Flyers Playoff Player Review: Travis Sanheim

It is hard to say if Sanheim is will look back on the Flyers 2020 playoffs and see the positive or dwell on the negative.

Travis Sanheim’s play had progressed so much in the regular season that he and partner Phil Myers were played as a very good second pair. This carried for the Flyers into the start of the playoffs.

Through the play-in round and the first round against the Montreal Canadiens, it could be argued that Sanheim was the team’s best defensemen. He was able to control play and defuse dangerous plays in his own end while the Provorov/Niskanen pairing were still finding their footing.

Against the Islanders, Sandheim could not find an answer to the aggressive forecheck, like most of the team, and made bad turnovers at critical moments that led to momentum killing

In the playoffs Sanheim was on the ice for 14 goals against, 4 of which were on the powerplay, while being on ice for 12 goals for, all of which were scored at even strength. Looking at the Islanders series alone, Sanheim was on the ice for 9 goals against and only 5 goals for. He was typically positionally solid, often negating chances on the rush, but his good positional play was offset by an uncharacteristic carelessness with the puck. Questionable passes or turnovers caused by the dauntless Islander forecheck directly accounted for 5 of Sanheim’s goals against.

Sanheim played well positionally taking away time and space from attacking forwards. He also was not overpowered, or out worked for many pucks in battle behind the boards.  Given his history, seeing this kind of play was very positive as he seemed to correct historic weaknesses. In addition, he was able to negate some, not all, of any struggles that Phil Myers may have been having.

Unfortunately, his play with the puck, which has always been a strength, was really spotty.  It led to bad passes and turnovers in the Flyers zone, like the second goal in game seven. In other cases, the recipient of the pass shouldered some of the responsibility, but Sanheim would likely choose a different option if asked to do it again.

Sanheim, and really all the Flyers defensemen, did not have an effective response to the aggressive forechecking. It was especially disappointing to see Sanheim struggle, given his ability level. This will be an area of his game to monitor and look for improvement in the upcoming season.  I expect Sanheim to be up to the task.