Quick Hits: August 5, 2019
1) With all due respect to the players on the top 20 centers in the NHL list that NHL Network's panelists selected, the omission of Flyers center Sean Couturier was glaring to the point of rendering the list laughable. When it's not sufficient to get on a top 20 list despite back-to-back 30-goal seasons, a Selke finalist spot (2017-18), a dominant playoff series against Pittsburgh in 2018 (five goals, nine points in five games) despite playing the final two games of the series with a significant knee injury, and playing a slew of defensively tough minutes (compare Couturier's offensive zone vs. defensive zone starts at 5-on-5 to even the likes of Patrice Bergeron), perhaps it's the selection process itself that was faulty.
That said, the competition field was extremely tough. Other worthy players such Detroit's Dylan Larkin, LA's Anze Kopitar and Anaheim's Ryan Getzlaf (coming off back-to-back injury-affected seasons but who still has produced 109 points over his last 113 games) also failed to make the network's top 20 list. Here was the consensus top 20 list that NHL Network came up with:
1. Connor McDavid
2. Sidney Crosby
3. Nathan MacKinnon
4. Aleksander Barkov
5. John Tavares
6. Auston Matthews
7. Patrice Bergeron
8. Steven Stamkos
9. Mark Scheifele
10. Brayden Point
11. Tyler Seguin
12. Ryan O'Reilly
13. Evgeni Malkin
14. Sebastian Aho
15. Jack Eichel
16. Evgeny Kuznetsov
17. Logan Couture
18. Nicklas Backström
19. Sean Monahan
20. Elias Pettersson
2. There is a natural tendency for people to focus solely on the unsigned restricted free agents from one's own team -- Ivan Provorov and Travis Konecny, in the Flyers' case -- but it is helpful to look at what's going on leaguewide. Provorov's situation has already been
discussed in depth. In Konecny's case, while he's not at quite the same market level as the top unsigned RFAs in the league, he is in the next category down after coming off back-to-back 24-goal seasons in his second and third NHL campaigns.
The market of still-unsigned RFA forwards this summer includes Brayden Point, Mitch Marner, Patrik Laine, Mikko Rantanen, Matthew Tkachuk, Brock Boeser and Kyle Connor. Kevin Fiala is also an RFA this summer. While Konecny will not command as much as these players (with the exception of Fiala), their eventual contracts will place market value brackets in this year's crop of still-unsigned players.
It would not surprise me if Konecny's deal gets done in August, but that is simply speculation on my part. Provorov's negotiation appears to be the dicier of the two.
3) A wrap up of the 2019 World Junior Summer Showcase, with a focus on the respective performances of Joel Farabee, Cam York, Bobby Brink and Adam Ginning is now online at the Flyers' official website:
Click here.
4) ICYMI: The Flyers announced the jersey numbers for the players on the roster for next season. New addition Kevin Hayes will wear No. 13 (his old number with the Rangers), while Matt Niskanen will wear No. 15 (his longtime No. 2 in Pittsburgh and Washington is unavailable in Philly because it is retired in honor of Mark Howe), Tyler Pitlick will wear No. 18 (his former Dallas Stars number) and Justin Braun will wear No. 61 (his old San Jose Sharks number). With Braun taking on No. 61, young defenseman Philippe Myers will switch to No. 5 and Sam Morin will go from No. 5 to No. 55 (his old number with the QMJHL's Rimouski Oceanic).
5) Today in Flyers History: In a trade that was considered a significant one-for-one swap at the time but was destined to become a footnote in team history, the Flyers traded defenseman Mark Suzor to the Colorado Rockies on Aug. 5, 1977 in exchange for forward Barry Dean. Dean had been the second overall pick of the 1975 NHL Draft while Suzor had been the Flyers first-round pick (17th overall) in the 1976 NHL Draft and debuted in the AHL with 24 goals and 49 points as a rookie in 1976-77 as well as four NHL games with the Flyers. Neither player panned out as NHL regulars in their new organization, but Dean was the better of the two at the NHL level and posted 11 goals and 42 points in 86 games over parts of the 1977-78 and 1978-79 seasons with the Flyers. Suzor appeared in 60 games for the Rockies in 1977-78 but spent the remainder of his career in the AHL and IHL.
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