The Philadelphia Flyers are supposedly aimed to overhaul their defense and start a new competitive era… this coming nine years after the Flyers started a rebuild aimed at overhauling their defense to start a new competitive era. This fledgling front office made a big call as their first move when they dealt Ivan Provorov to Columbus in a three-team trade, but everything after that didn’t really follow the opening act.
Now, they’re left with quite literally a dozen bodies that could all feasibility play in the NHL and try to stake their claim this season.
The problem?
Well there are only six spots and a few are already more or less locked in. The rest are all being vied for by players with varying degrees of average, from borderline terrible to ordinarily mediocre.
On the left they have: Cam York, Travis Sanheim, Egor Zamula, Nick Seeler, Marc Staal, Victor Mete, and long shots Emil Andrae and Adam Ginning.
On the right: Rasmus Ristolainen, Ronnie Attard, Sean Walker and long shot Helge Grans.
So how do they break up the ice time this season? Well there are a few options.
Best Case
Cam York – Rasmus Ristolainen
Travis Sanheim – Ronnie Attard
Egor Zamula – Sean Walker
God, even best case scenario is among the very worst defense units in the league today. But it doesn’t matter, they’re actually playing the kids… ya know… the entire point of a rebuild in the first place. York steps into the top left-handed defense role, his natural side, but one he has not played much at all in the NHL, primarily forced to the right in favor of Provorov, Seeler and Keith Yandle over the last few years. Sanheim is still here (for eight more years!) and rookie Ronnie Attard gets to carry his corpse around for the season. Zamula, who signed a one-way contract, finally gets his taste of sustained NHL action along with the new guy Sean Walker.
Worst Case
Travis Sanheim – Cam York
Nick Seeler – Rasmus Ristolainen
Marc Staal – Sean Walker
Who else got angry just looking at this? York staying on the right, having a defenseman who’s not very good at defense like Sanheim taking Provorov’s top LHD role which means Seeler’s minutes get elevated which opens room for 36-year-old Marc Staal and neither of their prospects in Zamula or Attard make the lineup. The scary part is, this is a Tortorella-ific lineup with Seeler and Staal being over utilized and York out of position. Hopefully this isn’t the nightly unit, but it could very well be a deployed lineup at some point during the season.
Most Realistic
Cam York – Rasmus Ristolainen
Travis Sanheim – Sean Walker
Nick Seeler – Egor Zamula
Even though we’re months away from training camp, Ronnie Attard, despite just signing an extension, already feels like the odd man out. That leaves a gap on the right side. Seeler is one of those guys that is oddly favored by the coaching staff, so Zamula will have to move sides to get his ice time, just as he did in his trial run last season. This also assumes Staal was actually brought in to be the seventh guy and won’t play regularly.
Conclusion
There’s a good chance this defense doesn’t hold any one form for too long. York, Sanheim and Ristolainen are staples, but everyone else may tag in and out all season or until a stable enough unit is created.
Will the Flyers carry eight defenseman this season? They very well might, at least for awhile until a steady group can emerge from the ooze.
There’s just too much depth and not enough sure things. Seeler was favored last season and they didn’t sign Marc Staal for no reason. Who knows if Walker is a Torts guy or not, and neither of Zamula or Attard seem to be highly touted by the organization despite their current standings as the top in-house, NHL-ready defense prospects; plus Zamula is on a one-way contract now, which *should* guarantee his position of at least being on the main roster.
It’s just a complete and total mess. Mostly by design, partially by neglect. By the parameters of a rebuild, it’s baffling that their two prospects, Zamula and Attard, may not play every night, and in Attard’s case may not make the NHL roster at all.
“But If Zamula and Attard can’t beat out Seeler and Staal they shouldn’t be playing” is a popular rebuttal to the “hey, let’s play the kids during a rebuild” theory, but voluntarily boxing out their potential future in favor of 36-year-old Marc Staal and 30-year-old Nick Seeler in the first place is just not a smart move.
We’ll get a better idea on how the vets are utilized and whether or not any of the kids get used regularly as training camp and the preseason start up in September, but for now all we can do is sit back in total bewilderment at the motley crew blue line that awaits us come the start of the 2023-24 Flyers season.
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
photo credit: NHL.com
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