The NHL All-Star game is a convoluted mess that very few fans or players care about, but the NHL insists on making it a spectacle every year with tweaks intended to make it relevant and hip to the jive, as the kids say. Each division has 11 players, one player the league names from each team (eight) and three additional fan voted players (two skaters, one goalie) per division.
Simplistically, it means there’s one guaranteed Flyer and three more potential Flyers that could make the all-star game. So who is most likely to represent the orange and black in Toronto on February 3?
Number 5: Sean Couturier
Couturier returned to the Flyers’ lineup after missing 22 months of action, and he somehow has defied the odds and scored 21 points in 26 games. Don’t really know what the criteria is the NHL looks for when it comes to their player selection, but maybe picking the guy returning from a two year absence with back problems who isn’t particularly fast or dynamic isn’t the most electric option to play in multiple 3-on-3 games, even if it is a cool story to try and highlight. But he is second on the team in points right now, so if the NHL’s process is that simplistic, Couturier will at least be in the running.
Number 4: Joel Farabee
Joel Farabee has 10 goals and 18 points on the season, with all 10 of his goals coming at even strength, which currently puts him in a six-way tie for fifth place in that category in the league. His numbers may not be All-Star worthy at face value, but he’s on pace for easily the best statistical season of his career, and it something were to happen to the team’s top forward Travis Konecny, it’s not unbelievable that Farabee could be selected to represent the Flyers in Toronto.
Number 3: Travis Sanheim
It’s still early in the season, but Sanheim has put forth a valiant effort stepping into the Flyers’ top defenseman role. He went from averaging 20:24 of ice time in 2022-23 to 25:34 through 28 games in 2023-24, which puts him in the top three in the league, racing between John Carlson and Drew Doughty for first place in ATOI. He’s also accrued 21 points in that time as well, a pace that would easily give him a new career high by season’s end. Is this kind of breakout campaign enough for the All-Star game? Probably not if it comes down to the fan vote, but Sanheim’s improvement should be rewarded in some fashion.
Number 2: Carter Hart
Carter Hart is having a career renaissance in net during the 2023-24 season, posting his best numbers since before the pandemic began, currently rocking a 2.42 goals against average and .919 save percentage. The biggest problem for Hart is the fact that he’s in a division with Igor Shesterkin and Ilya Sorokin, two of the best goalies in the league. So even though as of this writing Hart’s GAA and SV% are significantly better than both of them, in the world of a popular vote, Hart may not win that race.
Number 1: Travis Konecny
For all intents and purposes, Travis Konecny is the best player on the Flyers these days. Ignore the fact of how low a bar that is, but if the NHL selection process just goes through and plucks the top scorer from each team, TK is headed to Toronto for the All-Star festivities. He currently has 16 goals and 24 points in 28 games, easily topping the team in both categories.
Honorable Mention
Owen Tippett
Tippett and Joel Farabee are neck and neck when it comes to points. Farabee has 18 and Tippett has 17, which currently makes them the third and fourth highest scorer on the team. So in the case of an injury to TK and the skip over the geriatric Couturier in favor of a younger star, it’ll boil down to one of Tippett or Farabee.
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
photo credit: nhl.com
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