went out and signed Erik Gustafsson. The former Blackhawk is more offensive-minded than Niskanen, though he thrives more on offense than he would in the defensive zone. Chuck Fletcher likes what Gustafsson brings to the team. And while it’s a different skill set than what they had in Niskanen, he brings a valuable asset that the team was looking for.
Combined with other moves, that left the Flyers with $4.8M in cap space. They still need to re-sign Philippe Myers. That is a matter of when and not if. That deal will be about length and term more than anything else. Myers will be returning. And he even has a chance to take over Niskanen’s spot alongside Ivan Provorov. He took a large step forward, becoming a full-time part of the team’s defensive core. It’s hard to compare his two seasons as he only appeared in 21 games in 2018-19.
However, the numbers still show that Myers was able to succeed when given a bigger opportunity. By the end of the season, he ended up averaging over 17 minutes per game. And while he finished fifth on the team in total ice time, he wasn’t a liability out there. He finished over 50% in almost every possession metric, top of the defensive group when it came to goals-for percentage.
Travis Sanheim also has an opportunity to fill that void. Sanheim actually had the second most minutes at even strength this season. While he only had 30 more minutes at even strength than Niskanen, the Flyers appear to have faith in what the young defenseman can do. He edged out the chance battle between the two, coming in at a 52.35 CF% to Niskanen’s 52.20 CF%. That was also the best on the team.
Even Shayne Gostisbehere could jump the depth chart. He has experience with Provorov. Last season, the two spent almost 251 minutes together at even strength. And they were primarily paired with each other in Provorov’s second season. They performed well together whenever they were on the ice. It would take a big leap from Gostisbehere this season to make this pairing happen, but it is an option the Flyers can look at.
Finding an option outside of the team could prove to be a challenge with the limited amount of cap space. They would have to ship something of substance out to accommodate what comes in. And it’s hard to see another defenseman on the market that could fully take over for what Niskanen brought to the team.
Alex Pietrangelo was the top defenseman available and a signing with the Flyers was almost never on the table. He ended up signing with Vegas for over $8M per season. It would have been extremely difficult for the Flyers to pull that off and keep other players under contract.
It would have been amazing if the team could’ve pulled it off. Pietrangelo has consistently been one of the league’s top defenseman. But his high price tag was a big reason he wasn’t coming to Philadelphia. And with the option to essentially choose his own destination, it never appeared they were on his radar.
Fletcher is comfortable with what he has on the back-end heading into next season, whenever that may be. There is always a chance another move happens. But for now, the Flyers may be looking as their young defensive core to step up once again.