When the Flyers acquired Steve Downie from the Colorado Avalanche in an Oct. 31 trade for Max Talbot, they were not necessarily looking for a major upgrade in scoring. While Downie was expected to provide a little more offensive punch than Talbot, the then-struggling team was primarily looking for a player who would do the small things that contribute to winning.
First and foremost, Downie was brought back to assist the forechecking game and create some space for a variety of linemates at a time the club was having major trouble putting pucks in the net. He also has the ability to inject an element of fearlessness and gritty physical play.
Things have not gone to plan; at least not since mid-to-late December.
In the first game of his second stint in Philadelphia, Downie suffered a concussion and was hospitalized as a result of getting caught flush with a punch by Washington's Aaron Volpatti. He was out of action for 11 days, returning to lineup on Nov. 12.
Upon rejoining the lineup, Downie provided a much-needed spark to the lineup for several weeks. For a time, his line with Sean Couturier and Matt Read was the team's hottest forward unit. Downie's ability to create opposition turnovers and win puck battles helped to unlock some of the trio's scoring potential.
Apart from creating space for teammates, Downie himself had a statistically productive stretch of hockey upon his return after the Volpatti fight. In the 18-game span between Nov. 12 and Dec. 17, Downie produced 12 points (two goals, 10 assists).
On Dec. 19, Downie suffered an upper-body injury in the front end of a home-and-home set with Columbus. The nature of the injury was never revealed but he missed several games. Downie returned to the lineup for the post-Christmas six-game road trip, starting with the Dec. 28 game in Edmonton.
The player the Flyers have seen ever since has been a shell of the one they saw before. Downie has not been effective in any zone of the ice. Always prone to taking bad penalties, he stopped doing positive things to counteract his lapses in discipline. Downie stopped winning puck battles. He stopped hitting. His play away from the puck deteriorated, and his play with the puck was often prone to bad decision-making.
The player's offensive game also vanished. Over his last 20 games -- including the game in Columbus where he got hurt -- Downie has just three points (zero goals, three assists). While the team does not need him to be a prolific point-getter, he needs to be a little more involved than that.
Flyers coach Craig Berube steadily cut Downie's ice time and also demoted him for a time to the fourth line. When that didn't work, the player was briefly made a healthy scratch.
Upon getting back in the lineup, the Flyers' head coach made clear what Downie needed to do to return his good graces.
"The Steve Downie I know wins one-on-one battles in the corner, comes up with loose pucks, is strong on the puck and has a heavy stick. That's what we're looking for," Berube said to CSN Philly and HockeyBuzz writer Tim Panaccio.
Downie still has yet to significantly turn around his game. He has been asked several times by the media in recent weeks if he is healthy. As is almost always the case in hockey, the player downplayed having any physical problems serious enough to merit missing games and stressed that he won't use injury as an excuse.
Whatever the case, Downie's play since late December has not been what the team has needed from him. There was some improvement in the last few games leading up to the Olympic break -- including assists in three of the last five games -- but he has also continued to make his share of undisciplined plays and losing as many puck battles as he wins.
Dowine has continued to make the type of plays that suggest a loss of confidence in making plays. When a player is going well, the game seems to slow down for him. When he's pressing, he is overly anxious to get rid of the puck.
For example, in Saturday's game against Calgary, Downie caused his team a heap of trouble on a play where he had an opportunity to get to the red line and chip the puck deep into the Flames end of the ice. Instead, he hurriedly threw the puck back into own end, well wide wide of any teammates and created at outnumbered chance for Calgary with every Flyer but Braydon Coburn caught on the wrong side of the puck. No goal resulted but the Flyers took a penalty on the play, and killed it off.
The Olympic break could not possibly have come at a better time for Downie. He will have to the opportunity to rest for awhile, start anew after the break and recover his game when the season resumes. At his best, Downie still has the ability to be a highly effective player in the Flyers' lineup, creating both energy and operating space. In order to do that, he will have to simplify his game and start to rebuild his confidence.
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