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The Philadelphia Flyers sit in seventh place within the Metropolitan Division with a 16-18-7 report via precisely half the 2022-23 season. It would take a monumental and unexpected second-half surge to earn a playoff berth of their first season beneath head coach John Tortorella. The first 12 months beneath the brand new coach was at all times speculated to be about deciding which gamers may be a part of the answer in Philadelphia.
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The workforce awards handed out on the closing residence sport of the common season will give some indicators of the membership’s future. The Flyers workers at The Hockey Writers gave their picks for the workforce awards on the official halfway level of the common season.
Bobby Clarke Trophy- Team MVP
Colin Newby: Travis Konecny
Travis Konecny has rebounded from two underwhelming seasons in 2020-21 and 2021-22 with an excellent effort in 2022-23. His scoring tempo far exceeds his profession excessive in objectives and assists. He wants simply 4 objectives throughout the second half of the season to interrupt his profession excessive 24 set throughout the 69-game season in 2019-20. The scrappy winger has adjusted flawlessly to a task as a penalty killer and responded nicely to the demanding style of John Tortorella. He narrowly edges Carter Hart for the Bobby Clarke Trophy on the halfway level of 2022-23.
Matt Grazel: Travis Konecny
Konecny has emerged because the Flyers’ most constant offensive menace this season. Recently, he has been on one other multi-game level streak that has helped them on offense. He is certainly one of their prime forwards in all of their major offensive classes regardless of their lack of scoring via the primary half of the 12 months.
Aleena Aksenchuk: Carter Hart
Carter Hart has been distinctive this season, and from what we’ve got seen with him on the ice and from the feedback of teammates and training workers, Hart really is the spine of this workforce. His statistics additionally assist with this argument as he nonetheless has a save share over the league common and continues to assist the Flyers and John Tortorella recreate a brand new id for this workforce.
Barry Ashbee Trophy- Best Defenseman
Colin Newby: Ivan Provorov
Ivan Provorov has been the workhorse of the Philadelphia blue line for almost all of the seven seasons since he made his NHL debut. His defensive sport is extra dependable than his prime competitors for the award, Tony DeAngelo. The Russian workhorse hasn’t performed persistently on the ability play. His sport is way from excellent, particularly when matched up towards the highest traces of Philadelphia’s opponents. This might very nicely change by the tip of the season, and so could his uniform. However, Provorov has been the highest performer out of a gaggle that hasn’t impressed in 2022-23.
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Matt Grazel: Tony DeAngelo
The Tony DeAngelo signing, as a result of harm to Ryan Ellis, has labored out nicely for the Flyers as he has been their prime offensive defenseman throughout the first half of 2022-23. After his tumultuous closing season with the New York Rangers two years in the past, he rewarded the Carolina Hurricanes with a nice 12 months which led to the Flyers buying and selling for him final offseason and signing him to a two-year contract.
Aleena Aksenchuk: Tony DeAngelo
Tony DeAngelo has confirmed himself as a Flyer and proven that he needs to be part of this workforce. The Flyers traded for him from the Carolina Hurricanes in July 2022, and for my part, it has been one of the vital profitable trades the Flyers made final 12 months. In the 36 video games DeAngelo has performed, he’s managed 23 factors.
Pelle Lindbergh Trophy- Most Improved Player
Colin Newby: Owen Tippett
The Flyers acquired Owen Tippett as a part of the commerce that despatched franchise icon Claude Giroux to the Florida Panthers in March 2022. Tippett confirmed flashes of an amazing uncooked talent set in 21 video games on the finish of the 2021-22 season, however he additionally confirmed an lack of ability to complete on the scoring probabilities he created. His profession capturing share sat at simply 7.9% getting into 2022-23.
Tippett is capturing 15.2% this season. He has already set a career-high in objectives with 12 in 36 video games. While his play has been considerably streaky, the Flyers can be extremely happy with a 23-year-old sizzling/chilly goal-scorer who can play second-line minutes within the coming years.
Matt Grazel: Owen Tippett
Tippett has set a career-high in objectives this 12 months for a membership that has been close to the underside of the league in objectives per sport and power-play share. The 23-year-old has emerged as certainly one of their prime goal-scorers and has been taking part in of their prime six. He will goal to emerge additional as a dependable goal-scorer for them throughout the second half of the 2022-23 season.
Aleena Aksenchuk: Owen Tippett
Tippett has struggled to seek out his place within the NHL for the reason that Panthers drafted him again in 2017. He joined the Flyers in March 2022, and he has been working endlessly to satisfy the expectations of John Tortorella. Early on Tortorella commented that he needed to see extra from the 23-year-old ahead, and Tippett is doing precisely that and has improved on an amazing scale. In 36 video games performed, he has 12 objectives and 9 assists for a complete of 21 factors.
Gene Hart Memorial Award- Player with the Most “Heart”
Colin Newby: Nicolas Deslauiers
When the Flyers signed Nicolas Deslauriers in July, the 31-year-old bruiser knew precisely what function he’d play. While the guts he’s proven doesn’t justify the four-year, $7 million contract Chuck Fletcher handed to him, Deslauriers has slot in nicely throughout his solely season in Philadelphia. His eight fights lead the NHL, and he brings a bodily presence on the forecheck that doesn’t go unnoticed.
The official workforce fan membership votes for the Gene Hart winner. It’s a fan base that has endured almost a half-century with no Stanley Cup and even greater disappointments within the final decade with little or no hope for the longer term. They deserve the prospect to face up and cheer an old-school man who drops the gloves infrequently.
Matt Grazel: Carter Hart
Hart has carried out nicely regardless of the Flyers’ offensive struggles throughout the first half of the season. Despite the dearth of purpose help, he has carried out nicely based on his goals-against common and save share. Aside from Konecny, he has been their finest participant on the halfway level of the season.
Related: Flyers News & Rumors: Tortorella, Hayes, Gauthier, Rebuild
Aleena Aksenchuk: Travis Konecny
I could also be biased with Konecny as he occurs to be my favourite Flyers participant, however this 12 months Konecny has proven that he has super quantities of coronary heart in his sport. He has proven town of Philadelphia that he needs this workforce to succeed and has been doing so himself with 43 factors in 35 video games performed. Not solely is that this his finest season but, he’s main this workforce to assist endure Tortorella’s purpose to discover a new id.
Yanick Dupre Memorial Class Guy Award- Best Character Off the Ice
Colin Newby: Scott Laughton
Scott Laughton leads the NHL in shorthanded factors. He is the one participant that Tortorella selected as a workforce captain. Although Laughton only wears the “A” on his sweater this season, he’s the likeliest option to change into the subsequent full-time captain. You’d have a tough time discovering anybody across the group who doesn’t suppose extremely of a participant whose journey took him from a first-round choose to a supposed bust to a useful bottom-six ahead and probably to the captaincy of the Flyers.
Matt Grazel: Scott Laughton
While he isn’t identified for being one of many Flyers’ prime offensive performers, Laughton is a consummate chief on and off the membership’s ice. He was the winner of the award following the 2019-20 season and has represented them as their alternate captain this 12 months. Tortorella thinks extremely of his management expertise. He needs to be on the shortlist to be named the Flyers’ subsequent workforce captain.
Aleena Aksenchuk: Scott Laughton
It might have one thing to do with Laughton being the one man to put on a letter, however Laughton has stepped as much as assist change into a pacesetter within the absence of key gamers, Tortorella additionally commented saying that nobody else deserved to put on a letter and that it was “an easy choice”, again in October.
While the Flyers are a longshot to even sniff playoff competition, they’ve made the primary steps of progress towards restoring themselves to respectability within the NHL once more. The first half of the 2022-23 season had extra downs than ups, however the group will proceed its lofty purpose of rebuilding what was a proud picture.
Colin Newby is a contract author from Delaware County, PA protecting the Philadelphia Flyers for The Hockey Writers. He is an encyclopedia of ineffective sports activities data with an uncanny capability to rattle off Flyers goaltending stats from 2004 and each Stanley Cup winner throughout his lifetime. The depths of his data stem from spending his total life following the Flyers and the NHL, from fan favorites just like the “Legion of Doom” and Claude Giroux to forgotten journeymen like Andy Delmore and Branko Radivojevič. He joined the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association (PHWA) in 2022.
Colin additionally covers the Philadelphia Eagles and works for 97.5 The Fanatic in Philadelphia.
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