With the Flyers in a rebuild, there’s more than just the rookies that need to prove their worth on the roster. There are some veterans who aren’t in prime positions for one reason or another, and Travis Sanheim represents that on the defense. He’s entering his seventh season as a Flyer and yet doesn’t feel like a cornerstone of this team, as much as he does a random guy who just exists to take up a roster spot.
Sanheim, now 27, is entering the first year of his eight-year, $50 million ($6.25 mil aav) contract extension he signed before puck drop on opening night last season. The Flyers tried and failed to move his contract before the extension and subsequent full no-trade clause kicked in on July 1. Now, Sanheim hold the keys to his own future for the next four seasons until his deal downgrades to a 12-team no-trade list in 2027-28.
We’ve rambled at length in the past about the ill-timed deal and why it was a horrible miscalculation by Chuck Fletcher in one of his last acts of stupidity before he was fired, but now the Flyers are stuck with the player and the question becomes what happens next for Sanheim?
Sanheim’s play has been wildly inconsistent through most of his career, though has always particularly struggled on the defensive side of his game and that caused him to butt heads with John Tortorella last season. Now mix that with the excess amount of left-handed defenseman on the roster, both young and old, and it creates quite a mess with Sanheim blocking the second pair LHD spot.
The Flyers did create at least some breathing room by dealing away Ivan Provorov during the summer, which should open the door for Cam York to take the team’s top lefty role. But that leaves Egor Zamula, Emil Andrae, Nick Seeler, Marc Staal along with Sanheim himself that will be battling for the remaining two LHD slots.
The most interesting player in both the short and long term to challenge Sanheim is 21-year-old Emil Andrae, who has been raising eyebrows with his play during his short stints with the Phantoms last season and at development camp during the summer. He could very well be NHL-ready and capable of earning a spot out of the preseason in October. Though with York and Sanheim above him in the depth chart, does his debut get postponed because of Sanheim’s presence?
That also leads to the two theoretical depth defenseman Nick Seeler and Marc Staal, both of which are John Tortorella favorites and will be handed ice time, deserving or not. Will two “Torts Guys” on the roster mean Sanheim gets booted to the right side, which is bit shallow at the moment, in favor of the vets playing their natural sides?
The biggest problem is the congealed mass the blueline has become in the first place. There’s no kind of structure of hierarchy in place at the moment. It’s a collection of the most random dudes you can think of with a few prospects sprinkled in who may or may not be ready for NHL ice time. Cam York serving as the 1LHD is about the only thing that seems certain. If Sanheim can’t step up and truly lock down that second pair lefty spot, it’s an extra layer of uncertainty.
It’s the age old question- do the Flyers continue to play Sanheim every night to “showcase” him (seriously, who still has nightmares about that phrase used Andrew MacDonald) to attempt to keep his value as theoretically high as possible to attempt to trade him next summer if he’s willing to waive his no-trade clause? Or do they cast Sanheim aside, especially if someone like Andrae forces their hand, for the betterment of the future of the team and Travis just has to live with the fact he foolishly signed a deal in the first place?
Does Travis Sanheim finally carve out a spot for himself on the blue line or does he continue to just keep his head above water? That contract is going to keep him in Philly for the foreseeable future, but that doesn’t mean a spot will be handed to him. The version of Sanheim from 2021-22 would be a welcome player to the defense, but another season like 2022-23 and he may not be seeing regular minutes every night. Tortorella has proven in the past that he doesn’t care what your contract looks like, if you’re not fitting the cookie cutter he’s attempting to make, then you’re going to get steamrolled out of the way. The Flyers already signed the extension, so they’re stuck with him either way, so it’s strictly up to Sanheim himself to determine how the next eight years in Philadelphia pan out.
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
photo credit: nhl.com
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