Ahead of their final game of the regular season, the Philadelphia Flyers will be announcing their annual team awards that includes the Bobby Clarke Trophy, Barry Ashbee Trophy, Gene Hart Memorial Award, Yanick Dupré Memorial Class Guy Award, and the Pelle Lindbergh Memorial Trophy, as well as the winner of the Toyota Cup.
Last year, Carter Hart took home the Bobby Clarke Trophy as the team’s MVP as well as the Gene Hart Memorial Award for exhibiting the most “heart”. Owen Tippett took home the Pelle Lindbergh Memorial Trophy for having improved the most from the previous season, Justin Braun was named the winner of the Yanick Dupré Class Guy Award for his rapport with the media, and Ivan Provorov was bestowed with the Barry Ashbee Trophy as the team’s best defenseman. Hart also took home the Toyota Cup for the second year in a row after finishing with the most stars at the end of the regular season.
This year should bring about a whole new slate of winners with many of the previous trophy holders no longer with the club. The 2023-24 season has brought about a whole “New Era of Orange” as the front office and ownership group have reminded us. While the late season collapse is still burning hot in our minds, the Flyers miraculously saved their best for the last.
Bobby Clarke Trophy: Travis Konecny
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The Bobby Clarke Trophy is awarded to the team’s most valuable player, and it should come as no surprise that Travis Konecny should be the frontrunner for this honour.
Last year, the award could have been given to Konecny as well, and not many would have batted an eye but Hart did a formidable job in goal with a chaotic team in front of him.
This year it’s a different story and there aren’t many other options to really choose from – primarily because Konecny has been that good. The 27-year-old winger shattered his career-highs in goals (31) and points (61) last season when he finally got over the 24-goal bugaboo. This year he continued that success with 33 goals and 68 points in 75 games while posting a plus-6 rating in 19:49 ATOI.
To add onto his resume, Konecny has scored 4 power play goals, an NHL-leading 6 shorthanded tallies, and 5 game winning goals while firing 239 shots on net and converting at a 13.8% clip. His underlying numbers have been very good as well with a CF% of 57.8, CF% rel of 9.7, FF% of 58.0, and FF% rel of 6.8 – all considerable bumps from last year.
Konecny is first on the team in goals (33), assists (35), points (68), shorthanded goals (6), game-winning goals (5), even strength goals (23), shooting percentage (13.8%), ATOI amongst forwards (19:49), and takeaways (52). He finished second in power plays goals (4), CF% at even strength (55.8), CF% rel at even strength (6.9), plus/minus (+6), and shots (239).
Offensively, the Flyers went as far as Konecny could take them this year as he had a 5-goal lead and 15-point edge over 2nd place Owen Tippett. Only Joel Farabee crossed the 50-point barrier this season with Travis Sanheim and Morgan Frost being the lone Flyers in the 40-point range. Konecny was also the only 30-goal scorer with Tippett not too far behind him, and Farabee and Tyson Foerster the only other players crossing the 20-goal plateau.
Essentially, there wasn’t a category that Konecny wasn’t leading, tied, or near the top in.
Barry Ashbee Trophy: Cam York
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One of the biggest surprises this season was that the Flyers had a very strong defensive core with Sanheim and Cam York leading the way, followed by Nick Seeler and Sean Walker, and then decent-to-good performances from Rasmus Ristolainen, Jamie Drysdale, and Egor Zamula.
However, after the Flyers lost Ristolainen, Drysdale, and Seeler to long-term injuries, they were also without the services of Walker, who was moved ahead of the trade deadline. After allowing 2.8 goals per game in their first 53 games with a relatively healthy back-end, the Flyers allowed 4 goals per game from the 12th of February to the 9th of April. Even with this lengthy slump, York stood above the rest.
After appearing in just 87 games between 2020-21 and 2022-23, York played in every single game this season – something only three other members of the team accomplished – and had a career season with 10 goals and 30 points while skating 22:35 and blocking 174 shots.
Amongst his counterparts, York finished first in games played (81), tied for first in goals (10), second in assists (20), points (30), ATOI (22:35), shots (134), shooting percentage (7.5%), and blocked shots (174).
In his first 58 games, York scored 6 goals and 18 points to go along with a minus-11 rating in 21:40 ATOI. Incidentally, that was up until the Flyers were healthy on the back-end, since the Drysdale injury – a span of 23 games – York tallied 4 goals and 12 points in 23 games while skating 24:55 minutes per game, registering 68 blocked shots, and somehow accruing a minus-1 with the Flyers allowing goals left, right, and centre.
His 24:55 ATOI has paced the club and he is ahead of his partner in crime in Sanheim by 1:22 minutes per game, his minus-1 rating is tied for the best amongst the defensemen alongside Sanheim and fifth best amongst the team, and his 12 points are tied for fourth best alongside Sanheim and Scott Laughton.
Going even further, York has 5 points in his last 14 games with a plus-1 rating, only 8 PIM, and averaging 25:49 ATOI. The 14-game stretch included 9 games where he saw over 25 minutes, 5 games where he played over 27 minutes, and saw a season-high 29:01 in the overtime loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on the 21st of March. He also registered 3+ blocked shots 9 times, 4+ blocked shots 5 times, and registered a season-high 6 blocked shots in that very same game against Carolina.
While York has seen close to 25 minutes a game to close the season, Zamula would be right after Sanheim at 18:16, Drysdale at 18:12, Seeler at 17:48, Erik Johnson at 16:25, and Marc Staal at 15:08. Essentially having to become the anchor of the back-end, play almost half the game and in almost every situation, while being one of the most sound and responsible players.
It’s been a fantastic season for the former first round pick and he has truly solidified himself as the 1D moving forward.
Pelle Lindbergh Memorial Trophy: Travis Sanheim
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The Pelle Lindbergh Memorial Trophy is awarded to the Flyer who has improved the most from the previous season, as voted by his teammates. Last year, it was awarded to Tippett, who broke out in a big way after he went from 10 goals and 21 points in 63 games between Florida and Philadelphia in 2021-22 to 27 goals and 49 points in 77 games in 2022-23. This year the award should be handed out to Travis Sanheim after what was a disastrous 2022-23 campaign.
It’s been a roller coaster ride over the last few years after Sanheim turned in a Barry Ashbee Award campaign in 2021-22 with 31 points in 80 games with a plus-9 rating while skating 22:58 ATOI – with most of that coming in the second half. Last year, he scored just 23 points in 81 games with a minus-5 rating, and skating just 20:24. He was then almost sent to St. Louis in what was going to be a blockbuster deal, however Torey Krug vetoed the trade, allowing Sanheim to stick around.
Sanheim shattered his career-highs in goals with 10, assists with 34, points with 44, ATOI at 23:48, shots on goal with 144, blocked shots at 146, and hits with 91 in 80 games played. He saw a career-high in power play minutes this season (123.8 vs 83.4 back in 2018-19) but had just 5 points with the extra attacker due to the listless nature of the Flyers man advantage.
Similarly to York, Sanheim was thrust into a far larger role after the defensive unit spiraled out of control with injuries. He tallied 4 goals and 12 points in his last 23 games, a minus-1 rating, and 23:53 ATOI with 46 blocked shots. Dating back to the gauntlet, Sanheim has 5 points in 14 games with a minus-2 rating while skating 23:59 and blocking 23 shots.
With the Flyers boasting a healthy back-end for most of the season, John Tortorella could have played Sanheim a lot less, as was the case in 2022-23. However, he improved and impressed so much so that he formed the top pair for the entire season alongside York, seeing less than 20 minutes just five times with his lowest ATOI coming in at 19:13.
It would also not surprise me in the least if the Flyers decide to go with Samuel Ersson or Sean Couturier. Ersson was thrust into the number one spot midseason and has started 31 of the last 36 games, and Couturier came back after missing a year and a half of game action and was named captain.
Gene Hart Memorial Award: Garnet Hathaway
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I think this could go one of two ways with either Nick Seeler or Garnet Hathaway taking home the honours of the Gene Hart Memorial Award for the player that exhibits the most “heart”.
The Flyers signed Hathaway near the end of the first day of the free agent frenzy, a move that many were shocked by just based on the fact that it was very under the radar, they already had Nicolas Deslauriers, and many believed the Flyers were going to keep more roster spots open for the prospects. However, he brought about a very different intangible that not many players on the team had to begin with.
Hathaway doesn’t drop the gloves as often as Deslauriers and his goal scorning numbers certainly dropped a little this season, but he drew a lot of penalties and finished check after check after check in his ample amount of ice-time. He was trusted by Tortorella a lot more in the second half and formed a rather interesting trio with Ryan Poehling and Noah Cates.
In his first 53 games, Hathaway scored 4 goals and 7 points with a minus-12 rating, 74 PIM, and 11:15 ATOI. From the 12th of February-onwards, Hathaway scored 3 goals and 10 points in the preceding 28 games with a plus-6 rating, 58 PIM, and 14:41 ATOI. In 16 of those games, Hathaway had 5+ body checks and in 8 of those games he had 8+.
His 320 hits are clear above the rest of his teammates as Deslauriers clocked in with 188 in 60 games and he finished 2nd in the league behind just Jérémy Lauzon and his 383 hits. Hathaway accumulated 132 PIM with 60 of them counting as misconducts, so according to moneypuck.com he took 72 PIM while drawing 79 PIMs for a differential of 7 that was good for 7th on the team – Tippett led the way with a differential of 22.
Yanick Dupré “Class Guy” Award and Flyers Alumni Community Leadership Award: Scott Laughton
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The Yanick Dupre “Class Guy” Award is handed to the player who has the strongest rapport with the media as well as having character, dignity, and respect on and off the ice. This award was handed to Braun last year, Cam Atkinson the year prior, and James van Riemsdyk in 2020-21; all unsurprising options.
The Flyers also announced just yesterday that they would be adding a new award, the Flyers Alumni Community Leadership Award, which will be handed to the player who “best demonstrates outstanding leadership, both on and off the ice, as well as a significant contribution to the community.” The Flyers also announced that the winner of this honour also be the team’s nominee for the King Clancy Memorial Trophy which is awarded “to the player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution in his community.”
These awards could also be handed out a lot of players but Scott Laughton is the epitome of respect, dignity, and character on and off the ice as well as an advocate for a lot of groups and charities, and has been a vocal leader within the locker room over his lengthy tenure as a Flyer. He was the only the member of the team with a letter on his jersey before Couturier was named captain, he best exemplified the crest on the front of the jersey, and off the ice has been an advocate for the LGBTQ+ community.
He was also named the Flyers’ nominee for the King Clancy last season, so there’s a good chance he could be nominated again should he win the new Flyers alumni award tonight.
