2021 Projected Lineups: Philadelphia Flyers

Brock Seguin
Brock Seguin(@Brock_Seguin)
2021 Projected Lineups: Philadelphia Flyers

Over the last eight years, the @Philadelphia Flyers have alternated missing and making the playoffs and have not advanced past the second round since their Stanley Cup Finals appearance in 2010.

The Flyers’ front office was quiet this offseason, with @Erik Gustafsson being their only notable addition. A lot of their inactivity can be attributed to getting @Oskar Lindblom back from his battle with cancer and @Nolan Patrick back after missing 2020 with migraine issues. Those two are key additions and allowed GM Chuck Fletcher to sit tight.

Philadelphia comes in with high hopes this season and that is reflected in their odds to win the East Division (+350), which is second to only the @Boston Bruins, according to OddsShark.com.

Projected Forward Lines

The Flyers are one of the last teams to have lines starting to form at training camp but they’ve started to come together on Wednesday.

Surprisingly, it looks like @Sean Couturier may not play with either @Jakub Voracek or @Claude Giroux this season. He spent a combined 921:38 5v5 TOI with either Voracek and/or Giroux last season but had Lindblom and @Travis Konecny on his wings this week. Couturier-Konecny worked wonderfully last year, with both player’s offensive numbers going up when they were together. It was particularly helpful for Konecny’s defensive numbers, as you might expect. Konecny’s GoalsFor% rose from 46.7 percent to 58.82 when he was with the 2020 Selke Award winner. On the other side, you have Lindblom, who is a gifted shooter with a strong two-way game that pairs well with Couturier. Lindblom had 11 goals and seven assists last year before he was shut down for the season. However, it will be hard for him to take that next step until he starts shooting more. He averaged 2.4 shots per game last year and that shot volume will make it very difficult for him to get on a 20-goal pace this season.

With Lindblom up with Couturier, Giroux drops down to play with @Kevin Hayes. While they didn’t play together much last season (116:46 5v5 TOI) adding Giroux to his wing seemed to really provide a boost to Hayes. While they were unable to score a single goal at even-strength together, Hayes’ underlying numbers were much better with Giroux and should lead to more secondary scoring for Philadelphia in 2021. @Joel Farabee was often featured on Hayes’ wing last year and enjoyed a solid rookie campaign. His 21 points (8G / 13A) ranked 16th among all rookies in 2020 and a seemingly larger role in 2021 should allow him to build on that start.

Getting Lindblom and Patrick back really showcases the Flyers’ depth. Entering the season with @James van Riemsdyk and @Jakub Voracek as your two third-line left-wingers is a nice luxury to have. It also makes for a costly third line, but if you’re under the salary cap and you have enough other cheap wingers, it doesn’t really matter too much. van Riemsdyk just hasn’t been the same player since leaving Toronto and now the decreased role will make it next to impossible to get back to that level. However, he remains a very good option on the Flyers power-play and is still a 20-goal threat every season. For Voracek, what you see is what you get. You’re probably going to get somewhere around 20 goals and 40 assists but this move to the third line could drastically affect those numbers. We already saw his minutes decrease last year and it seems unlikely that he’ll return to the 19:00 TOI/gm this year. He should still be on PP1 and produce healthy totals but there’s definitely some risk in expecting Voracek to maintain the 60-point production we’ve seen from him in recent years.

Patrick had back-to-back 30 point seasons to start his career but 2021 will be all about health for him. The Flyers probably won’t ask too much of him and that should zap any potential fantasy value you think he might have. He still remains a decent bet in dynasty formats but there doesn’t appear to be a lot of upside in 2021 after he missed all of last season.

Philadelphia’s depth continues all the way to their fourth line, which will be centred by @Scott Laughton. The 26-year-old showed he can play up-and-down the lineup in 2020 but is probably best suited for this role. With @Michael Raffl and @Nicolas Aube-Kubel on his flanks, this trio should provide some solid offensive punch for a fourth line while also being tough to play against.

Projected Defensive Pairings

The first thing that sticks out when you look at these D-Pairs is @Shayne Gostisbehere with @Ivan Provorov. Gostisbehere was in and out of the lineup last year and his last two years combined (14G / 35A) doesn’t match-up with the 65 points (13G / 52A) that he posted in his breakout year in 2018. According to training camp reports, Gostisbehere was banged up all of last season it’s the first time that Alain Vigneault has seen him 100 percent healthy.

Vigneault needs to find a replacement for @Matt Niskanen, who spent over 900 5v5 TOI with Provorov last season. Gostisbehere sort of fits the mould of a Niskanen, as a smooth-skating, offensively talented defenseman but he’s just not as polished in his own end. Playing with a high-end defender like Provorov might be the best fit for Gostisbehere and allow him to re-discover his game a bit in 2021. Provorov’s numbers continue to be solid but unspectacular. Still, he’s a player that is in the lineup every night, plays almost 25 minutes per game and will be a reliable 40-point pace.

@Travis Sanheim and @Phillipe Myers may only be 24 and 23-years-old but they were rock-solid as the Flyers’ second-pair a season ago. They played over 540 5v5 TOI together and ranked 26th in GF% (55.1) with the 11th-best GF/60 among the 57 D-pairs with at least 400 TOI together. Sanheim probably won’t see enough PP usage to have a monster offensive season but he’s proven in the last two years that he will approach 10 goals and 35 points in his current situation.

If the Gostisbehere experiment doesn’t work and he goes back to the press box, Gustafsson is a candidate to move to the top-pair with Provorov. He’s proven capable of eating big minutes in the past and that move would allow @Robert Hagg and @Justin Braun to continue to play together. That duo was fifth in the NHL in GA/60 (Min.250 TOI) last year and is a reliable third-pair that Vigneault knows he can always go back to.

Like Gostisbehere, Gustafsson probably isn’t nearly as good as his breakout year suggests he might be and potentially limited PP1 exposure will limit his upside in Philadelphia.

Advanced Stats via MoneyPuck.com and HockeyReference.com 

Salary Cap Figures via PuckPedia.com 

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