Quick Hits: July 9. 2021
1) One of the notable names on UFA defense market this offseason is 28-year-old Jamie Oleksiak. The gargantuan (6-foot-7, 255 pound) two-stint Dallas Stars defenseman had a very long development curve at the NHL level after he seemed initially to be a fast-track shutdown defenseman when he first turned pro at age 20. For a number of years, he struggled to stick as a full-time player in the NHL level despite his size/athleticism and streaks of effective play. The good times were counterweighted with a tendency to make the same mistakes repeatedly; misreads or turnovers that too often seemed to end up in his team's net and a susceptibility to costly penalties.
Eventually, Oleksiak found a niche as a number 5 defenseman. This past season, Oleksiak bumped to a No. 4 on the depth chart. He played the left side on a pairing with Miro Heiskanen. He provided his usual aggressive physical presence and logged north of 20 minutes of ice time per game (20:29) for the first time in his NHL career. Less is more with Oleksiak, in my opinion. I prefer when he plays 16 to 18 minutes a game, is deployed in moderate-difficulty defensive matchups and keeps his game fairly simple. Oleksiak can occasionally chip in offensively and received a roughly 50-50 zone-start split between offensive and defensive zone starts at 5-on-5 this past season.
Could Oleksiak, who is coming off a three-year, $2.14 million AAV contract, be a fit on the Flyers' second or third pair if the team brings in more than one new defenseman this offseason? He'd certainly check some of the boxes that the team needs -- namely more size and physicality -- but is another left-handed, left-side defenseman. The Flyers have a bigger need on the right side, although, as one possibility, Travis Sanheim could switch sides to play alongside Oleksiak if the latter is slotted onto the second pair.
Personally, while I think Oleksiak could be a decent addition as a second- or preferably third pair defenseman for Philadelphia, I don't think he'd be someone who'd significantly move the needle as an individual acquisition. As part of a multi-change offseason, he'd be viable.
By the way, if Samuel Morin had not lost so much developmental time to injuries, I think he may well have had a career trajectory similar to Oleksiak's at the NHL level. An unrestricted free agent this offseason, if Morin is re-signed by the Flyers, it'd more likely be in a depth role.
2) The Flyers Offseason Inventory series continues today on PhiladelphiaFlyers.com. This installment looks at players on the comeback trail after significantly down seasons and/or health issues. The article takes an in-depth look at what happened this past season with Carter Hart, Oskar Lindblom, Nolan Patrick, Phil Myers and Nicolas Aube-Kubel. Travis Konecny, who also had a down year in 2020-21, was covered in the first article on the series. To read more,
click here.
3) Part 2 of the July edition of the "Ask Billy" segment of Flyers Daily, in which listeners submit Flyers-related questions to host Jason Myretetus and both he and I weigh in with our views, is now available for download:
Click here. To listen to Part 1,
click here.
4) Next Tuesday (July 13) morning, Flyers general manager/team president Chuck Fletcher and assistant general manager/ vice president Brent Flahr will be holding a media availability session at the Skate Zone in Voorhees -- the first in-person press conference since the start of the pandemic last year -- to discuss the NHL Expansion Draft and the NHL Entry Draft. The following day, I will have a key takeaways article for PhiladelphiaFlyers.com as well as additional information to present here on HockeyBuzz.
5) Want to own the jersey Hockey Hall of Famer Mark Howe (autographed after the event) that Howie wore in our Showcase game? The item is up for auction via July 22, with proceeds benefiting the Flyers Alumni Association and its programs such as "Every Child Deserves a Bike" and the "12 Days of Christmas Season Giving." The current bidding for the Howe jersey is at $300. To place a bid,
click here.
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