The Positives and Negatives of Benching Travis Sanheim

Every year has a scapegoat. If it isn’t Brandon Manning back in 2016, it’s Dale Weise in 2017. If we can’t blame Andrew MacDonald for everything in 2018, we could surely blame Robert Hagg for it last season. One way or another, someone always shouldered the load of being the guy everyone pinpointed to be the problem. Everything they did was micro-analyzed to the point that a majority of the fanbase turned on the individual. Travis Sanheim has seemingly become that individual.

Whether it’s because the Flyers rid themselves of Manning, Weise, MacDonald and Hagg, or because of his abysmal play of late, Sanheim has become the scapegoat for everything that goes wrong for the Flyers. Bad goal, Sanheim’s fault. Turnover in the Flyers own zone, way to go Travis. Claude Giroux’s sweater gets caught in the door on his way onto the ice, allowing the opposition to go on a three-on-one breakaway and score the game winning goal? Travis Sanheim is sabotaging this team!

Hyperbolic situations aside, Travis Sanheim is finding himself in unfamiliar territory. After being highly-touted in his earlier years with the Flyers, he’s starting to find himself in an unfavorable position with the fanbase. Too many gafs and not enough production have aided in the feeling that Sanheim may not be the defenseman many thought he could be when drafted 17th overall in 2014.

While definitely unfortunate, it’s not like the Flyers don’t have options to replace Sanheim. With how Chuck Fletcher has drafted and the signings he has made, there are players who could step into Sanheim’s role. Are there pitfalls to that? Of course there are. Are there positives to a move like this though? Absolutely.

The Positives

Aside from Ivan Provorov, Travis Sanheim is the only defenseman remaining from the “old regime”. In years past, the defensemen that have come and gone have left a sour taste on the palate. Call it guilty by association, but Travis Sanheim isn’t doing himself any favors in that department. Sure, his play is the main point of contention, but people won’t easily forget how good he looked beside Phil Myers during the 2019/20 regular season. In the same breath, they won’t forget how lost they looked together last season.

Taking Sanheim out of the lineup injects a guy like Nate Seeler. Seeler seems to have endeared himself to the Flyers faithful. Anyone who throws a referee to the side to take on Jamie Oleksiak is going to curry a ton of favor.

If they decide to go younger and give someone a shot at becoming a mainstay, it may be Cam York who draws into the lineup. Sanheim’s contract that he signed this past off-season lead many to believe it was more a bridge than anything to get York ready for the NHL. If that’s the case, then the Flyers are just speeding things up a bit by giving York a shot. It all hinges on whether or not the franchise is ready to put their faith in York after only 15 professional hockey games.

Regardless of who replaces him, this could provide Sanheim a chance to regroup and really think about what he needs to do to right his play and get back on track. Seeing the game from above may help if it’s a system issue. It could also help so he can watch plays develop, understand where he’s gone wrong in certain situations, and acknowledge what needs to be done in those situations. Sometimes a hard reset is what a player needs to get his mind right and come back in better shape than before being benched.

The Negatives

The main negative in benching Sanheim lies with his replacements. As mentioned above, Seeler is a solid enough plug-in to take his spot, but he’s played 15 NHL games since the beginning of the 2019 season. While still looking alright and not completely out of place for the Flyers this season, it still may not be the long term solution to benching Sanheim. Cam York has played in 15 professional hockey games so far, so there’s just as much if not more risk to playing Cam York as there is Nate Seeler. The options aren’t the prettiest, but options nonetheless.

While the thought of Sanheim being out of the lineup is appealing to some, the thought of what that second pairing could be if both him and Rasmus Ristolainen hit their stride is a bit much to pass up at the moment. Ristolainen and Sanheim have only played two games together as a pairing. Risto missed the first two games of the season but has since returned. Two games is an incredibly small sample size to judge a pairing by, and passing up the opportunity to see more may end up being a mistake.

In the same breath, benching Sanheim could be detrimental to his trade value. The Flyers may look at this situation as them having a long-term replacement for Sanheim. If that’s the case, putting him in the press box could do irreparable damage to what value he has on the trade market.

Should the Flyers bench Travis Sanheim

To be completely fair, it’s likely too early to make this type of call. Just 9 games into the season, it is a bit too quick to make a knee-jerk reaction type of move like this. Without a real longer-term solution in place for Sanheim’s replacement, it would be ill-advised to pull the trigger. As the season wears on and if Sanheim keeps making mistakes like letting the puck travel across the slot and subsequently into the back of the net, it wouldn’t come as a complete shock if the Flyers explored other options on the blueline.

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