5 Flyers players who must bring their A-Game to play meaningful games in March
After embarking on a losing streak that caused some to believe the Flyers lost their momentum, they have since started winning again.
The Philadelphia Flyers look to have gotten back on a roll and they should defy the odds from here on out if a few players from their main and supporting cast embark on a roll down the stretch. No one thought the Flyers would be in the position they are currently in, but it’s time to take this surprise team seriously as we approach the trade deadline season.
Ideally, they would see each player in the main and supporting casts step up, play their best hockey down the stretch, and put this team into the playoffs. But if a few meaningful names rise up, the Flyers will be a force in the near future. So who needs to have a great back half of February to guarantee this team will play meaningful games in March?
Travis Konecny must continue to be the scoring unit’s heart and soul
Travis Konecny is the face of the Flyers organization, and if they are to reach that meaningful period down the stretch, he must bring his A-Game more than anyone else. So far, Konecny leads the team in points and goals scored with 46 and 24, respectively. He also performs well when the Flyers have their backs against the wall, having logged an eye-popping five short-handed goals this season.
Despite enjoying a sound campaign, however, Konecny is well behind what we saw from him last season when he scored 61 points and 31 goals in 60 contests to go with a remarkable 16.2 shooting percentage. If he repeats that kind of production for the rest of this season, that alone will make the Flyers tough to beat as they steamroll into the second half of February.
His defensive game must also keep trending upward, as we have seen Philadelphia snag a 90.4 save percentage with Konecny on the ice at 5-on-5. He also has a sound 36 takeaways, getting sticks on the puck now more than any other time in his career.
Samuel Ersson must continue to overachieve through the back half of February
Samuel Ersson will never be a true No. 1 goaltender, but that doesn’t mean he won’t keep overachieving. His last two starts on February 6th and February 8th have shown us he can even put up elite numbers against some of the NHL’s best teams. In those games, the Flyers played the mighty Florida Panthers and Winnipeg Jets, and Ersson, unfazed, ended up with 48 saves on 50 shots, good for a 0.960 save percentage.
So far this season, Ersson has also been relatively consistent, snagging an unprecedented three shutouts, 14 wins, a 0.903 save percentage, a 2.47 GAA, and a 0.640 quality starts percentage. For a player who finished with a 0.899 save percentage and 3.07 GAA, Ersson has taken a step forward. And now, he must continue that trend into March and April.
This isn’t to say Ersson hasn’t had his fair share of rough moments this year. In the four games leading up to his pair of epic performances mentioned earlier, the 24-year-old lost each contest. In those losses, he posted an ugly 0.819 save percentage and just 68 saves on 83 shots on goal. Of course, you can’t entirely blame him as the Flyers struggled as a unit, but it gave him a few opportunities to step up and make some heroic saves; something that did not happen.
Travis Sanheim needs to take the two-way approach up a notch
From a points-based perspective, we are seeing a breakout year from Travis Sanheim. Unless he sustains an injury or a spectacular fall-off in play, Sanheim will set a new career-high in points, assists, average time on ice, and hits. He has already set a new best in takeaways with 27, so expect him to keep shattering his previous high of 23 that he set in 2021-22.
Overall, you can’t help but like what you see from Sanheim’s productivity, but that doesn’t mean there haven’t been areas of his game when he needs to make something happen. When you look at some advanced statistics, mainly possession metrics at 5-on-5, you see turbulence, and that’s a growth opportunity for the 27-year-old blueliner.
When Sanheim is on the ice at 5-on-5, the Flyers are boasting an offensive zone start percentage of 53.4 percent, yet Sanheim’s Corsi and Fenwick For percentages sit at just 48.9 and 50.5, respectively. These aren’t awful numbers, but it would be great to see him help pitch in a little more when the Flyers are in the offensive zone.
Their on-ice save percentage in the same situation when Sanheim is on the ice is a paltry 88.0. So although Sanheim is enjoying an excellent season from a statistical standpoint, we need to see more of the little things when Sanheim is on his respective shifts.
More scoring attempts needed from Joel Farabee
Through 53 games, Joel Farabee ranks second on the Flyers behind Travis Konecny in points with 41, and third with 17 goals. Like a few players on the Flyers this season, Farabee is enjoying an epic campaign, and he has clearly broken out.
But as was the case regarding Sanheim, Farabee could be doing way more despite setting new career-highs and approaching others. While his 128 shots on goal are also putting him on pace for a personal-best, Farabee is giving us just 2.41 shots on goal per game. While this is up from the 1.76 per game he put up last year, we need to see even more considering the number of times he’s converted shots into goals this season.
Farabee ranks second on the team in shooting percentage at 13.3 percent among Flyers players who have seen action in at least 38 games this season. Therefore, it would benefit this team if he took advantage of even more open looks in the final two months of the 2023-24 campaign, especially in the pivotal month of February.
This doesn’t mean Farabee must rival what Konecny has done (3.30 shots on goal per game), but if he can get close to 3.00, expect even more scoring from this hockey team.
Cam Atkinson must take charge for team consistency
Unlike the other players on this list, Cam Atkinson isn’t an impact player who needs to step up a little (or a lot) on the ice to bring even more value to the Flyers. No, it wouldn’t hurt, but at 34, Atkinson is the oldest full-time player on this team. And in a situation like this, his leadership should take center stage.
Atkinson has been in this league for 12 seasons, and has played in at least 70 percent of his possible regular season games in 10 of those campaigns. So he’s seen a lot, and even a position somewhat identical to what the Flyers are currently in. Flashback to the 2018-19 Columbus Blue Jackets season, and Atkinson saw a team that accumulated 98 points sneak into the postseason as a wild card.
Following a so-so January that year, Columbus ended up finishing 19-12-1, with just two points separating them from the ninth-place Montreal Canadiens. That effort not only pushed them into the playoffs, but the Blue Jackets also pulled off a major upset when they swept the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round.
Therefore, Atkinson knows what being right on the bubble is like, so he is the greatest asset for this team to turn to on the ice. So when it comes to an A-Game, it’s not necessarily production, but on-ice leadership that Atkinson must bring.
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(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference as of February 11th)