With Couturier out , who needs to step up for the Flyers?

The Philadelphia Flyers are already set to face their first bit of adversity in the 2021 season. The club announced that reigning Selke Trophy winner Sean Couturier will, at least, miss the next two weeks of action with a Costochondral separation (ribs).

It goes without saying that there’s no way to replace someone of Couturier’s caliber, but luckily for the Flyers they are one of the most prepared teams to handle such adversity given their impressive depth at forward. With the man they call ‘Coots’ on the shelf, who needs to step up to ensure this hot start to the season doesn’t fizzle out?

Nolan Patrick

Entering the 2018-19 season, the Flyers decided to hand the duties of second-line center to Nolan Patrick. As a second year player, Patrick simply wasn’t ready to handle the responsibility that comes with centering a top-six scoring line. The following offseason the Flyers secured the service of Kevin Hayes to take over the 2C role. Now, however, with the absence of Couturier and after a nearly two year-layoff, Patrick is once again getting an opportunity to cement himself as an impact forward.

No Flyers player will need to step up more for the team to weather this storm. Through no fault of his own, the odds are stacked against him on this one. The Flyers secured Hayes to lighten the load on Patrick and give him proper time to develop in a lesser role, but his migraines robbed him of a full season of development. Patrick now returns and will immediately be thrust into a trial by fire, time will tell if he’s up to the task this time around.

Morgan Frost

Fresh off the best training camp of his young career, Morgan Frost did well to earn the 13th forward spot on the roster and with it, the chance to be the next man up in case of injury. The moment has come much sooner than expected to see if this was the correct decision.

Frost now gets his second stint in the NHL and the chance to show the Flyers that he is too good to be left out of this lineup. He won’t be lacking opportunity to do so considering he will most likely be flanked by young studs Oskar Lindblom and Travis Konecny.

Regardless of where they decide to slot him in, Frost will have quality linemates and sufficient ice time to make an impact. If he takes this opportunity and runs with it, the Flyers will ultimately be better off for it and will have a much better chance of handling the loss of Couturier.

Carter Hart

When one star player goes down, it’s time for another star to rise up, and Carter Hart has shone bright through two games. Holding a sparkling .925 SV%, Hart has arguably been the biggest reason the Flyers hold a 2-0-0 record thus far considering they didn’t truly carry play in either of the matchups against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

For the hot start to continue, they will need him to continue to excel. Without Couturier to shutdown opposing star players and keep the puck hemmed in the offensive zone, on top of the already suspect defensive zone coverage, Hart will have his work cut out for him.

His teammates seem to think he’s capable of it. “The scary thing is he can be better” said Voracek following the 5-2 win over the Penguins.

For this season to be a success the Flyers were always going to need Hart to continue to build on his already stellar resume, the task just becomes a touch harder without the team’s elite shutdown center. The Flyers need him to be up to the task.

Everyone

The hard fact of the matter is no single person can mitigate the loss of such an impactful player. To survive this loss it’s going to take a full team effort.

The defense as a whole is going to have to do a better job of not allowing quality chances. The duo of JVR and Voracek has yet to truly feast on the bottom-six competition they’ve been matched against. The trio of Patrick, Frost, and Hart simply has the best chance to fill the shoes that Couturier leaves behind, and they are big shoes to fill.