Our Flyers defence:
Adding Gustafsson -
We won't be surprised to see AV keep the advantage of having twin towers Sanheim and Myers continued to be paired. They played together with the Phantoms and the Flyers. Knowing your partner well in traits/tendancies/abilities is a big plus. Work in the defensive zone puck retrieval and break-out becomes automatic and efficient.
In this emerging New Era NHL defence corps, our Flyers may be on the leading edge.
GM Fletcher's recent comments are a hint of what may come:
>> "[Gustafsson] has tremendous deception with the puck, tremendous poise," general manager Chuck Fletcher said. "We don't have a defenseman that sees the ice like he does, he can play on the power play. It's a different type of skill set than Matt ... there wasn't going to be that ability to replace Matt per se with the same style."
Gustafsson scored 29 points (six goals, 23 assists) in 66 games for the Calgary Flames and Chicago Blackhawks last season. In 2018-19, he tied for third among NHL defensemen with 17 goals for Chicago. <<
>> "We think his [Gustafsson] skill set meshes really well with what we need," Fletcher said. "We think we have a lot of strong defenders on our team and we're very structured defensively as a group. His skill set, his ability to go back on pucks and make good decisions and transition the puck up the ice, we thought was a very important element to add to our group." <<
GM Fletcher: >> "Gustafsson’s just got tremendous deception and vision. I think he generates offense a little bit differently than Ghost. I think Provorov’s elite defensively. Sanheim and Myers in my opinion will become elite shutdown defensemen in this league. Justin Braun is an elite defender [defensively]. Hägg is a good defender. So why not have a couple guys that can spring your offense? If we can defend less, that would be a great thing." <<
These statements are a big hint to what Fletcher and AV are planning. Leading edge.
The 'new era NHL' approach to the defence corps - - multiple defencemen who are very mobile, fast/quick, puck-moving out of the D-zone, join-the-rush, and can put up solid offensive numbers (in addition to being competent defensively).
'New Era NHL defencemen' fitting this mold - 4 out of the 6: Provorov, Gustafsson, Sanheim, Myers - - with Hagg and Braun excellent defensively - positionally, physical, hits, board-work, shot blocking.
This 'New Era NHL' approach to the defence corps - our Flyers are on the leading edge - with Gus now and Zamula, Wylie, and York coming.
A guess to what we will see in the December Camp:
Provorov - Gustafsson
Sanheim - Myers (RH)
Hagg - Braun (RH)
#7 - Friedman (RH)
(Ghost traded well before the June Expansion Draft)
Top 2 pairs - - puck-moving defencemen - - mobile, quick, move the puck up ice and selectively join the rush. And 3 of them are young (23,24,23), far from their peak, and will get better and better.
And, if Gus plays well in this abreviated 2021 season, Fletcher has the advantage of not losing Gus in the expansion Draft because Gus will be a UFA, he won't be selected by Seattle. Assuming Fletcher will talk with Gus and his agent in the later stage of the season, before the June Expansion Draft, and assuming after his excellent first year with the Flyers, Gus will want a multiple-year contract, this will be to Fletcher's and our Flyers' advantage.
All IMHO.
