Ron Hextall

Over the years, when Sean Couturier has not been in the lineup, there is a significant drop in talent and the Flyers lose depth as a result, greatly altering the level of play on the ice. So does that make Couturier the Flyers most valuable player?

With the 2018-19 NHL season approaching, Mikhail Vorobyev may be able to earn his spot on the roster as the Flyers third-line center after playing a solid defensive role with the Phantoms.

Robert Hagg is just one of the many defensemen who started in the Flyers system as a draft pick that has worked his way to the NHL and the Flyers present. As the team prepares for the 2018-19 season, the Flyers future on the blue line has started to become the present.

Jordan Weal remains an interesting possibility for the Flyers third-line center role that keeps being mentioned specifically by GM Ron Hextall, making the case for Weal even stronger as the offseason winds down.

The Flyers already have so many young star prospects coming through their system, a system that is already near the top of the league, with the likes of Morgan Frost and Carter Hart. Isaac Ratcliffe could be another player that can help the Flyers in the future, a depth guy who could potentially be on the Flyers sooner rather than later.

Ron Hextall and Flyers scouts have done very well in the past couple years on finding value and good young talent later in the first round. 19th overall pick Jay O’Brien could soon be another example of that.

With Ron Hextall looking to add some veteran help, there are a couple players he can target that can help the Flyers going forward to fill that veteran need.

After Monday’s practice, it looks like Michael Raffl will be back on the fourth line with Matt Read and Jori Lehtera for Tuesday night’s game against the New York Islanders.

Just eight games into the Flyers season, Ron Hextall is having to deal with a common GM problem, managing injuries.