After looking at who I think should be a choice for a healthy scratch on Saturday, I wanted to look at his possible replacement.
The Flyers defense has been a rotating door this season, both on and off the ice. Four different defensemen have been healthy scratches in recent games: Michael Del Zotto, Luke Schenn, Andrew MacDonald and the subject of this piece, Carlo Colaicovo.
Colaiacovo was signed mid-season after injuries decimated the Flyers blue line. He immediately stepped in and played well in some big minutes, over 16 minutes per game.
However, after the return of Braydon Coburn and Andrew MacDonald, he was relegated to the press box despite his good play.
Colaiacovo’s numbers this year are in a small sample size, just five games, so it is always good to be wary of that. To try to look at the bigger picture, I looked at his career numbers.
Colaiacovo has been bitten by the injury bug in recent years, playing just 25 games last season and 6 in the lockout-shortened 2013 season. Before that he played 64 or more games in four straight seasons.
When Colaiacovo was playing, he was playing a decent amount of minutes at even strength. Even on the Blues last season with an impressive group of defensemen he played over 13 minutes per game at even strength. This season he played over 16 per game, a career high.
Colaiacovo has been able to keep up with his teammates, even when playing on good teams such as the Blues from 2009 to 2012 as well as last season. He has driven possession worse than his teammates just three times, which are barely on the chart due to how small they are. This season for the Flyers he has had a corsi for that is 4.39% better than his teammates when he is off the ice.
After looking at his career numbers showing that he does have staying power, I decided to look at his current season numbers despite the sample size.
Colaiacovo has been the Flyers best possession defensemen in his limited time. These numbers shouldn’t be surprising however, as this corsi for of over 50% is in line with his career numbers.
This is just another way to look at it, Colaiacovo has a great impact on his teammates, while the guys at the lower end of the chart who are seeing more ice time have a negative impact. It boggles the mind as to why Colaiacovo doesn’t get a chance on the ice with the teams recent scratches.
Colaiacovo is middle of the pack at generating shots, but he is great at limiting shots. The Flyers allow just 49 shot attempts per 60 minutes when he is on the ice, 10 less than the next lowest of 59 per 60 minutes by Schenn.
Colaiacovo has been sheltered a bit, but so has Mark Streit. Colaiacovo and Streit actually have really similar deployment and it would be intriguing to see them as a pair. They could be used similarly to how they have been and would allow Streit to have a defensive partner that he doesn't have to carry.
Faceoff adjusted data simply ignores the first 10 seconds after an offensive/defensive zone faceoff. This eliminates most zone start effects.
Corsi for when adjusted for zone starts still has Colaiacovo at the top. In fact, when adjusted for zone starts his corsi for is better than normal. This means that his deployment hasn't impacted his possession numbers all that much.
Given the recent choices by Craig Berube to scratch different defensemen, it makes me wonder why Colaiacovo hasn’t had an opportunity to get back on the ice. He has a proven track record and is on a very friendly contract. He has played well given his opportunities, and that is all you can ask for from him.
Look for a piece later in the week on the Flyers ideal defensive pairings. If you have any questions, comments or criticisms on this piece, don’t hesitate to let me know!
Ryan Gilbert is a contributing writer for Flyerdelphia and can be found on Twitter @RiskyBryzness.
