The Philadelphia Flyers return to action on Wednesday night with a matchup against the Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers suffered a 9-1 home loss to the Avalanche on Saturday night and had to come from behind to beat the Blue Jackets on Monday night.
To put it simply, the team that has lost in the Stanley Cup Final in the last two years is struggling mightily right now. They’re without Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, leaving Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl to carry even more of the load than they usually do.
So, with the Flyers playing their first game since Saturday afternoon, when Rick Tocchet admitted that he has to do a better job of getting the team ready after the Senators took a 2-0 lead, it would make sense to ice your best lineup, right?
Well, it does help that Tyson Foerster should be back for Wednesday night. He was in a regular jersey and reunited with Noah Cates and Bobby Brink at practice on Tuesday, and then took part in an optional morning skate on Wednesday.
But it certainly does not help when one of your other 12 forwards is someone whose primary impact is made with his fists, not his stick.
Of course, we’re talking about Nic Deslauriers.
I wrote before the season that it’s time for the Flyers to move on from Deslauriers, and that still rings true — perhaps even more now than ever.
Deslauriers has played 45:58 across 56 shifts in his six games this season. He’s had two shots on goal and as many fights in that span, and funnily enough, the Flyers are 5-1-0 with him in the lineup. We know that coaches love to stick with winning lineups, but Deslauriers has had nearly as much of an impact on those victories as you — yes, you.
Despite all of the intangibles that Deslauriers may bring, his tangible results are telling.
Deslauriers in the Flyers lineup vs. Oilers is dumb
The enforcer has been the Flyers’ worst regular forward this season. The team has been outshot 17-10 with him on the ice, and shot attempts are 44-32 for the opposition in his 45:27 of 5-on-5 time. They’ve been outscored 2-0 and outchanced 20-12.
Another argument against dressing Deslauriers is what happened a few weeks ago against the Predators. Sean Couturier left the game in the first period due to injury, so the Flyers were essentially forced to play with 10 forwards the rest of the game as Deslauriers got just nine shifts for 7:45 of ice time in that one.
That game was the perfect example of why it’s important to play your 12 best forwards. If there is an injury or a player misses time due to an extended fighting major or 10-minute misconduct, you can’t simply move Deslauriers up the lineup like you can with some of these other options.
Now, you might be arguing that the fourth line doesn’t matter that much, and whoever this team dresses as the 12th forward probably won’t change the outcome of the game. And, sure, that’s probably correct. But why are we brushing off lineup decisions that make the team worse?
Who should Flyers play instead of Deslauriers?
Nikita Grebenkin isn’t lighting the world on fire, that’s for sure, but he’s a much more effective winger than Deslauriers is. His underlying metrics aren’t great either, with the Flyers getting outshot 84-72 and outchanced 41-36 in his 101:45 at 5-on-5, but he brings more of a scoring touch and can skate a lot better than Deslauriers.
Carl Grundstrom also has plenty of experience and was called up to make his Flyers debut on Saturday. He’ll likely be sent down if the Flyers activate Foerster, but they could also send down someone like Adam Ginning, who probably won’t get into the lineup as long as Emil Andrae and Egor Zamula are with the big club.
The Oilers, with all of their warts, are still one of the measuring stick teams in the league. The Flyers could take advantage of their slow start and injuries by playing their 12 best forwards and rolling four lines against an even shallower-than-normal Edmonton squad. Instead, Deslauriers gets back into the lineup for some reason, and Grebenkin goes from someone they trust to move up in the lineup to the press box.
Who knows, maybe the Flyers will win their sixth straight game with Deslauriers in the lineup, and perhaps he’ll score a goal to boot. But it’s still not the right decision. Not now, and hardly ever.
Stats via Hockey Reference and Natural Stat Trick