(Kate Frese/Sports Talk Philly)
By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 
Saturday's 4-2 win marked the midway point of the regular season for the Flyers. 41 games down, 41 to go.
The Flyers kick off the official second half of the season starts back up on Sunday night in Columbus, but before they do, let's evaluate where the Flyers are at this point in the season.
Here's the grades for each player and an overall mark. Players will be sorted by position and listed in order of uniform number.
Forwards
Brayden Schenn – After his three-game suspension to open the season, Schenn has really picked up where he left off last season in terms of point production with 26 points in 38 games. He's a little short of being on pace to match last season's production, but not by much and that's good to see. (B)
Travis Konecny – Bearing in mind that he's 19 years old and is going to have off nights and make rookie mistakes, six goals and 14 assists as well as generally energetic play and hard work in tough areas make Konecny one to watch going forward. In terms of production, expectations are out the window. He's succeeding at the NHL level at age 19. What more could you ask for? (B+)
Michael Raffl – He dealt with an injury that kept him out for some time, so Raffl's number are not up to par, but he's been scoring goals — he's on pace for 16 goals — and he's become a stable part of the top line. When he's on, Raffl is one of the better players the Flyers have in puck battles. (B-)
Roman Lyubimov – There's been a lot to like about Roman Lyubimov given his role as a checking forward. He's proven to be one of the Flyers high-energy players and perfect for the role…when he gets on ice. Lyubimov has made the most of his games and ice time, but 28 games is still a small sample. (B-)
Sean Couturier – Due to another lengthy injury, Couturier has played in just 25 games this season. In his first few games back from injury, Couturier really didn't make much of an impact, but he's looked very good centering a line with Travis Konecny and Jake Voracek. Couturier's seven goals have him potentially on pace to set a new career high — he scored 15 goals in 2014-15. (B-)
Wayne Simmonds – Lately he's cooled off in the goal column, which slowed his pace somewhat, but make no mistake about it, Wayne Simmonds is on pace for a career year nonetheless. At one point, he was scoring at the rate of a 40-goal scorer. As we reach the halfway point, despite a scoring drought of late, he's still on pace for 34 goals and 64 points. Both would be career highs. (A-)
Scott Laughton – Limited to just two games this season due to injury and being a healthy scratch. He's settled in nicely with the Phantoms since being sent down, but at the NHL level, Laughton just hasn't been able to make an impact. (N/A)
Dale Weise – It's an interesting case for Weise. On one hand, his overall play has been good, but for a player who last season had a career high in goals with 14 and came within two points of a career high with 27, having just two goals and two assists in 36 games is a disappointment. (C-)
Matt Read – He stormed out of the gate with five goals in his first five games, but then came back to Earth and eventually had an injury come up as well. In 30 games, he's about right on track for the norm, 12 goals and 20 points. Not great, but not terrible for a player in Read's role. (C+)
Nick Cousins – The first half of the season proved to be a good comparison for Cousins to last season. Cousins cemented a place in the lineup in the second half of last season and scored six goals and had 11 points in 36 games. This season, he has four goals and 10 points in 34 games. (C)
Boyd Gordon – He scored the first goal of the season. From an offensive standpoint, that's as far as it's gone for Boyd Gordon. In his role as a face-off specialist and penalty killer, he's been fine, but missed a lot of time with injury, so it's hard to evaluate his season based on just 13 games. (N/A)
Claude Giroux – It's kind of the same old story with Giroux. He's still an effective points player, with 34 points in 41 games. That has him right on pace with last season. The issue with Giroux is that on some nights he's the Flyers standout and on others he completely disappears. His leadership isn't in question, but he does get inconsistent every now and then. Still, he's the captain for a reason and working on another solid season. (B+)
Taylor Leier – For 10 games, Taylor Leier was in the lineup and really played the jack-of-all-trades role well. He also cashed in for his first NHL points, a goal and an assist. It's too short of a stint to grade, but Leier was a solid player in his time up at the NHL level. (N/A)
Chris VandeVelde – The one thing about Chris VandeVelde is the number of games player, 41. The fourth-line forward has played in every game this season. While he does have 10 points, there are times where players who sat out that deserved to be in the lineup over VandeVelde. He's a solid fourth-liner and embraces the role, but his time with the Flyers will only decrease in the future as they cycle more prospects into the NHL. (C-)
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – It's hard to not like what Bellemare brings to the penalty kill or as a fourth-line player, but again, like VandeVelde, there's times where his game just hasn't been there. It's the inconsistency that hurts. (C-)
Jake Voracek – He's back to his old self. After a disappointing season last year, Voracek got back to playing a physical, energized game and producing points in rapid succession. He's on pace for 26 goals, which would be a career high and on pace for 78 points, which would be just three points shy of his career best from two seasons ago. (A)
Defensemen
Radko Gudas – At times, he has been the Flyers best defenseman, particularly when it comes to play in the defensive zone. Gudas isn't going to produce big points, but he's been a quality player this season overall. (B)
Ivan Provorov – It wasn't an easy start for the 19-year-old, but if consistency is key to being on the blue line, Provorov has easily been the Flyers best defenseman this season. And again, he's just 19. The offensive prowess is there, though not always exercised. Defensively, he keeps growing with every game and the improvement and confidence is noticeable. (B+)
Michael Del Zotto – Once he was able to return to the lineup this season, Del Zotto was a welcome addition to the blue line. But it's been a bit of a rough year for Del Zotto. While he has nearly matched his point total from a season ago in just 24 games, he's also a minus-five and has often struggled in the defensive zone. After transitioning his game to be focused more on his play defensively, he's been getting caught out of position a little too much. (C+)
Brandon Manning – For a while, Manning was working on a season with a lot of improvement. But lately, Manning's been struggling, to the point where he sat out Saturday's game as a healthy scratch. He's already set new career highs in goals and points, but defensively, he leaves a lot to be desired. (C)
Mark Streit – Here's the thing about Streit, the Flyers are in the process of moving on from him and have had to play without him due to injury, but at times have almost missed his veteran presence. He's also on pace for his best scoring season since 2013-14 and highest point total since 2014-15. (B-)
Andrew MacDonald – So MacDonald's play is a bit of a mystery. He's working on his best offensive season with the Flyers since they acquired him in 2014. But it seems like every game, there's a defensive play that makes you wonder what he was doing or why he was playing in a certain situation. By the traditional numbers, he's having a good season. By advanced numbers, it's a roller-coaster ride. (C)
Shayne Gostisbehere – The sophomore slump has hit Gostisbehere to an extent. One season after scoring 17 goals and posting 46 points, he's on pace for just eight goals and 38 points in a full season as opposed to 64 games. That said, he's still just 23, so the potential remains even if he's hit a few rough patches. (B-)
Nick Schultz – Between injuries and being scratched, Schultz has only played in 12 games this season, not nearly enough to see what kind of impact he makes. For the most part, he's the same player he's been for the last three seasons. (N/A)
Goaltenders
Michal Neuvirth – Neuvirth played in just his 10th game of the season on Saturday, so it's been another year where injury has been the common theme. Neuvirth had some bad starts in there too, but has come back with a few good ones of late, including the win on Saturday. (C+)
Steve Mason – Of the Flyers 41 games, Steve Mason has played in 33. He's carried the Flyers in goal through most of the season. Some starts have been very good, like Mason's stellar performance against Boston on Nov. 29. Others have been forgettable. His start to the season was slow as well and he managed to reel it in and get some consistent results as the season wore on. The biggest issue with Mason may be the workload. He started 22 of 24 games for the Flyers after Michal Neuvirth went down with an injury in November. (B)
Anthony Stolarz – He played in just four games and made only two starts, so it's hard to grade Stolarz, but he proved he could play at the NHL level in his brief exposure. The highlight was a 28-save shutout in the Flyers 1-0 overtime win in Detroit on Dec. 11. (N/A)
Overall
The Flyers are kind of stuck in the middle, just as they were a season ago. The good news for them is that they aren't chasing a playoff spot, they are holding one as their season hits the halfway mark.
So for once, this isn't going to be a second-half comeback or run. It will be a second half that requires consistent results and continual growth. That said, the Flyers haven't been the cream of the crop in the East or Metropolitan Division, even with a 10-game winning streak that got the attention of the rest of the NHL. That showed what kind of team the Flyers could be when firing on all cylinders. Teams have also played the Flyers and taken advantage of them at their worst. That happens every now and then, but happened a little too often in the first half.
It's been basically an average year for the Flyers, so to be in a playoff position despite that is a welcome sight. (B)
