Christian Dvorak could be the Flyers Swiss Army knife

When the Flyers first signed Christian Dvorak, most gawked at the price. Over 5M for a player whose role would primarily be as a center on the fourth line? Most times, teams need to overpay on the market to get who they want. But certainly, the team could've found a cheaper one on the market or even kept it in-house.

Dvorak is not a scorer, topping out at a career-high 18 goals in 2019-20 with the then Arizona Coyotes. Points-wise, his best was that same season with 38 points. Now, the Flyers would love to get almost 40 points from a fourth-liner. Six of his nine NHL seasons have seen him post at least 30 points. Not too shabby.

Still, not exactly a player you give over 5M to. Yes, it's barely a raise from what Dvorak was making previously with the Canadiens. But even with a rising cap, that's not an amount you want to be throwing around to just anyone. Dvorak's value, and why his contract may actually be worth it, comes in other ways, though

The easiest one is faceoffs. Dvorak comes in with a solid 53.1 winning percentage in the faceoff dot. He only has one season below 50 percent, and that was his rookie season. He is routinely well above the mark, posting a career-high 57.8 mark only two seasons ago, though he only appeared in 30 games that year.

Regardless, he will be able to step in and win tough draws when needed. Especially if the Flyers want to keep Trevor Zegras at center. If he's having a particularly rough game at the draw or the team simply needs a better option in the moment, they can slide Zegras to the wing and bring in Dvorak. They've already done that in the preseason.

Dvorak also brings a solid defensive game to the table and has provided it on the penalty kill. Against the Islanders, he was able to use his stick to deflect a pass out of the zone and create a near breakaway. However, Dvorak didn't have a play at the net with a defender on his heels, so he did the next best thing. He took Ilya Sorokin away from the net and slid the puck between his legs to Travis Sanheim.

And the defenseman took care of the rest.

Dvorak used the same tactic during another penalty kill to create a clear-cut breakaway. He wouldn't score on the play, but his defensive awareness on this play especially created the opportunity. For a unit that was previously toward the top in shorthanded goals, Dvorak could help this team have more success in that area.

He's also had a small amount of success on the power play before, so he could be used in that area if needed. He wasn't used as much in Montreal, though he didn't need to be with some of the players they had during his time. Most of his power-play time came with the Coyotes, and he had some decent success there. It may come on the second unit in Philadelphia, but it would add more value to his game if he could find a role there.

There's also the familiarity with Rick Tocchet. Dvorak's best year came with Tocchet as his coach. And while it may play a small role, Tocchet knows what Dvorak can do. He's going to find a way to deploy him, which shows how much he can provide on the ice.

"The guy I gotta get more ice time, because the fourth line usually doesn't play as much, is Dvorak. So I might move him around. I might put him on the wing sometimes with certain people. I gotta find him more minutes. I don't think he's a fourth-line center." Tocchet said.

So while Dvorak was originally looked at as a fourth-line center, he could, and should, be more than that. In a similar way to Ryan Poehling, who was traded away for Zegras, Dvorak has a chance to do it all for the Flyers.