Quick Hits: September 18, 2020

1) On Thursday afternoon, the Flyers announced a two-year contract extension for 24-year-old right winger Nicolas Aube-Kubel, preempting his impending restricted free agency. The deal, which runs through the 2020-21 season, pays an average annual value of $1.075 million. He will be an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent on July 1, 2022.

Last year, Aube-Kubel did not win a spot on the Flyers' opening-night roster. As a fourth-season pro, he was no longer waiver exempt. The Flyers placed him on waivers on Sept. 24, 2019, for purposes of assigning him to the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms. He cleared the next day and was sent to Allentown.

Aube-Kubel's 2019-20 season got off to an inconsistent start in Lehigh Valley. He spent a short stint on a line with highly touted rookie center Morgan Frost and veteran Andy Andreoff, but was soon moved down in the lineup. His play started to pick up, sufficiently to earn an NHL recall to the Flyers on Dec. 15. He would spend the rest of the season in the NHL.

Aube-Kubel's combination of speed, aggressive forechecking and physical play, along with his occasional offensive contributions, proved to be a boost to the Flyers' fourth line. He also periodically moved up to the third line and saw saw time on the second power play unit.

The winger notched his first NHL point (an assist) on Dec. 15 in a 7-3 road loss in Winnipeg. He scored his first NHL goal on a late-game power play in the Flyers' 5-1 home win against the New York Rangers on Dec. 23. Overall, Aube-Kubel chipped in seven goals and 15 points in 36 games before the NHL regular season was paused (and ultimately ended) due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the postseason, Aube-Kubel enjoyed a two-goal game in the Flyers' 4-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning that clinched a round-robin sweep and the top overall playoff seed in the Eastern Conference. Aube-Kubel was injured blocking a shot in Game 3 of the First Round series against Montreal (a 1-0 Flyers win), and missed the remainder of the series. He returned for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the New York Islanders.

Aube-Kubel's play during the New York was inconsistent. At time, he was quite effective in puck pursuit and taking the body. At other times, he had attention-to-detail lapses in similar fashion to much of the team. He dressed in all seven games of the series.

Most notably, in the second period of Game 6, Aube-Kubel gambled and won on a keep high in the zone and got the puck to net. Michael Raffl tied the game at 3-3 as he stuffed home the puck from the doorstep after a partially blocked shot fell at his feet. Aube-Kubel's vital primary assistant on the play atoned for an earlier-game undisciplined retaliatory penalty that changed the momentum of the game, as the Islanders scored on the power play to cut an early 2-0 deficit in half. The Islanders roared back to build leads of 3-2 and 4-3 before the Flyers prevailed in double-OT.

Aube-Kubel was periodically on the receiving end of tough-love coaching from Alain Vigneault and the coaching staff this season. They stayed on him. To his credit, the player responded well. Over the course of the season, Aube-Kubel started to gain more trust to bounce back after a shift or a game did not go his way. Aube-Kubel has built a particularly solid relationship with assistant coach Ian Laperriere.

Statistically, among all Flyers players who appeared in 20 or more games during the regular season, Aube-Kubel led the team with an average of 12.1 credited hits per 60 minutes played. Overall, he was credited with 82 hits in his 36 games. Aube-Kubel was on the positive side of the individual Corsi (50.3 percent), Fenwick (53.1 percent), standard plus-minus (+1), power plays created vs. penalties taken ratio (9-to-5, +4), and takeaways-to-giveaways ratio (13-to-9). Shortly before the pause, he posted a five-game point streak (2g, 3a) between Feb. 25 and March 5.

Aube-Kubel's strong overall season clearly made his re-signing a priority on general manager Chuck Fletcher's planning agenda for the offseason. He is the second 2020 restricted free agent to be signed to an extension, following Oskar Lindblom.

2) On Thursday, the Flyers announced that they have loaned 22-year-old rookie defenseman Linus Högberg to Allsvenskan (top Swedish minor league) club HC Vita Hästen. Although he has spent much of his career in SHL (the country's top pro league), Högberg figures to see wider all-situations usage for however long his loan lasts. He joins German Rubtsov, David Kase , Linus Sandin and Maksim Sushko among the ranks of NHL-contracted Flyers prospects on loan to European pro teams due to the uncertainty of when there will be a 2020-21 American Hockey League season.

3) Travis Konecny spoke via conference call on Thursday with members of the local media. A transcript follows below. Team captain Claude Giroux and Aube-Kubel will speak on Friday.

4) Congratulations to former Flyers draft pick, early 1990s AHL farmhand with Hershey and early 2000s minor league affiliate (Trenton Titans of the ECHL) head coach Bill Armstrong for being named the new general manager of the Arizona Coyotes. Until recently, Armstrong was the assistant general manager of the St. Louis Blues.

Armstrong, a defenseman, was selected by the Flyers with the 46th overall (3rd round) pick of the 1990 NHL Draft. The Flyers Draft crop that year also included Mike Ricci, Chris Simon, Mikael Renberg, Chris Therien. Dan Kordic and Tommy Soderstrom.

Armstrong spent the 1990-91 through 1992-93 seasons in the organization, playing for the AHL's Hershey Bears. He was a tough and physical stay-at-home blueliner with a similar frame to that of rising NHL star Derian Hatcher but not close to the same natural ability. Even with the Flyers' severely hurting for blueline talent at the time, Armstrong did receive a callup. He did, however, play with a lot of heart and dressed in every game of his second and third seasons.

During the first two seasons of his stay with Hershey, Armstrong had a Bears teammate also by the name of Bill Armstrong. This caused confusion at times so one, a forward, went by Bill C. Armstrong. It was the "other" Bill Armstrong who had a one-game NHL stint with the Flyers.

After the 1992-93 season, defenseman Armstrong changed organizations and joined the Bruins. He was assigned to Providence. Armstrong would go on to spend the rest of his pro career between the American Hockey League with Providence and the since-defunct International Hockey League with Cleveland.

In 1998-99, Armstrong became an assistant coach for Providence under AHL rookie head coach Peter Laviolette. The team went on to win the Calder Cup. By then 28 years old, Armstrong also dressed as a defenseman in six regular season games that year.

After Laviolette moved up to the NHL level to be an assistant coach for Boston under Mike Keenan (as noted the other day, Keenan eventually took a dislike to Laviolette, feeling the young coach was a bit too ambitious and was actively out for taking "Iron Mike's" job, which Laviolette vehemently denied), Armstrong became Providence's head coach for two seasons, including a run to the Calder Cup semifinals in 2000-01.

Subsequently, Armstrong made a return, albeit tangentially, to his original organization. At the time, the since-defunct Trenton Titans were the Flyers' ECHL affiliate. Armstrong served as the team's head coach for two seasons. The Flyers did not make much use of the Titans at that point but a few struggling demoted Phantoms prospects, namely former second-round pick Ian Forbes and former LA Kings first-round pick/ Bruins second rounder Matt Zultek, played under Armstrong in Trenton, as did QMJHL over-age standout Mathieu Brunelle and 31-year-old former Phantoms 1998 Calder Cup team member Dave MacIsaac.

In 2004, Armstrong turned his attention to scouting after he was hired by the St. Louis Biues; an organization he'd make his home for the next 16 years. He worked his way up from an in-the-field amateur scout to become the organization's director of amateur scouting by the time he turned 40 in 2010. By 2018, he'd become the team's assistant general manager, performing the same sets of hockey operations focused duties (overseeing organizational scouting and managing the developmental coaching staff) that Brent Flahr did in Minnesota and now with the Flyers in 2010.

Armstrong turned 50 on May 18, 2020. With permission from the Blues, the Coyotes interviewed him for the vacant general manager job created by the acrimonious departure of John Chayka. A rung-by-rung hockey lifer, Armstrong comes from a very different background than Chayka and will bring a different managerial style and philosophy.

Whether "different" means "better" remains to be seen. The Coyotes have some significant financial restraints, notwithstanding the flat salary cap and the steep organizational price paid for their 35-game regular season rental plus nine playoff games with former Hart Trophy winner Taylor Hall, who is a virtual lock to depart as an unrestricted free agent this offseason.

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Travis Konecny Transcript

Courtesy of the Flyers, below is the transcript of Travis Konecny's media availability on Thursday. A first-time NHL All-Star and the team's leading scorer during the regular season, Konecny discussed the frustration of failing to score a goal during the club's 16-game playoff run. He also talked about Claude Giroux's leadership, his belief that close friend Nolan Patrick will be healthy and eventually break through into a consistent impact player, and other offseason topics.

The shot against Montreal in Game 2, it looked like it was your left ankle? How much did that effect you the rest of the playoffs?

Honestly, not at all. When I blocked that, it was more or less just kind of a pinched nerve at the time. It hurt the next couple of days but it wasn’t a factor to disrupt my play going forward.

When you look back on your game during playoffs, where did things not work the way you wanted them to up in the bubble?

For me personally, I was just trying hard to find my game and get back to where I was at the break and when the season stopped. I think I was just fighting it a little bit and try to find other ways to contribute to the team. Just find ways to win games. Honestly, I wish I knew the exact answer because then I would try to change it when we were going through the playoffs.

Would you be able to give an example of how Claude Giroux leads the team on the ice and off the ice?

Since the day I got to Philadelphia, my first training camp until now, G’s always been a guy that he competes more than anybody that I met in my life. To be able to bring that into the atmosphere of our locker room, not even just hockey, in the gym, he’s one of the harder working guys, putting in the effort and doing the little things you need to do off the ice. It can be as little as something like an arm wrestle and he drives us not to lose. When you bring that kind of leadership to the young core guys that have come in over the past five, six years, it’s kind of one of those things that everyone just soaks in and that becomes the atmosphere in the locker room.

What improvements/additions to your game you made this season to allow you to take the offensive jump you took during the regular season?

I think for me when I came back for this season, it was just really focusing on trying to play the right way. It was a new coaching staff, so I really wanted to I think prove that I can be more than just offense, that I could be a 200-foot player. Honestly, I think just from playing the right way and taking steps in the right direction of being more of a complete player that kind of puts you in situations where you are going to be able to be on the power play or get those looks at the end of games.

It also allows you to play against some of the other top lines because I get the opportunity to play with Coots, G, Jake and Hayesy, guys that are really offensive. It gives you that opportunity as well. I give a lot of credit to those guys. Obviously the 200-foot part of my game allowed me to take another step and be put in different situations to put up points.


How important is it to you for [fans and coaches] be patient with younger players like Nolan Patrick as they develop over there early years of their career?

It’s huge. You never know when the breakout’s going to be. I think we all know and we’ve seen Patty at his best. We know what he brings. At this point, it’s just a matter of getting 100% and ready to rock and roll. We all know what Patty’s capable of doing and he’s a terrific player. He fits in with all the rest of the top picks that were picked.

When you look back at the Islanders series, what do you think from a team standpoint could have been done differently, especially in Game 7?

It’s easy to look back now and say should have done this and could have done this. In Game 7 specifically, I’m not sure. We just got down and the momentum got taken out of our team with their goals. It could have gone either way when Jakey just missed. I think Jakey went off the post early in Game 7 and the momentum could have easily went the other way. It’s tough to say. I haven’t really sat and reflected specifically Game 7 and what could have gone differently for our group. I’m not too sure.

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