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1) The emergence of Brandon Manning as a semi-regular on the Philadelphia Flyers this season was one of the nicer little stories of the 2015-16 campaign. The player nicknamed "Manndog" has long been a scrappy underdog of sorts, who has paid his dues to get the NHL level and earned his keep the hard way.
Manning was not a highly touted junior player as he entered the Western Hockey League, but he became a valuable player and team leader for the Chilliwack Bruins. He went unselected in the NHL entry draft before the Flyers signed him to an entry-level contract after a big overager season for Chilliwack in 2010-11.
As a pro rookie in 2011-12, Manning missed the first half the season due to injury. He had several cups of coffee with the Flyers but spent the vast majority of four seasons -- a prolonged gestation period for a prospect -- at the AHL level. He emerged as a team leader with the Phantoms, just as he had in his junior career.
To make it the NHL, Manning had to remake and simplify his game. In the AHL, he was more offensive minded and physically aggressive. It was sufficient for him to earn a couple of All-Star Game selections but it was not going to translate to the NHL level. In order to hold his own in the NHL, he was going to have to adopt a less-is-more type of style.
While he was no darling of advanced stats devotees, the 25-year-old Manning gained the trust of Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol, whose "vote" in lineup decisions is the only one that counts. Hakstol came to play Manning regularly above Russian import Evgeny Medvedev as the season progressed, including in all six games of the Flyers' playoff series against the Washington Capitals.
Manning brought out more of the physical element of his game as the year progressed and was able to replicate the same no-frills approach fairly consistently to emerge as a serviceable third-pairing defenseman for a team that squeaked inot the playoffs. He was no star but Manning did not look out of place in a secondary defensive defenseman role. That's a testament to his work ethic, because play without the puck and on-ice discipline were the areas of his game in his early years that needed the most work.
Apart from the fact that fans tend to be the most critical of defensemen and goalies, I'm at a loss to understand why there's so much internet griping about Manning. He was given a specific supporting cast role and he played it competently. Relying on a player in Manning's NHL role to have pretty-looking shot attempt differentials with him on the ice is to miss the point on why he's out there in the first place. Not every player needs to "drive possession" to play to the satisfaction of his coaches and GM.
I confess that I have a sentimental soft spot for homegrown players who rise through the farm system. Nevertheless, I consider Manning a success story and an example to other young players of how they can find a niche in the NHL. He's not going to a double-digit goal, 30-40 point, 150 penalty minute player in the NHL as he was with the Phantoms. He's not going to wear a letter on his jersey with the Flyers as he did in the WHL and AHL, but he still has the traits of a leader.
I will never forget how, in his early pro years, Manning took other players under his wing at the Flyers' development camp in July. He didn't have to do it, but as someone who already had AHL and even a little NHL experience under his belt, he was someone to whom the other players at the camp gravitated. There was a maturity and level-headedness about him off the ice that suggested he might be one of those guys who eventually could crack an NHL lineup for more than a game or two here and there.
It took Manning a long time to achieve his goal. No doubt there were some who wrote him off as basically a career minor leaguer even a few years ago. He paid no mind to it and kept working and working on his game. Finally, Manning found a niche could not only get him called up to the NHL but keep him on the ice once he got there.
Good for him. Those sorts of players are a credit to the game. Manning realizes that he is the type of player who will be playing for his job each and every year, and is prepared to do so. He will never be an NHL star and perhaps he's most ideally suited for the utility man (i.e., seventh D) role in the long term, but he is at least an NHLer.
Incidentally -- and this is obviously many years down the line in his case -- but it is often players such as Brandon Manning who end up as successful coaches when their playing days are done. He is still a few weeks shy of his 26th birthday but Manning is a survivor in the toughest of team sports.
2) Memorial Cup: The QMJHL champion Rouyn-Noranda Huskies fell to 1-1-0 in Memorial Cup round robin play as they dropped a 5-2 decision to the Red Deer Rebels (1-1-0) on Sunday. The Huskies took a 2-1 lead into the second period before yielding four unanswered goals. Flyers defense prospect Philippe Myers did not record a point and was even in plus-minus.
On Monday, Ivan Provorov and the WHL champion Brandon Wheat Kings (0-1-0) return to action to take on the OHL champion London Knights (1-0-0).
3) Nineteen ago on May 23, Eric Lindros' backhanded power play goal in the final seven seconds of regulation gave the Flyers a 3-2 win over the New York Rangers in a Game 4 thriller in the Eastern Conference Final. With the win, the Flyers moved within one victory of a trip to the Stanley Cup Final.
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