Overlooked Carle putting together solid season

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If there isnt a radar screen in the United States and Canada picking up the kind of season Matt Carle is having for the Flyers, there is no record of it on sonar either.

Six entirely deserving players were assigned, via the locker room blackboard, responsibilities to speak into media microphones after the Flyers complete and satisfying 3-0 victory over the Devils last night. But of course Carle was unlisted as usual. It took a special request and about 15 minutes after the locker room had cleared for Carle to emerge from the anterooms, presumably because he had to be dug out from underneath other Flyers press clippings.

Kind of been that way my whole career, he said with a smiled.

Weve kind of been waiting to write about him the whole season. And now that time has arrived. Four of the five consecutive games the Flyers won without Andrej Meszaros, Kimmo Timonen and Pavel Kubina -- not to mention Chris Pronger -- were with Carle playing elevated minutes so No. 25 is no mere speck of dust in what suddenly has become Ilya Bryzgalovs Universe.

Its still hard to make a case for anyone but Timonen for this seasons Barry Ashbee Trophy. But Carle, moving the puck, making good decisions and a much-improved one-on-one defender, probably has been the 2011-12 Flyers next best guy on their blueline.

For the longest time you used to hear Matty was good because he played with Chris, said coach Peter Laviolette. Indeed last season, when Pronger went out in March for what would turn into all-but one Game 7 against Buffalo, Carle supplied plenty of visual evidence to support that supposition. He struggled mightily in the sweep by Boston.

But with no Pronger this season since Nov. 19, there has been no visible dropoff in Carles play, most impressively while paired with the since-demoted rookie Marc-Andre Bourdon.

Carle has been a mainstay for us, said Laviolette. Hes one of the those guys you dont ask any questions about, just shows up every night playing 23 minutes and is consistent in all three zones.

Especially with the injuries we have had, to have a guy like that available every day has been a real bonus for our team.

This is Carles seventh season full season in the NHL, about the time when a lot of defensemen mature. But this also is the first season for the Flyers in three when it has been depressingly clear Pronger is out for the duration. Carle politely disagrees that he was ever utterly lost without The Big Guy, says everybody goes through some adjustment when usual partners are no longer available. But he also concedes that once Pronger was lost, this time presumably for the season, it became easier to take more responsibility, if only for the obvious lack of any better solution.

"We were dressing seven defensemen in the playoffs because we didnt know if we were going to have him, said Carle. Of course we miss him but guys like me and Braydon Coburn, considered lower tier guys, had to step up.

General manger Paul Holmgren already has done that for Coburn, with a new contract that will average over 4.6 million from 2012-13 through 2014-15. Carle, making 3.5 million, is up at the end of the season and, building value the way he is, figures to be a challenging cap fit.

I have a lot of faith in my agent and Paul Holmgren, said Carle.

Well see if that is rewarded as much has been Laviolettes faith while his defense has been in tatters and still shutting teams out. Even without Pronger, the Flyers have six defensemen who can play on practically any teams first two pairs. Carle emerging as one of the better ones, some might not yet be aware.

Jay Greenberg covered the Flyers for 14 years for the Daily News and Evening Bulletin. His history of the Flyers, Full Spectrum, was published in 1996. He can be reached at jayg616@aol.com.

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