Flyers Playoff Player Review: Nicolas Aube-Kubel

Aube-Kubel faired well for the Flyers in his first NHL postseason opportunity.

Nicolas Aube-Kubel had faced a lot of adversity before officially earning his place on the Flyers roster. He wasn’t able to get his offense going enough in previous opportunities. His time in the AHL was growing steadily by the year.

Now that he’s more than earned his role during the regular season, the playoffs were next on his list. And he excelled when it came to the round robin stage. He improved game after game and was finally rewarded in the team’s final game before the first round.

He posted two goals against the Lightning, helping the Flyers sweep the round robin stage. He opened up the scoring in the first period, grabbing both his goals seven minutes a part. That second goal was especially important as Tampa answered with a goal in the second.

He was by far one of the Flyers best players during that game. It was a matter of taking that play and bringing it into the first round. His offensive numbers won’t tell the story as he finished with just three points. So on that end, he wasn’t able to find a way to break through on the scoresheet.

Aube-Kubel does grade out as one of the better Flyers when you take a look at the advanced numbers. He finished the playoffs with the fourth best CF% at 50.25. He was only behind Couturier, Voracek, and Giroux. Not bad company to be a part of.

He was just outside of the top five when it came to play-driving. Aube-Kubel finished with a 47.85 FF%. While he wasn’t on the right side in that area, he was slightly above average when it came to goal scoring. He was on the ice for four goals at even strength, while three were scored against.

He was also expected to score a bit more than his opponents. That is shown by his expected goals percentage of 51.43. So he was fairly average in most of his advanced stats, but was near the top of the team in all of those areas.

Aube-Kubel did miss a few games as he took a puck off the ankle at one point. That cost him the final three games of the Montreal Canadiens series. If you split up his numbers during each series, it looks a bit different. Of course, that injury gives him a smaller sample size against the Canadiens than the Islanders.

His numbers were actually better against the Islanders. Though again, he played seven games as opposed to three. Still a small sample size, but Aube-Kubel seemed to improve even during that limited span of time.

He still has some things to work on, though the woes against the Islanders cannot be pinned on him. His ability to improve has been a big reason that Aube-Kubel has been able to stick on the Flyers roster. He will continue to have the opportunity to prove that, especially with a new multi-year contract.