Nate Thompson’s offensive inefficiency outweighed his penalty kill ability for the Flyers during the postseason.
As the trade deadline approached the Flyers looked to sure up their penalty killing and add depth at center. They would add Nate Thompson from the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for a sixth-round pick in an attempt to address those needs.
Thompson was thought to be a hard working player who could win faceoffs and kill penalties. He would play seven uneventful games in the regular season before the Covid-19 lock down.
Thompson would be a staple in the playoffs, dressing for every playoff game and becoming one of the Flyers core penalty killers. He will record a single point in sixteen playoff games, a goal in the seeding round against Boston. He would also collect 14 penalty minutes, tied for fourth on the team. He would earn every one of those penalty minutes in a single game, game two against Montreal.
It would be unfair to Thompson to make comparative evaluation with the rest of the team. Thompson is no Hayes or Couturier, and no one should have expected him to be. He was looked at a depth piece to help the penalty kill. Thompson’s best efforts were on the penalty kill where he gave up a single goal in over twenty-nine highly effective shorthanded minutes.
Unfortunately for Thompson and the Flyers, he lacked the effectiveness he had on the penalty kill during even strength. Thompson may have been the Flyers’ least effective even strength forward in the playoffs. While his advanced metrics were dismal, recording a sub 35% even strength corsi percentage, basically a 2 to 1 shot disadvantage, it does not accurately paint just how listless he was at even strength. The scoring differential numbers were not horrifyingly bad, two goals for with five goals against. This small differential was almost certainly due to the magnificent play of Carter Hart that prevented the deserved far worse results.
Thompson’s even strength shifts were maddening to watch. He was often hemmed in the defensive zone, struggling to gain possession. On the rare occasions that Thompson was able to gain possession, he would turn the puck over leading to high danger chances.
It seemed the Flyers were in the most jeopardy when Thompson was deep in his defensive end with the puck on his stick. It was baffling to try to understand, with the only logical explanation being his value on the penalty kill out weighted his struggles at even strength.
While expectations were not overly high for Thompson, and his penalty killing was a positive, his play at even strength was a disaster that contaminated whomever was unlucky enough, often Tyler Pitlick, to be his line mate.
Thompson’s ubiquitous presence in the lineup was another of the coaching staff’s strange decisions and effectively undermined any depth advantage they Flyers’ may have had and eliminated the possibility of successfully rolling four lines.
It is easier to look at things in hindsight, and I wonder if they Flyers would have been better if they had given Thompson’s minutes to one of the young forwards or perhaps the often scratched JVR or even dressing a seventh defensemen.