Youth movement quickly gaining momentum
PHILADELPHIA >> Before Alain Vigneault would begin to see it, to feel it, to appreciate it all, he would hear the talk.
He’d hear of the legend of Carter Hart, and his capacity to be the next great NHL goaltender. He’d be told about Travis Konecny and the edge he would show in any hockey situation. He’d listen to tales of young defensemen with potential. He was told to watch out for Oskar Lindblom and for Joel Farabee, a young player who, as Kevin Hayes observed, “has swag.”
The new Flyers coach would hear it all about the youngest players he was about to oversee.
As for believing it, that he would do on his own schedule.
“I still think that with all those young players, there’s a lot of room for growth and improvement,” Vigneault was saying Thursday morning. “We’re just scratching the surface on their ability and their consistency that I feel that they can bring to their game. So it’s our job, with them, with the right attitude, the right mindset and the right work ethic to get them to be the best that they can be.”
Vigneault was ready to take the Wells Fargo ice for an optional morning skate and coach his 17th team NHL. Later in the evening, he would be behind the Flyers’ bench for just the 15th time, coaching against the Montreal Canadiens. While he admitted to not yet knowing what kind of hockey team he had, Vigneault was aware of something happening: A dramatic re-imagination of the Flyers into a captivating cascade of youthful production.
In a thorough victory over Carolina two nights earlier, the game’s three stars were Konecny, 22, Farabee, 19, and Carter Hart,
21. By Thursday, the Flyers were being led in goals, with seven apiece, by Konecny and the 23-yearold Lindblom. Ivan Provorov, 22, was the scoring leader among defensemen, with three goals and nine points. Konecny had eight assists, a team high. Hart, who had some earlier struggles, had been showing a veteran’s ability to read a play two passes early or, if necessary, to make the acrobatic save.
So while a popular view is that the Flyers are trending stale with the ever-familiar Claude Giroux and Jake Voracek out front, the reality is that they have become entertainingly and productively fresh.
“I think the league has changed a lot, especially since I came in,” Giroux said. “I think young players have an impact more on the team and in the game. When I came in, there was maybe one that was under 23 and was making an impact on the team. The league’s changed. Young players, they’re more developed, they have more of a mature game and they’re quicker, faster, stronger. You can see TK (Konecny) and Oskar and Joel playing well lately. And being able to have that kind of help is a lot of fun.”
Giroux is only 31, Voracek just 30. Already in his ninth season, Sean Couturier will be connected to the more senior Flyers, but he started his career at 19 and is hitting his prime at 27. Because none are old, they can be complemented, not threatened, by the developing stars. And since none are young, they can ably use their experience to lift the underclassmen.
“When you have young players making an impact like they are right now, some nights they’re our best players,” Giroux said. “It’s fun to watch them play. They’re obviously very dynamic and they make a lot of plays and it’s fun to be part of.”
The league will catch up to at least some of what the young Flyers have been doing. That’s a certainty. But when that happens, Vigneault is confident that they can adjust.
“I can’t say I’ve been surprised,” the coach said. “I was told by our staff, our management and scouts that these guys had a tremendous amount of upside, that they hadn’t reached their peak yet. So it is part of our job with them to help them become the best players that they can be. That’s what we’re trying to do.
“If we do that, then we’re doing the ultimate. The ultimate is helping the team win. And that’s what we’re trying to do.”
The Flyers aren’t the only team with young players in a league known for embracing peach-fuzzed teenagers and paunchy 40-somethings. At some point, and he doesn’t know when, Vigneault
will know what he has in a team that already has been both excellent and exasperating. But that boost from the young players helped his team enjoy a reasonably satisfying start.
“I don’t know if it will take 10 games or 20 games,” he said. “I do know in my first year in New York it took us until Christmas. I’m hoping to be a little bit sharper here, a little bit quicker and get it done before.
“I have an idea of what we are,” he allowed. “It’s not where I want it to be. But I do have an idea and I do think we’re on the right track, that we’re progressing. I do firmly believe that.”
It’s only early November. But for every right reason, he is beginning to believe all he’d heard.