The lack of secondary scoring for the Flyers is something that has been discussed about recently not only by fans and writers, but by Flyers Owner Ed Snider as well. Yesterday Snider mentioned that he was fed up with the lack of scoring by players other than Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek.
Snider mentioned three players by name: Sean Couturier, Matt Read and Wayne Simmonds. Giroux and Voracek each have put up healthy, league leading numbers throughout the beginning of the season, but the production hasn’t been there for Couturier, Read and Simmonds.
Simmonds has been moved up and down the lineup this season, playing at least 30 minutes with 9 different forwards. He has finally been put on a consistent line, with Michael Raffl and Scott Laughton, that has had some of the best scoring chances in recent games. I’m not worried about Simmonds at this point, but I am worried about the negative light that is being shined on Couturier and Read.
No one is arguing that Couturier and Read haven’t produced, but there is an argument to be made that they are not being put in a situation to produce.
(Offensive Zone Start % = Orange, Defensive Zone Start % = Black)
Couturier and Read have been given some of the toughest usage not only as far as the Flyers are concerned, but throughout the whole league. They have started less than a quarter of their shifts in the offensive zone, compared to the 35%+ of nearly every other Flyer forward. They have also started around 40% (Couturier 41.30%, Read 37.31%) of their shifts in the defensive zone. Not only are they being deployed very defensively, but they are playing against opponent's top lines as well.
Given their deployment thus far, it is pretty hard to expect much of anything offensively out of these two.
The Flyers have lacked a consistent winger to play with Couturier and Read this year, leading to a bit of juggling of the lines. The two polarizing wingers are Brayden Schenn and RJ Umberger.
Couturier and Read played at their best when their left wing was Brayden Schenn. Unfortunately, they have primarily been playing with RJ Umberger recently, and their numbers have plummeted. If these two were given a decent, at least average, line mate, their numbers would improve drastically.
Despite their tough usage and subpar line mates, Couturier and Read have still managed to put up respectable numbers.
They are in the middle of the pack of the Flyers forwards, even outperforming the aforementioned Wayne Simmonds. They are significantly outperforming Lecavalier and Umberger, who are getting way too many offensive zone starts while these two are getting very few.
Now this next chart isn’t a traditional stat or even a traditional advanced stat, but I thought it would be useful here. Combining usage and scoring into one statistic is usually pretty hard to do, but i felt like this did a fair job of it.
To calculate this stat I simply took the number of offensive zone starts by the player and divided that by their point totals. It should be no surprise at this point to see Jakub Voracek at the top of an offensive category, but many would be shocked to see Couturier and Read ahead of Giroux. It is amazing, and at the same time depressing, to look at who is at the bottom of the list. Wayne Simmonds has struggled more than many have noticed, and Umberger and Lecavalier have just been putrid, as many have pointed out.
Points are important, but pucks in the back of the net while you’re on the ice is what it’s all about. In a similar vein, this next calculation is made by taking the number of offensive zone starts by the player and dividing that by their on-ice goal-for totals.
This is definitely surprising. The two players who are taking the verbal beating for lack of offensive production have actually done the best job at producing goals based on their usage. Read and Couturier form a Raffl sandwich, and sit above the Flyers top line of Giroux, Voracek and Schenn. Once again, Lecavalier and Umberger are at the bottom of this list.
These two stats combined really go to show just how much Couturier and Read could produce if they were given more offensive zone starts.
Every offensive calculation must have an equal and fair defensive calculation. To do this, I calculated the number of defensive zone starts a player has (on average) before they give up a goal (Defensive zone starts divided by on-ice goals against). In this case, it is better to have a high number due to the nature of the stat.
Pierre-Eduoard Bellemare, who received a benching over the weekend, leads the team in this category by nearly 4 shifts. He would be my choice for the ideal winger for Couturier and Read. The rest of the team is relatively equal, with Simmonds picking up his offensive slack with good defensive play, and Umberger and Lecavalier forming a Raffl sandwich this time as the worst defensive zone start performers.
Given these numbers, the Flyers could afford to give more defensive zone starts to the 1st and 2nd lines. Giroux, Schenn, Voracek and Simmonds can all handle themselves well in their own zone and are more than capable of moving the puck up ice. This will free up Couturier and Read for more favorable zone starts and match ups.
In conclusion, the negativity towards Sean Couturier and Matt Read simply isn’t warranted. They have been facing some of the toughest usage around the league and have still been able to produce at a respectable level. If the Flyers’ management and coaching wants to improve the secondary scoring, they first need to look at the situations that they are putting their forwards in.
Ryan Gilbert is a contributing writer for Flyerdelphia and can be found on Twitter @RiskyBryzness
