Matt Niskanen Helping Stabilize Flyers Blueline
Philadelphia’s new coaching staff has been able to get the team playing like a focused and high-functioning unit; one that doesn’t simply wilt under the pressure of push back from the opposition, but rather, responds with the pressure of their own.
That same coaching staff has preached accountable across the board for veterans and rookies alike and has entrusted the team’s youth by playing them in meaningful minutes of games.
However, we should give that front office some credit too. Not just for their savvy off-season additions (more on them in a second), but also for their willingness to look to their farm system for a jolt when the big club needs a kick in the pants. It’s all been refreshing, to say the least.
But about those off-season acquisitions.
Niskanen defends Devils’ Nikita Gusev during the home opener on October 9. Photo by Bruce Bennett_Getty Images
While Kevin Hayes addition may have made the most noise, perhaps the most important addition came in the form of the wily veteran Matt Niskanen. That move was met with skepticism this summer, as the Flyers were retaining salary in the deal on a player that looked to have had his best years behind him. They were also dealing with a player that was younger, cheaper and had been coming off one of his best seasons with the organization, while Niskanen was coming off one of his worst campaigns in recent memory.
Looks can be deceiving, however.
Since joining the Flyers, Niskanen has played well in tandem with Flyers’ No. 1 defensemen Ivan Provorov and has looked revitalized. The 33-year-old defensemen have shown good skating ability, which he uses to effectively maneuver the puck out of trouble in the defensive zone and possesses an underrated physical component in his game, which Devils rookie sensation Jack Hughes found out earlier this season. Beyond that, Niskanen has flashed some offensive ability too, as he receives powerplay time on the team’s potent second unit and has collected eight points in 17 games to date.
Photo: Elsa/Getty Images
The Minnesota native’s greatest asset though comes in his ability to log important minutes and lots of them. Niskanen averages the second most ice-time on the team at 21:27 TOI (Provorov leads the team with 24:10 TOI) and is often deployed in rather tough circumstances, as he starts 54.9 percent of his shifts in the defensive zone.
After last season’s team were undone by poor defense efforts and Chuck Fletcher’s mission to drastically reduce the goals-against average of the team, it was incumbent upon Flyers upper management to find a smart, two-way defender that could help alleviate the pressure that Provorov and the team’s other young blueliners faced on a regular basis. So long as he remains healthy, ‘Nisky’ should be that steadying presence, both on the ice and in the locker room.
Things are beginning to look up for the Flyers and blueliner Matt Niskanen is a big reason why.
Featured Photo: Yong Kim / Photographer, Philadelphia Inquirer
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