1) The National Hockey League's Department of Player Safety has offered Radko Gudas an in-person hearing for his slash to the back of Winnipeg forward Mathieu Perrault's neck.
It is not a surprise, even with Gudas having received a five-minute major and game misconduct. Especially given his past rap sheet (including a six-game suspension last October), there was no way Gudas was going to get away with "time served" after being kicked out last night. It was only a question of whether it was going to a phone hearing (less than five-game suspension) or in-person hearing offer (five or more).
Gudas reportedly apologized to Perrault after the play, saying it wasn't intentional. The Winnipeg player did not accept the apology, although whether he did or didn't is irrelevant. Even if Gudas was not trying specifically to chop him on the neck, players are responsible for their own sticks. It was reckless at best and fortunate that no injury resulted. Lastly, it doesn't matter if many opposing players find self-styled hipster Perrault to be a pest despite his modest career PIMs.
From the Flyers' standpoint, it was especially galling when Toronto's Leo Komarov drilled Shayne Gostisbehere in the numbers and caused a concussion with nary a penalty much less a suspension. However, just because DOPS was asleep on that one doesn't mean Gudas should get off without supplementary discipline.
To be honest, I thought Gudas was going to get a phone hearing and four games since there was no injury caused. It still could end up being a four-gamer but I doubt that now. Gudas' repeat offender status and reputation -- regardless of efforts to tone down the recklessness, his rep was already pretty much cemented even before this -- is going to be weighed every bit as much as the merits of this incident.
2) With Gudas likely to be unavailable for quite awhile and his 23-man roster spot also ineligible for replacement, it remains to be seen what the Flyers do. Andrew MacDonald appears close to being ready to return from the shot-blocking injury he sustained on Oct. 21. The Flyers have an off-day today and an afternoon home game tomorrow against the Calgary Flames.
Assuming Gudas' fate is sealed before then and depending on MacDonald's readiness after just a few days back on the ice, the Flyers may just plug Mark Alt into the third pairing right defense slot until MacDonald returns.
The immediate question: Why not recall Samuel Morin?
The Flyers' 2013 first-round pick just returned from a lower-body injury in Wednesday's game. He and partner Philippe Myers (also just back from injury) had a rough game in the Phantoms' 6-2 road shellacking at the hands of the Belleville Senators. The only real takeaway specific to Morin is that he looked like he needed another game or two get back to form. The Phantoms have a road game in Laval tonight.
When he returns, I would think that MacDonald would either go back with Ivan Provorov and Robert Hägg back with Shayne Gostisbehere or else it would be Provorov-Hägg and Gostisbehere-MacDonald. That would put Brandon Manning, who has actually done a pretty good job in a pinch playing his off-side, on right defense with Travis Sanheim (whose play ever since the debacle against Arizona has generally been good). If Morin were recalled and went into the mix, I think he'd play third pairing left defense with Manning.
In lieu of Gudas, the Flyers could use a player who is not just physical but also gives opponents some trepidation. They really don't have a player on the blueline who does that, even though a few (Hägg and Manning in particular) aren't shy at all about playing the body. That is something Morin could add.
Overall, though, I suspect that Manning and Sanheim stay in the lineup, Morin will try to get on a roll with the Phantoms and then the Flyers re-evaluate after the next block of games. Remember, I'm not one of the one who sets the lineups and manages personnel. When I write an analysis, it's based on what I think the decision-makers will do rather than on personal preferences.
3). One bright spot from the Phantoms' game in Belleville was a two-goal effort from Mike Vecchione. Why not call him up, as he's had a pretty strong season for the Phantoms to date? Unless the Flyers move Valtteri Filppula to a wing, I don't see that happening right now.
Vecchione is better at center than on a wing, but he's not going to supplant any of Nolan Patrick, Filppula (barring a position change) or Scott Laughton. What I could see is Vecchione, if he stays patient and continues to play well, getting a shot to replace impending unrestricted free agent Filppula by next season. If the Flyers end up as sellers close to the trade deadline, that could even be in the latter part of this season.
However, it's still too early to seriously get into "sell or stand pat" (I doubt the Flyers will be buyers) discussions. The Metro Division is still very tightly packed and the Flyers are currently two points out of wildcard position with slightly more than 3/4 of a season to go.
4) Let's talk Flyers scoring woes, since there is so much to discuss. It doesn't take a genius to notice that virtually all of the scoring for the last few weeks has been coming either from the top line trio of Sean Couturier, Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek -- or from no one at all on a team that has already been shut out five times.
Is the problem really going to be something that requires drastic immediate action, such as breaking up the top line? Or is it a matter of capable supporting cast forwards collectively going ice cold and the matter being worsened by a lack of recent goal contributions chipped in by the more offensively able members of the defense corps?
I'd argue that it's the latter.
5) We'll start with Wayne Simmonds. He's now goalless in 11 games but has shown signs, especially in the game in Winnipeg, that he's close to getting back into the scoring column. Last night's game for Simmonds was what many "final game of a goal drought" performances look like. He had all sorts of chances and just couldn't quite bury one, although Couturier stashed a follow-up of one home for a power play goal.
Simmonds is moving around a lot better the last few games. The team's time off during a four-night hiatus in the schedule seemed to benefit him, although last night was the first where he truly looked back to form.
Keep in mind that Simmonds has always been a streak scorer ever since his arrival from LA and promotion to a top-six, top power play role. He racks up goals in bunches at times and then has droughts. This is his first one as a Flyers that has gone unabated this long. But he hasn't forgotten how to score after back-to-back 30-goal seasons, an opening night hat trick and a spell of six goals and eight points in the first eight games this season.
6) Jordan Weal has just two goals and six points in 17 games this season. Although he is a clever player with an underrated all-around game, he needs to do better than he's done overall since returning from an upper-body injury. His lineup spot is not currently in jeopardy and he still has made some nice plays that haven't ended up in the net. However, he was doing it with more regularity at the start of the season and needs to get back to that level. Weal has two points (1G, 1 A) in the 11 games since his return, and just one point (an assist) to show for the month of November to date. He's a better player than that.
7) A few games ago, I really thought Travis Konecny was on the brink of a goal binge after stringing together a couple consecutive games with multiple near-miss chances. Since then, I think he's allowed a bit of frustration to creep into his game. At a recent game at the Wells Fargo Center, veteran hockey scribe Chuck Gormley likened what he's seen from Konecny to former Flyer Scottie Upshall. I didn't really see it, as Konecny is more of a natural offensive talent with much better ice vision and hands. However, I can kind of see at times where Chuck was coming from with that comparison.
When he's off his game, Konecny gets a bit of out control. He flies around everywhere at breakneck speed but without much unison with the other guys on his line or the safety net of making the safe play if there's no lane to be found. There's so much talent there, but he really hasn't fully learned to harness it and make it work consistently for him at the NHL level.
Remember, though: Konecny is 20 years old. What we are seeing is very normal and in line with what Flyers GM Ron Hextall has cautioning about with young players. Konecny led the Flyers in preseason scoring in both 2016 and this year's preseason. However, when things get more structured and the bar gets raised in the regular season, that's when a young player truly gets tested.
Konency has shown plenty of flashes of brilliance in his season-plus in the NHL. But he's still barely through the infancy of his pro career. Right now, he's production wise at two goals and seven points. That's going to pick up again at some point, although consistency may still be a few years down the road and the improvements not necessarily linear.
8) To date, the Flyers have only gotten gotten six goals from the defense: two each from Provorov and Manning, one apiece from Gostisbehere and MacDonald.
In the meantime, Sanheim has had about five near-misses, including one last night as he pinched and re-directed a slap pass just wide of an open short side. Last year in the AHL, all 10 of Sanheim's goals came from December onward. When he finally gets his first NHL goal, he's likely to become a fairly frequent offensive contributor. In the meantime, Gostisbehere and Provorov will also eventually find the net a bit more.
Getting a bit of goal support from the defense corps will open things up for everyone else. Right now, opposing teams are heavily blocking Gostisbehere shot attempts -- especially the last three games -- and the other guys relied on for some offense from the back end aren't finding the mark.
9) Unfortunately, the Flyers' scoring woes have understandably overshadowed two positive trends of late: the goaltending and penalty killing have been very good of late. Over on the Flyers' official website, I take an in-depth look at the
penalty killing uptick. For the month of November, the Flyers have killed 83.3 percent (20 of 24) penalties including successfully killing 14 of the last 15, including a lengthy 5-on-3, a couple of 4-on-3s last night and a three-minute 5-on-4.
10) Patrick was used very sparingly in his first game back after a nine-game absence due to an upper-body injury widely reported as concussion-like symptoms. He was a bit rusty in his timing, which was to be expected, but the bigger reason was all the time the Flyers spent on the penalty kill. We'll see how he settles back in over the next week. Eventually, he ought to get back on the second power play unit, especially if the unit continues to scuffle to put any pucks in the net regardless of sporadic good puck rotation and looks at the net.
11) Today's blog is already running very long, so I will save the in-depth discussion of topic of Brayden Schenn's outstanding play in St. Louis for another day. The short version is that, barring the Flyers having installed him instead of Couturier as the first line center between Giroux and Voracek, I don't think he'd have come near what he's done so far in St. Louis had he remained here. We'll never know.
The Flyers, who currently have the third-smallest team in the NHL, have missed his physicality. They haven't really missed his power play scoring too much, though, because they've gotten five PPG to date (three from Filppula and two from Couturier) from what was previously his spot. The real measure of the Schenn trade won't be known for several years to come, until we see how Morgan Frost and whomever the Flyers draft with the 2018 first-rounder (in a deep draft) they acquired from the Blues develop. There's also the Nolan Patrick factor, which absolutely was part of the reason why Hextall felt he was in position to accept two first round picks and a short-term NHL roster downgrade (Schenn to Jori Lehterä).
12) Speaking of the Flyers having so many undersized forwards, it would be hard for the team to add pint-sized Danick Martel into the current NHL lineup mix for a sustained period unless it was in lieu of Weal or Konecny. For now, all Martel can do is try to keep on scoring goals for the Phantoms and perhaps such an opportunity opens.
Despite fan suggestions, Martel would not be a player tabbed to slot into the "Dale Weise role" or "Michael Raffl role." When the Flyers eventually recall Lindblom, whenever that may be, he will most likely start out in the "Weise role" and then try to work his way up into a top six by providing some supporting offense on top of strong two-way play.
13) Flyers top goaltending prospect Carter Hart rattled off back-to-back shutouts to get to 20 for his WHL career. He's one of the Everett Silvertips all-time career record. Who holds it? Leland Irving, a former NHL first-round pick who very briefly was with the Phantoms at the start of this season. That does not reflect whatsoever on Hart's potential. It's just a reminder that every time a player moves up a level, there's a whole set of new hurdles to clear. That's especially true for goalies. Hart is an exciting prospect, but let's not start penciling him in as the Flyers starter until he turns pro and earns that chance.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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