Flyers Player Power Rankings: Simmonds reigns, Medvedev acclimates & Ghost goes sniping

With a reckless display of scoring, Wayne Simmonds overcomes Shayne Gostisbehere’s drool-inducing three-point week to claim the title of No. 1. It wasn’t an easy decision. The Ghost is so hot right now, he’d be tops on most people’s rankings. And he’d be atop this one if Simmonds wasn’t scoring every goal.

In other moves, Claude Giroux drops to three to no fault of his own, while Evgeny Medvedev shoots up the rankings to No. 6. R.J. Umberger and Ryan White start back from the bottom, while Nick Cousins and Colin McDonald say goodbye for now.

The Rankings:

(last week: 3) Wayne Simmonds - Mr. Train is on fire. The only way Simmonds could pass the red-hot heat that is “The Ghost,” would be if he started shoveling in goals and assists. He’s done just that. Simmonds was the story of the week with two goals and three points in his last three games and six points in his last four games. He’s fighting, he’s scoring, he’s making gif-worthy facial expressions at Jordin TooToo.

(-) Shayne Gostisbehere - When three-point weeks are becoming routine, you’re doing it right. And Gostisbehere is doing it right. He sniped a filthy wrister against the Ottawa Senators and added a breakout assist that fed right into a Michael Raffl goal against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Ghost has become much-watch hockey, scoring eight points and 27 shots in 11 games.

(last week: 1) Claude Giroux - He had a down week to begin December -- a goal, two assists, eight shots and a face off percentage of 56% in three games. To consider that a down week just shows how good he’s been this season for the Flyers.

(last week: 5) Sean Couturier - What a strange season it’s been for Couturier. The lanky one had five total points in his first 18 games and three points against the Senators on Dec. 1. The most remarkable part about his offensive explosion against the Sens -- all three points were even strength.

(last week: 4) Jake Voracek - Still has just one goal but Jake has added 10 assists over his last 11 games and has four 2 assist games over that span. On the down side, he only has two points in his last four games. He’s doing all the right things (and hitting some posts), he just needs some first-line time, ASAP.

(last week: 11) Evgeny Medvedev - The Russian is finally getting acclimated to the NHL. Like most skillful defenders, Medvedev seemed to excel with more minutes, scoring his first NHL goal, adding an assist and firing off six shots in three games. All while averaging a meaty 20:17 TOI.

(last week: 9) Michael Del Zotto - Two assists in three games and eight shots over that span. MDZ is the Flyers’ No. 1 defender and it’s not even close. That experience will come in handy when the team gets a real No. 1.

(last week: 7) Michal Neuvirth - One of the best goalies in the league this season, Neuvirth struggled early on Friday against the New Jersey Devils, giving up an unusually bad backhand goal from the right circle. The three-goal game dropped him to a .934 save percentage on the season -- still good for fourth among goalies with at least 10 games played.

(last week: 8) Brayden Schenn - It feels like Schenn is starting to feel comfortable. He added a pair of assists this week for four points in his last seven games, but if he wants to stick around with the Flyers for years to come, he still needs a ‘next level’.

(last week: 6) Steve Mason - Fresh off his shutout over the New York Rangers last week, Mason gave up five goals in two starts this week. It wasn’t the worst, it wasn’t the best and he didn’t get much help. So, pretty much the story of 2015-16 for him.

(last week: 15) Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - The Frenchman had one of his best games of the season on Friday, scoring a greasy goal in the crease with a defender on his back. The celebration needed some work though.

(Last Week: 16) Chris VandeVelde - The mayor of muck and grind on the Flyers had an assist and two shots in three games. It’s a stat line that doesn’t quite represent how well VandeVelde pushed possession on a line with Voracek.

(last week: 17) Matt Read - Even with his line putting up three goals and three assists this week, Read only came away with one point. It was a goal though, his first in 11 games. He was also completely robbed blind on a goal by the skate blade of Blue Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky. When Read’s luck starts to change, so will his ranking here.

(last week: 19) Michael Raffl - It took Raffl 13 games to score his first goal of the season on Nov. 5, and 14 games to get his second against the Blue Jackets on Saturday. That means his third goal will come somewhere between January 9th and 13th.

(last week: 12) Luke Schenn - He managed just one shot this week but was playing well defensively before being knocked out of Saturday’s game with a left leg injury. The official word? Two-week injury.

(last week: 13) Radko Gudas - The fourth-most physical player in the league was suspended three games for hitting (and injuring) Senators forward Mika Zibanejad. Was it worth three games? Probably not. Does it hurt the Flyers? Absolutely. Gudas was averaging 20:44 TOI, good for third on the Flyers.

(last week: 14) Scott Laughton - He managed to bungle a surefire goal on Saturday night with the puck on his stick and literally standing on the goal line. That summarizes Laughton’s week in which he had no shots in three games and averaged a fourth-line caliber 8:01 TOI. He did win a fight against league punching bag, Bobby Farnham, though, so that was something.

(last week: 22) Brandon Manning - He nabbed his second assist of the season against the Senators and had four shots in three games this week in limited minutes. Is he getting better or is it a mirage?

(last week: unranked) Ryan White - You wouldn’t know White was out nine games with an upper-body injury as he registered a team-high seven hits against the Blue Jackets. That’s about all he registered, though.

(last week: 10) Colin McDonald - After a strong debut a week prior, McDonald managed just two shots in two games, averaging 7:40 TOI. Although he was sent back to the Phantoms, the veteran did his job well and will return.

(last week: 18) Nick Cousins - In his four games up with the big club, Cousins had two shots, no points. He was sent down to the AHL on Saturday. Some people liked his game, but the lack of shot production is concerning since he only had six shots in 11 games last season. Expectations should be higher considering he never makes a defensive zone start.

(last week: unranked) R.J. Umberger - While he may have been easing back into the lineup after missing 13 games with an upper-body injury, Umberger’s zero-shot, zero-point, 7:47 TOI effort looked extra awful compared to Scott Hartnell’s three-point night for the Blue Jackets. That trade was a legendary mistake.

(last week: 21) Nick Schultz - If you watch Schultz in the offensive zone, he looks like he's working for the opposition. Not good. Not good at all.

(last week: 23) Vinny Lecavalier - After a brief stint in the lineup this season, coach Dave Hakstol saw enough. Lecavalier fell behind Sam Gagner, Umberger, Cousins, Taylor Leier and Laughton on the forward depth chart. He couldn’t be more buried, the Flyers want to shoot him into the sun.

NOT RANKED INJURED