Photo Courtesy of Kate Frese
By Rob Riches, Sports Talk Philly contributor 
There were plenty of reasons to be excited about heading into this Flyers season, but Matt Read wasn't exactly one of those reasons. Read had been on the decline for several seasons now, and heading into his age-30 season, that was expected to continue. It's no secret that he's been one of the most-maligned Flyers over the past few seasons.
Heading into this season, the biggest reason to be excited about Read was the possibility of him being taken in June's expansion draft. The Flyers would be rid of his $3.625 million cap hit, and could perhaps put it to better use.
For now, though, Read's off to an incredible start. He's tallied five goals in the Flyers' first seven games of the season — nearly half of what he registered last year alone (11). This hot start has also afforded him an opportunity on the top power-play unit, and his five points are among the Flyers' leaders.
Call it the Readaissance, if you will (not that I'm actually expecting this to catch on).
One possible explanation for Read's power surge is a new role for him. He had been playing alongside Sean Couturier in recent seasons, but now that Couturier's been given a new opportunity centering Travis Konecny and Jakub Voracek, Read can chip in on the bottom-six — a role more suited for him.
He's also been playing along a new set of linemates as well in Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Dale Weise. Neither of those players are renowned in the NHL for their prolific offensive flashiness, but rather, for taking other tough assignments while chipping in the occasional goal. It's a chance for Bellemare to step up from his previous role as the fourth-line checking center, and for Weise to acclimate to his new environment. Weise, of course, is suspended another game, but the chemistry will continue to build upon his return.
Read's hot start could also be attributed to (finally) staying healthy. He was playing through a nagging thumb injury last season, and was afflicted by ankle troubles for much of 2014-15. Perhaps they would attribute to the big-time falloff from his 22-goal, 40-point 2013-14 campaign, but the rate of injury in the NHL is 100 percent.
Now that the Flyers have a firm grasp of Dave Hakstol's system, Read no longer has to learn a new scheme. Along with much of the Flyers' core players, Read has had to adjust to numerous coaching changes since he arrived in 2011-12. He was evidence that not all players can pick up on a new system right away — some of them need some time to adjust.
It's hard to remember how decent of a middle-line player Read was early in his Flyers career. A 24-goal, 47-point campaign in 2011-12 (his rookie year) set the bar for what to expect out of the Bemidji State product, but as injuries began to take their toll on him, he began to earn the ire of fans throughout the Delaware Valley and beyond. He set career-lows in goals (11) and points (26) last year, which had many believing the end of his Flyers career couldn't come soon enough.
One of the Flyers' biggest flaws of the past season was a lack of secondary scoring. After Voracek, Claude Giroux and Brayden Schenn (in the second half of the season), secondary scoring was struggling. GM Ron Hextall didn't do a whole lot in the offseason to address that, but between a hot Read and a great start for Konecny, secondary scoring is beginning to take off.
Of course, Read is set to return to Earth at some point — it's not as if this hot start will sustain the length of the season. But for now, it's safe to say Read has exceeded the expectations set forth for him at the start of the season. Even if he doesn't match the scoring pace from his early years, a rejuvenated Read is good to have around in the Orange and Black's lineup.
