With the Philadelphia Flyers mired in a slump that just won't end, Dave Hakstol has wisely shaken up some of the lines and pairs. These new pairs have yielded some decidedly mixed results.
Splitting up Giroux and Voracek
There is certainly some merit to the idea of splitting up Giroux and Voracek. They had a great season together last year, but so far this season they are having a terrible time finding the back of the net. Their possession numbers are comparable to last season, but it was worth trying something to spark each of their production directly, as well as give a boost to team scoring depth.
Thus far, the results of splitting Giroux and Voracek have not been so good. For starters, it seems to be nothing but a small drain on Giroux.
The lineup change began on November 23 against Carolina. Last night was better, and Giroux does have two even strength points in these three games, but it's an underwhelming top line.
Regarding Voracek, his new spot in the lineup has been disastrous.
Voracek's new line has been the team's worst the last two games. This is rather alarming, as previously Voracek had been the most consistent Corsi-rated player on the team this season.
Even worse, Voracek joining Bellemare and VandeVelde has hurt them.
It's only three games, but something is amiss in this trio. When a talent like Voracek makes a line worse, the chemistry is bad.
Voracek is a great puck carrier and playmaker. He should be playing with high-end talent, and now he is saddled with perhaps the least offensively inclined forwards on the team. It doesn't make much sense in theory, and thus far has been even worse in practice.
Couturier line playing well, but not scoring
One line, however, has been together for virtually the whole season. The Read-Couturier-Simmonds line has been a mainstay, and in recent games have been the Flyers' most consistent performer.
Indeed, if you look at raw Corsi percentages, Couturier, Read and Simmonds are the top three players on the team this year, respectively.
This consistent performance in terms of possession stands in stark contrast to their performance as measured by goal statistics. The trio is a combined -33, and Read and Simmonds have the worst plus/minus on the roster. It's simply remarkable to see such a divergence between possession and goal statistics.
Part of that can be explained by terrible shooting percentages. Shooting percentage does reflect skill, but when a 20 game stretch is very different than career averages, there's a lot of bad luck going into it. Each of these three players is way down in shooting percentage this season.
The Flyers were hoping Couturier would begin to take some steps forward in offensive production this season. If they were hoping this trio would be a good, two-way second line this season, it hasn't happened that way. Given their excellent possession numbers, it's a test of Hakstol's patience with the group, and faith that all the possession will eventually pay off.
A new partner for Ghost
It's only one game, but the return of Evgeni Medvedev to the lineup made a huge difference for Shayne Gostisbehere.
Neither Ghost nor Medvedev has seen very difficult competition at any time this year. I suspect Hakstol will continue that practice. But both players have a lot to offer with their skating and puck movement, and having a consistent, plus third pair would be a big boost to the Flyers.
Takeaways
Admittedly, all these sample sizes are small. Any one game can be an anomaly, but some trends begin to emerge. The early returns on the Giroux-Voracek split are not good. The Flyers need Voracek sparking the offense, not withering on a bad third line. If this continues, the Flyers risk going from being a one-line team to a no-line team.
On a more positive note, Medvedev is back in the lineup, and Ghost may become a more effective 5v5 player. His abilities on the power play are unmistakable, but being a consistent performer 5v5 is even more important for his long term NHL future.
Marc Naples is a contributor to Flyerdelphia and Sports Talk Philly. Follow him on Twitter@SuperScrub47.
