Quick Hits: Feb. 28, 2022
1) Practice Day: Following an off-day on Sunday, the Flyers (16-26-10) return to action on Tuesday night when they host the Edmonton Oilers (29-21-3) at the Wells Fargo Center in the fifth game of the Flyers' current eight-game homestand.
2) Flyers Daily: On the Monday edition of Flyers Daily, Jason Myrtetus and I discuss the Flyers' 2-1 win over the Washington Capitals. The Flyers got off to a great start, received excellent goaltending from Carter Hart and defended well, but spent too much time in their own end of the ice over the last 30 minutes of the game. Jason and I also discuss the recent play of Rasmus Ristolainen and the likelihood of impending unrestricted free agents Ristolainen and Justin Braun being traded by the deadling (barring a contract extension -- or substantial progress toward one -- for Ristolainen). We also discuss the context of the Jeff Petry trade rumors and why the Flyers are said to have trading interest in the veteran defenseman.
To listen, click here.
3) Coming up on the next edition of Flyers Daily: Jason interviews Ian Anderson, the Flyers' director of hockey analytics. They discuss the growth and increased emphasis and sophistication of the collection and usage of analytics, the need to prepare for the NHL's upcoming technology-driven release of tracking data, and the Flyers' organization's recent expansion of the Analytics Department by two additional hockey information analysts.
In case you missed it, Jason and I have done a recent series of interviews with Flyers hockey operations management personnel.
* Assistant general manager Brent Flahr did a roundup of the progress this season by various prospects in the Flyers system as well as an assessment of the depth of the 2022 NHL Entry Draft class: here.
* New director of player personnel Alyn McCauley discussed his views on the scouting profession, his new role in the Flyers' organization, and the ways that video scouting and analytics increasingly combine with in-person scouting to present a more well-rounded picture of players of interest. He also discussed his vision for the team identity he'd like to see the Flyers adopt (to give a specific example, McCauley said that increasing the element of team speed will be a priority this offseason). To listen, click here.
Additionally, to get a national perspective on the state of the Flyers' organization, the NHL trade deadline as pertains to Flyers' players, and what path they will (or should) take moving forward, Jason and I interviewed TSN analyst and scouting director Craig Button for the Stick2Hockey podcast. To watch the interview, view it below:
However, one of the most encouraging trends the last months has been the resurgence of Oskar Lindblom and the player's return to a more prominent role on the Flyers' lineup. He's back to winning the lion's share of his puck battles and he's getting to the scoring areas again with regularity for the first time since his return from Ewing Sarcoma.
In the 21 games that Lindblom appeared in this season before Vigneault was fired, Lindblom managed only a single assist and 25 shots on goal in an average 13:26 of ice time. Vigneault stayed patient with the player in terms of usually keeping him in the lineup -- having seen in 2019 when Lindblom was capable of doing before his bout with cancer-- but Lindblom was dropped to the bottom end of the lineup and largely stayed there.
In the 30 games since Mike Yeo has taken over as interim head coach, Lindblom has moved around the top nine in the lineup rotation, averaging 15:04 of ice time. He has rediscovered his offensive confidence and posted eight goals and 18 points in that span. He's recorded 67 shots on goal.
For whatever the traditional plus/minus stat is worth as individual indicator, it's also notable that Lindblom is plus-eight in 30 games under Yeo. He was minus-10 in 21 games under Vigneault.
Both halves of the Travis Sanheim/Ristolainen pairing have also seen a jump in their effectiveness, in tandem and individually in the months since the change behind the bench. Over his last 30 games, Sanheim has been jumping into the play with a lot of confidence and has posted 16 points (4g, 12a), and a +3 (under AV: 22 GP, 0g, 3a, +1). Ristolainen, in 25 games, is minus-one and has chipped in nine points in addition to his physical game (under AV: 20 GP, 4 points, -10).
In the last few weeks, there has been a jump in Travis Konecny's effectiveness and confidence with the puck on his stick. Goals have remained hard to come by for him, but he had a career-high seven-game point streak (1g, 6a) until the win over Washington on Saturday.
None of this has been enough for the Flyers to see improvement in the bottom line -- in the 2022 calendar year to date, the team won only its final game of January, its first game of February and its February finale. But the team will take whatever positive developments it can get.
Updated Flyers 2021-22 scoring stats leaders from https://t.co/ZQd16CzPgL before/since Dec. 6 (first game of Mike Yeo's interim HC tenure): pic.twitter.com/YTeNjRJkbB
— Bill Meltzer (@billmeltzer) February 28, 2022
5) Feb 28: Eric Lindros celebrates his 49th birthday today. Below are some of the Hockey Hall of Famer's career highlights.