Stat Hockey’s Philadelphia Flyers 2022-23 Line Projections

This is a look at the Philadelphia Flyers 2022-23 line projections. It will cover all forward lines, defence pairings, goaltenders, and scratches.

Lineup Projections

F

Joel Farabee – Kevin Hayes – Cam Atkinson

James van Riemsdyk – Morgan Frost – Travis Konecny

Noah Cates – Scott Laughton – Owen Tippett

Nic Deslauriers – Tanner Laczynski – Hayden Hodgson

S- Zack MacEwen, Max Willman

D

Ivan Provorov – Tony DeAngelo

Travis Sanheim – Rasmus Ristolainen

Cam York – Justin Braun

S- Nick Seeler

G

Carter Hart

Felix Sandstrom

Notable injuries to start season: Ryan Ellis (lower body), Sean Couturier (upper body), Patrick Brown (back), Bobby Brink (hip)

Forwards

The Flyers have gotten some good an bad injury news lately. The good news is Farabee, who was initially slated to miss the start of the season, is skating and may be ready for the start of the season. If so, the top line gets reinforcements. The team is going to need his scoring in the lineup as it will be tough enough without Couturier on the top line.

Hayes and the rest of the centermen will have to move up and play above their weight class. That means Frost may very well get a good shot to start the season on the second line with more experienced and productive players. If things don’t work out, Laughton is an option that the Flyers can deploy anywhere at forward.

The third line should be one to watch as this may be the season Tippett takes a big step forward. He will spend the entire season in the NHL for the first time and should have hungry linemates as well. Cates got a taste of the NHL after University and performed well on Tippett’s line. He should once again find himself right there as it is an easier entry point into the NHL.

Deslaurier is the only player whose spot should be safe on the fourth line. The others will create a lot of competition in preseason. Some players are more experienced in the NHL, while others are prospects who are just as hungry to make the team where there’s opportunity. Hodgson has impressed thus far. and considering his performance last season as well, should earn himself a spot on the Flyers. With Brown out to start the season, there is the fourth line centre spot available for the taking. I think Laczynski is the favourite to slide into that spot, with Willman, Adam Brooks, and Artem Anisimov all in contention.

Defence

The Flyers’ defence eats up a big portion of their cap space for how poorly they performed as a whole last season. Sanheim was the bright spot on the team and there’s no reason under the new coaching of John Tortorella that Sanheim should regress. Paired with him will once again be Ristolainen. If it weren’t for Sanheim, Ristolainen’s numbers would’ve been much worse. for Ristolainen’s sake, this pair must stay together.

Provorov has a clear partner this season for the first time in a while. Ellis will likely miss this entire season, but at least the Flyers accounted for that and acquired DeAngelo. They couldn’t have run with Braun and expected success like they did last season. But Braun is back and in a role where he should be more capable of handling the third pair with York who is set to impress.

Goaltending

Hart is looking to have a better performance than last season with the new defensive system put in place by Tortorella. Hart improved upon his disastrous 2020-21 season, but it still wasn’t great. He wasn’t the problem last season for the Flyers though but injuries to key players last season and this season won’t do Hart any favours.

Backing him up should be Sandstrom. He got into five games last season, and even though he allowed a 3.23 GAA and recorded zero wins, his SV% was .910 which is impressive for the sheer number of shots he faced. There would have been competition in net with Ivan Fedotov but complications gave Sandstrom a great opportunity to seize.

What do you think about the Philadelphia Flyers 2022-23 line projections? What would you change?

Related: Stat Hockey’s Ottawa Senators 2022-23 Line Projections