Flyers Player Power Rankings: Ghost thrills, Couturier sits & Schenn gets punched

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With two one-goal losses and a snowed out game, it wasn’t an ideal week for the Flyers. But it was another fantastic week for the legend, Shayne Gostisbehere, who jumped back to No. 1 with a pair of out-of-body efforts. Sean Couturier also moved up despite a lower-body injury, simply because it was palpable how significantly the team needs him in the lineup.

In other big moves, Evgeny Medvedev jumped a mile with a ridiculous pass, Michal Neuvirth got hurt without playing. Ryan White dropped into the dumpster and R.J. Umberger’s time on ice hit a cringe-worthy new low.

Also, welcome back Sam Gagner to the rankings. He debuted at No. 12.

The Rankings:

  1. (last week: 5) Shayne Gostisbehere - Another week, another legend-growing performance from Gostisbehere. He led the team with three points and was quite possibly the Flyers’ best player against the Toronto Maple Leafs and Pittsburgh Penguins. But what sealed Ghost’s No. 1 ranking happened when he picked a pass in the defensive zone, carried the puck in and scored a silky soft game-tying goal against the Leafs. He followed that up with two assists, and team-leading possession numbers against the Pens.

  1. (last week: 4) Sean Couturier - The second-line center picked up an assist on Tuesday (his fourth point in five games) before picking up a lower-body injury that caused a crater in the Flyers’ lineup. Without Couturier, the Flyers struggled against the Pens -- partly because they have little to no depth -- and partly because he’s been that good.

  1. (last week: 2) Claude Giroux - His goal against Pens capped off a two-point week for Giroux, who was bottled up 5-on-5 against the cross-state rivals. He did finish the week with a team-high 10 shots, so his lack of production wasn’t without opportunity. Missing Couturier also didn’t help.

  1. (last week: 1) Jake Voracek - Identical to Giroux, Voracek ended the two-game week with two points -- one goal, one assist -- both on a power play. But unlike Giroux, he only had 10 total shot attempts and three shots on goal.

  1. (last week: 3) Wayne Simmonds - He nabbed an assist against the Pens and racked up 12 shot attempts (six on goal) in two games. Simmonds has been the Flyers’ offensive engine lately with four points in five games and a juicy 17 shots on goal over that span.

  1. (last week: 6) Steve Mason - The Flyers were outclassed against the Penguins for much of Thursday’s game, but Mason kept them in it. If the goalie didn’t clean up sloppy defensive play, it would have been much uglier than the 4-3 finish.

  1. (last week: 7) Brayden Schenn - It was an active week for Schenn, who scored a power play goal, earned an assist and got beat up by Dion Phaneuf. More notably, however, is how Schenn missed multiple opportunities to score, only hitting the net with one shot in two games.

  1. (last week: 14) Evgeny Medvedev - The Russian had one of his best games on Tuesday, making a ridiculous back-door, cross-ice setup to find Matt Read on the power play. Then he earned a nomination for Save of the Week, coming out of nowhere to stop a surefire goal from the Leafs’ PA Parenteau.

  1. (last week: 13) Matt Read - It wasn’t a bad week for Read, who scored a goal on Tuesday (thanks to a ridiculous pass from Medvedev) and took seven shots on goal -- good for second on the team.

  1. (last week: 9) Michael Del Zotto - The amazing part isn’t that MDZ led all Flyers defensemen in TOI with an average of 22:20 this week -- but that he did it with exactly 0:00 time on the power play.

  1. (last week: 12) Radko Gudas - Highlighting Gudas’ physical week was a picture-perfect hip check on Evgeni Malkin at the blue line. It was perfect because 1. He didn’t get a game misconduct. 2. It broke up the play. 3. There was a high probability for a Malkin retaliation penalty. Malkin controlled himself, surprisingly.

  1. (last week: not ranked) Sam Gagner - From buried in the AHL to the fire of facing the Pens on the road, Gagner had a respectable four shots in 15:24 TOI. He might not be the fix to the Flyers’ depth issues, but he should be in the lineup.

  1. (last week: 11) Mark Streit - With Ghost back in the lineup, Streit took an offensive back seat. The former power play quarterback played 3:41 on the man advantage this week, behind Ghost’s 9:06 and Medvedev’s 3:51. Streit finished with no points and three shots in two games.

  1. (last week: 8) Michal Neuvirth - The potential starter for Saturday’s postponed game against the New York Islanders, Neuvirth was hit with a sore groin then the game was snowed out. Save Percentage Watch: Neuvirth fell behind James Reimer (.937) for the league lead with a .936 save percentage.

  1. (last week: 10) Michael Raffl - Sputtering to produce on a consistent basis, Raffl was blanked this week with no points and three shots. Losing Couturier as his center man for Thursday’s game sure didn’t help.

  1. (last week: 15) Scott Laughton - Would Laughton fare better with higher quality possession linemates? Defensive liability or not, he’d certainly be more productive. R.J. Umberger is like an anchor tied to Laughton’s leg.

  1. (last week: 18) Chris VandeVelde - While Ryan White, Umberger and Laughton take the brunt of blame for the Flyers’ depth issues, VandeVelde has skated relatively untouched. The guy has three shots and one point in his last eight games. And considering he plays more on average than any of the players mentioned above, he should share some shade.

  1. (last week: 16) Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - It was one of those “can’t do anything right” nights for Bellemare against the Maple Leafs. He was called for three minors in 11:16 TOI. That’s hard to do.

  1. (last week: 19) Nick Schultz - Seeing Schultz draw a penalty on Sidney Crosby for a retaliatory cross check reminded everyone that he’s still alive, and not just a Weekend at Bernie’s blue line puppet. He finished the week with two shots, four blocked shots and middling TOI.

  1. (last week: 17) Ryan White - What the heck happened to Ryan White? While everyone waits for the bounce back to last year’s standard, he’s been getting worse. The turning point of Thursday’s game against the Pens was when White overstayed his shift, turned the puck over and took a penalty. The Penguins scored on the power play.

  1. (last week: 20) Brandon Manning - With the Flyers defense now in line, Manning pulled press box duty for the fourth-straight game. Will coach Dave Hakstol rotate him in for freshness? Outside of injury, that might be the only way the kid plays.

  1. (last week: 21) R.J. Umberger - Redemption was on his stick. On Tuesday against the Maple Leafs, Umberger bungled a pretty setup from Laughton, missing on a wide open net. He averaged a team-low and jaw-dropping 6:42 TOI this week, which is low even for his standards.
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