Flyers 4th Line Improvement Should Soon Lead to Points

By Jeff Quake, Sports Talk Philly staff writer 

If you take a look at the stats for the Philadelphia Flyers fourth line, which consists of Taylor Leier, Scott Laughton and Michael Raffl, you will see that they have not scored a single point so far early this season just three games in.

But there should be little concern that their fourth line has not scored, even after just three games, as the potential for production is certainly there.

Last year’s fourth line for Philadelphia featured Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Chris Vandevelde, Dale Weise, Boyd Gordon, Matt Read, Roman Lyubimov and even Travis Konecny from time to time. It was consistently Bellemare and Vandevelde and then the right wing slot for Weise, Gordon, Read, Lyubimov or Konecny.

The line struggled, as they could not score as much as they wanted too, and they were quite often the scapegoats of the season.

This year’s fourth line of Leier, Laughton and Raffl is off to a much better start with how they played in the preseason and so far in the first three games of the 2017-18 regular season. The speed of Leier, and Laughton, plus the size of Raffl will certainly help this team out.

This line shows as much depth as there possibly could be with the addition that all three players on any given night can score.

Leier, a rookie from Saskatoon and a former fourth-round pick in 2012, provides a tremendous burst of speed, grit, and willingness to not give up the puck, not to mention that he has a great shot, and a good set of hands. Leier showed these talents with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms as a 2016-17 AHL All-Star, as well as posting 37 points in 48 games with the team a season ago. He will certainly be used on the penalty kill more, just like he has been so far this season. Overall, for Leier, who had to earn his spot on the roster, he can help this team more than anyone will realize.

Laughton played 60 games with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms last year and posting 39 points and a plus-17 rating clearly impressed Flyers GM Ron Hextall, as Hextall even protected Laughton in the Expansion Draft. He was used on the penalty kill, played late in games, and even took key faceoffs. His confidence grew as he learned how to take responsibility in his own end.

"I took really big pride in the role I played and in the defensive game I played," Laughton said. "I kind of figured out that what’s going to get me in the NHL is a defensive role, and if offense comes, that’s a bonus."

Raffl is in his fifth season now in the NHL, and has proven to be a depth forward. His size will really help the Flyers this year, especially on the fourth line. As an added bonus, he is a veteran in this league now, so he can really mentor the younger players like Leier and Laughton to help them become better NHL players.

Depth and speed is what it takes to succeed in today’s league, especially with the role of the enforcer slowly but surely exiting the league. Another important factor in the NHL is that all four lines need to produce points and be able to score.

So far, the Flyers fourth line has the depth and speed, but not the points just yet. But with this kind of start, this line will sooner or later be providing points for the Flyers as well.