Next Man Up: Raffl to Miss Time

With Michael Raffl due to miss time, the Flyers must adopt the “next man up mentality” heading into Thursday nights game versus Washington.

During the Flyers vs. Boston game Sunday afternoon forward Michael Raffl was injured after falling awkwardly into the boards as a result of contact with Bruin’s defensemen Jeremy Lauzon. First off let’s make it a point that we won’t be talking about the legality of the hit.

Before Raffl’s injury, he found himself having quite the game recording a goal, an assist, a hit, and was a +2 while logging 10:35 total ice time. This is unfortunate for the Flyers as Raffl is a key penalty killer and an outstanding 4th line player.

The injury, along with all injuries sustained by any player in the 2020 NHL playoffs will remain “undisclosed”, but it appeared to be a leg injury. Flyers Head Coach Alain Vigneault was quoted as saying “I can say he won’t be available for a little bit”.

The Flyers will not dwell on Raffl’s injury and I expect a “next man up” mentality. One thing the Orange and Black have going for them is DEPTH! So let’s take a look at possible lineup changes before Thursday’s Round-Robin game against the Washington Capitals. 

AV has stated he would like to see forward Joel Farabee get a game or 2 in the Round-Robin and clearly the door is open for Joel to take a spot and contribute to the roster. Farabee has a ton of speed and had a pretty decent rookie season with the Flyers posting 8 goals and 21 points in 52 games played. So the question is now where does he slot into this lineup? Here are some options 

Replacing Raffl on the 4th line with Farabee and playing with Nate Thompson and Tyler Pitlick. Personally I can’t see this happening as Farabee has too much speed and talent but lacks the size to be playing on the 4th line..

Option #2 Farabee gets slotted in on the 2nd line. This would mean more overall line changes which affect more than one line. My guess is the lines would look something like Farabee playing with Kevin Hayes and Travis Konecny with Scott Laughton shifting to the 3rd line to play with JVR and Derek Grant. As for the 4th line, I have Aube-Kubel shifting to LW to play with Thompson and Pitlick.

I don’t believe this will be the case as the chemistry shared between Laughton, Hayes, and TK has been unmistakable and should not be tampered with especially in such an important time of the year. 

I believe the 3rd and potentially best line combination would be to bump Aube-Kubel to the 4th line LW position and slot Farabee in his place on the 3rd line to play with Grant and JVR.

Farabee would bring some much needed speed to a rather sluggish line much like NAK did, but with Joel, he brings hands and a higher hockey IQ. He might even be able to wake up the sleeping giant in JVR and I believe the team would benefit best with him playing there.

It’s no secret JVR needs a playmaker and Grant is a gritty puck possession player, but Farabee’s ability to make plays and use his speed and shiftiness to create space, I believe he would make this a formidable line to face for most teams bottom six.

If for whatever reason Joel doesn’t fit or excel in this position the Flyers have other players on their roster bubble that could be perfect fits for replacing Raffl on the 4th line like Andy Andreoff or Connor Bunnaman. Another player who has more skill and would be better suited to excel in the above line scenarios would be Morgan Frost.

This all remains to be seen but the Flyers depth is clearly on display and will remain a leg up on upcoming opponents in this 24 team playoffs for the Stanley Cup. 

Follow Kyle Warner on Twitter @WarnerKyle29

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