The major talking point through this entire Philadelphia Flyers season is about which wingers will eventually make way and be moved from this team. It almost feels like a good problem to have, but the Flyers have way too many quality top-nine wingers as of right now and will need to find new homes for them. But one player that has been consistently seen as potentially the odd man out, is becoming someone the Flyers just can absolutely not part ways with.
It’s a picture that has already been painted thousands of times in every conversation about the future of the Flyers and what trades they might do, but something has to happen. Travis Konecny and Matvei Michkov are going nowhere, Trevor Zegras (if a winger) has been good for the team in just about every way on and off the ice, Denver Barkey, Nikita Grebenkin, and Alex Bump are very exciting young players, and oh yeah, probably the best player on the best team in the NCAA is about to come to Philadelphia, in Porter Martone.
Tyson Foerster will also be making his grand return to full health next season, and there lies Owen Tippett.
Whenever this topic comes up — the fact that there are just too many good wingers on this roster and they will need to trade one or two of them even after moving Bobby Brink, to redistribute the talent to other positions — Tippett’s name is one of the first that comes up. He didn’t have the defensive acumen of Foerster, the long-term commitment of Konecny, or the game-breaking skill of Zegras. But lately, as the 27-year-old winger is having a very productive stretch and having a good season, he’s showing that he has maybe even more irreplaceable aspects of his game than we thought.
Owen Tippett is becoming in irreplaceable player
It might just be that Tippett is entering his prime at 27 years old, or being more comfortable in Rick Tocchet’s system compared to John Tortorella’s, or something else we haven’t thought of quite yet; but he is truly having a great season right now.
It hasn’t been reflected too strongly in his overall stat line of 23 goals and 41 points in 67 games, but visually on the ice, Tippett looks more confident than he ever has since arriving as the main part of the trade return for Claude Giroux a few years ago. He is not only attempting more moves with the puck, trying to weave his way through defenders instead of just around them, or making quick touches in offensive pressure-filled zone time with his linemates, but Tippett is just giving the air of a player that can change the game on a single shift. It might just be an extended hot streak, since we have seen glimpses of this in the past, but it feels more whole than just being able to pull off a Goal of the Year candidate and riding off that for a couple games.
It’s the focus and attention on a complete game rather than just a spark or flash of skill and then disappearing for weeks. Tippett has grown into a more all-around player — affecting the transition game, getting back and using his body in more productive ways than almost everyone on the Flyers roster — and it’s possibly affecting the likelihood of him being another odd man out and being shipped to a different team for the Flyers to try and address the center issue, or get another top-four defenseman while solving the too-many-wingers problem.
When you boil down Tippett into a consumable gel concentrate, he’s a winger who is entering his prime, on a fantastic long-term contract that is already looking like a bargain, could consistently score 25 to 30 goals, and now is rounding out to becoming an above-average defensive player as well. Oh, and of course he has a big body but is also one of the fastest skaters in the entire damn NHL.
That entire package laid out like that feels like something you would need a comically sized crowbar to pry away from an NHL general manager. He’s becoming the dream plug-and-play winger for just about every situation — and then imagine what his point totals could look like if the Flyers didn’t have one of the worst power plays we’ve ever seen in our lives.
This could all just be an extremely favorable look at Tippett because he’s been a very good contributor for a good stretch now. But, it is hard to believe that even if some scoring dipped, that he wouldn’t still bring all the physicality or positive defensive contributions for the rest of the season.
He has just been too good to ignore and considering that he was the first name brought up in conversations about which winger(s) should be on the trading block to make room for Porter Martone and other young prospects, he’s now causing a whole lot of second and third and fourth thoughts about the topic.
Even if he does get traded and we recognize that the Flyers would become a slower team and miss a whole lot of what he brings, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. There are multiple ways to win a hockey game and it’s not always the team that has the most players like Owen Tippett. But if anything, how he is performing right now (and not seeing Tyson Foerster doesn’t help) and his beauty of a contract, is helping his cause to stay in Philadelphia instead of being the answer to a roster puzzle.