At one point in time, Ryan Poehling was one of the more touted prospects within the Montreal Canadiens organization. He was drafted in the first round of the 2017 NHL Entry Draft with the 25th overall pick and had 2 good collegiate seasons post-draft leading into his NHL debut, where he scored a hat-trick and the shootout winner in the final game of the 2018-19 season.
The 2019-20 Canadiens featured a lot of seasoned and veteran players in Tomas Tatar, Phillip Danault, Max Domi, Brendan Gallagher, Joel Armia, Nate Thompson, Paul Byron, Shea Weber, and Jeff Petry. They also had young players trying to make their way in Nick Suzuki, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, and Poehling.
The emergence of Suzuki and the inevitable return of Kotkaniemi pushed Poehling further down the pecking order, and his inconsistencies and inability to produce right away led him to the minors in Laval.
General Manager, Marc Bergevin, had this to say about Poehling in 2019:
“The way I see it with Ryan is that Ryan is a centre at the end of the day,” Bergevin started before adding, “At this moment, here in Montreal, with the centres we have like Nick, who’s playing well at centre, and Nate, who’s playing well on the fourth line, we put (Poehling) on the wing. It’s always easier for a centre to play wing, I agree, but for a centre who’s never played in the NHL to play wing for the first time is more difficult. So I’m cutting Ryan some slack because I know playing at left wing isn’t the position he’s used to playing. He’s always played centre. He will play centre here, but he needs some mileage, so that’s why he’s in Laval.”
In 27 games with the Canadiens in 2019-20, Poehling scored 1 goal and 2 points, and he added 5 goals and 13 points in 36 games with the Laval Rocket in the AHL. The following season he played in 28 games for the Rocket, where he scored 11 goals and 25 points but had his season cut short due to injury and never stepped foot in the NHL in 2020-21.
With a glorious opportunity to snatch a roster spot for the Canadiens after a solid AHL season and with the departures of Danault and Kotkaniemi, Poehling failed to make an impact in training camp and started the year in the minors after being usurped by waiver claim – and current Phantom – Adam Brooks.
In 7 games with the Rocket, he scored 3 goals and 6 points before getting the call-up with the Canadiens in injury disarray. He finished the season with 9 goals and 17 points in 57 games, primarily as a bottom-6 role player as he averaged 12:12 TOI.
In the subsequent summer, Poehling was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins alongside Jeff Petry for Mike Matheson and a fourth round pick in 2023. The Canadiens were able to get out of Petry’s contract, the Penguins got their right-handed shooting defenseman, and Poehling received the change of scenery that was required for him to better his career.
Poehling’s career trajectory had changed, he became a bottom-6 forward, and while with the Penguins he became a more reliable, responsible, and dependable centre-man. In 53 games, Poehling played in 128.9 minutes while shorthanded, 80% of his zone starts came in the defensive end, he blocked 41 shots, delivered 57 hits, and had a takeaway to giveaway ration of 29:4.
Signed by the Flyers on the 1st of July, Poehling was going to enter training camp with not many open spots but plenty of players vying for John Tortorella’s attention. Sean Couturier, Cam Atkinson, Travis Konecny, Joel Farabee, Owen Tippett, Morgan Frost, Scott Laughton, Noah Cates, and Nicolas Deslauriers were the obvious locks heading into camp. Recently signed Garnet Hathaway more or less had a one-way ticket with the big club, and Tyson Foerster was expected to stake his claim, which left a vacancy down the middle of the fourth line.
Daniel Brière had this to say about Poehling after signing him on a one-year deal:
“I think the opportunity that he’s facing here, he has a chance to move up and down the lineup depending on how he plays,” Brière said.
“I think the type of person he is, he’s a character guy. Obviously he showed it by betting on himself. Shows the type of character that he didn’t take the longer, secure deal.
“He wants to earn it. I think he’ll have that chance with Torts. Torts is fair.
“What I like about him is he can kill penalties. He can play the middle. He brings us speed. An area that we wanted to improve on also in our bottom six. He hits a lot of points and obviously the age factor made it a no-brainer.”
With Tanner Laczynski being placed on waivers earlier last week, it more or less solidified Poehling’s position with the big club. The Flyers didn’t have too many centre options outside of Poehling, but the coaching staff was impressed by his work ethic, his production, and his intangibles as he locked down the fourth line centre spot before the preseason games came to a conclusion.
Deslauriers, Poehling, and Hathaway are going to be the fourth line virtually all season – health permitting – and it’s going to be a dependable, reliable, and aggressive 10-11 minutes per night.
If the Flyers really wanted, they could have slotted Laughton or Cates down the middle of the fourth line to make room for some of their younger wingers but it didn’t make much sense. The time for Foerster and Bobby Brink will come in the near future, you can’t have either Laughton or Cates on the fourth line, and Poehling provides you with defense, penalty killing, faceoffs, speed, and tertiary scoring.
With Tortorella, it seems rather straightforward; play responsibly, play aggressively, but most importantly, play smart. Poehling does all of those things in spades and should benefit from his new head coach’s system. Last year we saw both ends of the spectrum when it came to Tortorella’s system with Kevin Hayes and Tony DeAngelo on one side, but Scott Laughton, Noah Cates, and Owen Tippett amongst others saw a spike in ice-time and extra responsibility.
Poehling is also only 24 years old, something that kind of gets forgotten when discussing his prospects. He has fully recovered from his past injuries, health is on his side, opportunity has called in the form of the Philadelphia Flyers, and he is looking to grab it by the horns and not let go.
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