The Philadelphia Flyers’ power play is abysmal, horrid, putrid, awful, a hot mess, and every synonym in between. Zone entries, puck possession, time spent in the offensive zone, winning face-offs while on the man advantage, creating chances, finding the shooting lanes; everything is broken, everything is wrong, and they’re beating the same drum every single game. The personnel have been affected by the injury bug but even with so many players missing, the Flyers are keeping Travis Sanheim on the bench, arguably their most offensive minded defenseman.
The power play in general has struggled since former long-time power play coach Joe Mullen left, and under his rule they only finished below 15th once. He was in charge of the man advantage from 2007-08 to 2016-17 and the Flyers had a top-10 power play seven times, including three top-4 finishes. It’s no secret that they qualified for the playoffs in 7 of those 10 seasons in part because of the power play.
After he left, the Flyers finished 15th and 23rd under Kris Knoblauch and then 14th and 18th in Michel Therrien’s first 2 years. This year, the Flyers’ power play has dropped to third-last and they have gone through slumps on a regular basis, none worse than their early season struggles that saw them score just 4 times on well over 50 attempts. It’s lifeless, a pure disadvantage, and the opposing team creates more offensive chance while down a man.
When the power play was struggling at the beginning of the season under Therrien, they were very quick at pulling the plug on Keith Yandle’s stay on the top unit. Ivan Provorov and Ryan Ellis were doing well together on the second unit but when Ellis went down and Yandle continued to struggle, “French Mike” decided to promote Provorov back to the top unit. In his 6 years with the Flyers, he has only scored 10 power play goals and even though Shayne Gostisbehere was on the top unit at the beginning of Provorov’s career, he quickly usurped him and has spent the majority of his time with the big dogs.
His rookie year he had 0 power play goals, followed that up with 2, then 0 again, had a random outburst of 7, then 0 again, and this year he has 1. Even his assist numbers are paltry as he has massed 32 in 418 games. In contrast, Gostisbehere scored 21 power plays goals in his first 4 seasons as a Flyer, and finished with 27 in his 6+ years. His assists numbers are even crazier as he amassed 71 in his first 4 years and 79 in total. He had a career high 26 power play assists in 2017-18, which is almost as many as Provorov has in his career. Now, obviously Gostisbehere was more offensively minded and gifted than Provorov, but he usurped Gostisbehere by the end because of his “all-around” play, yet he has nothing to show for it.
The solution for a struggling Flyers power play is to always bring Provorov back to the forefront. However, we have constantly seen him lose the puck at the point, break his stick on an attempted shot, freeze play while handling the puck at the blue line, make the predictable pass that leads to a turnover, and get caught flat-footed before an eventual shorthanded goal. He can’t get the puck to the net, he can’t find the lanes, he’s not able to jumpstart the power play, and as a quarterback he slows the play down to a mundane pace. He’s either going to pass it back to Claude Giroux or head-fake a pass to Cam Atkinson, only to get it back to Giroux.
Not all the blame should be placed on Provorov because Keith Yandle has been nothing what the Flyers expected when they brought him into the fold. Yes, he was a very cheap contract, but he’s been producing offensively on yearly basis and his power play numbers are gaudy. He’s been a quarterback on the top unit for well over a decade and once they traded Gostisbehere, the throne was Yandle’s to claim. To his credit, he has 1 power play goal and 8 power play assists, which is 5 points better than Provorov. Yandle has lost his job on the top unit a few times this year due to the insistence of keeping Provorov at the top.
Just in general, Provorov has struggled in the last few seasons but he is still the Flyers’ best all-around defenseman, granted he’s slowly losing his grip on that stake. He doesn’t need to play on the power play when he’s already averaging upwards of 25 minutes a night. His abilities are better suited 5 on 5 and shorthanded, especially since the Flyers have a much better option in Travis Sanheim.
Just from an eye-test alone, Sanheim has the wheels, the IQ, the prowess, the shot, and the keen sensibilities to play in the offensive zone. He had 133 points in his final 2 years with the Calgary Hitmen, had some success at the AHL level with Lehigh Valley, and whenever he gets the rare power play opportunity he either gets on the scoresheet or creates an abundance of chances in quick order, and he rarely freezes play.
With the short leashes on every other defenseman that isn’t named Provorov, it’s no wonder the power play keeps struggling. The Flyers are quick to change the forward personnel if someone is struggling, it’s been a game of musical chairs for nearly everyone. Giroux has spent time on the second unit, Sean Couturier spent time on the second unit, they’ve tried balancing both units, they’ve tried loading up the top, and they’ve even infused some of the AHL call-ups. Yet with the defensemen, they’re keen on keeping things at status quo.
Alain Vigneault severely repressed Sanheim and it’s no surprise that under the right system and tutelage, Sanheim can really become a weapon. He scored 2 points in the first 22 games under Vigneault, compared to 17 points in his last 27 games with Mike Yeo, and 15 of those are assists that have come at even strength play. He’s been one of the most noticeable defensemen and players in the last few weeks alongside Travis Konecny and Oskar Lindblom; also players who were repressed under the old regime.
Even if it isn’t Sanheim, the Flyers have a former power play “specialist” in Rasmus Ristolainen, who served as the quarterback for a few years in Buffalo. He might not have scored goals at the prolific rate as other defensemen but he still chipped in with assists, managing to accumulate 79 assists on the man advantage from 2015-16 to 2018-19. If it isn’t Ristolainen or Sanheim, they could also use Cam York if he ever gets another call-up this season.
It’s unfortunate that Ellis had to go down early with his mysterious lower-body injury because he is also pretty good on the power play and a better option than Provorov. In fact, he made Provorov a lot better while on the man advantage in the 4 games he played. It’s a small sample size and also occurred a very long time ago, but Provorov was forced to play a different role on the second unit, as he was taking shots from the circle and actually skating rather than having his skates stuck in molasses.
With the season lost, gone, done, and everything in between, why not give Sanheim the chance? Yeo and the coaching staff have obviously seen what he can do offensively while 5 on 5, 4 on 4, and even 3 on 3. Even after his porous start to the season, he has climbed the ranks of Flyers defensemen this year in points, sitting one behind Provorov. Sanheim is able to jumpstart the play from his own zone, has the wheels and the size to maneuver around players, and has a much better shot and offensive IQ. The power play hasn’t looked good all season, they’re very quick to change schemes and offensive personnel, so maybe it’s time to give Sanheim the keys.
