A few days ago, I manually tracked every touch of the Flyers’ defense corps and recorded the following play. I did it for a game against the Carolina Hurricanes. You can read that analysis: here.

I highly recommend that you do before moving onto this. I explain the methodology I used for collecting the information, and I explained in-detail why I collected the information that I did. If you want to know more about that, then you should read that article first.

For a brief refresher, the data I’m collecting seeks to answer: how well did each Flyers’ defenseman perform at moving the puck up-ice? When the puck left their stick, did they get it to the net? To a teammate? Or to the opposing team?

Here, I analyzed the Flyers’ game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. I picked this game for one primary reason: there was a new element introduced into the defense corps. Puck-moving prospect Egor Zamula found his way back into the lineup.

One note before we share the results: I also tracked three Flyers’ forwards that I received out of personal requests. We’ll review their performance too.

The Defense Results:

Ivan Provorov

• 35 Touches
• 29 Completed Passes
• 1 Shot Attempt
• 2 Turnovers

Tony DeAngelo

• 45 Touches
• 37 Completed Passes
• 2 Shot Attempts
• 6 Turnovers

Travis Sanheim

• 26 Touches
• 11 Turnovers
• 1 Shot Attempt
• 14 Completed Passes

Rasmus Ristolainnen

• 21 Touches
• 7 Turnovers
• 2 Shot Attempts
• 9 Completed Passes

Nick Seeler

• 12 Touches
• 1 Turnover
• 4 Completed Passes
• 2 Shot Attempts

Egor Zamula

• 22 Touches
• 4 Turnovers
• 1 Shot Attempt
• 17 Completed Passes

The Forward Results:

Owen Tippett

• 25 Touches
• 8 Turnovers
• 2 Shot Attempts
• 12 Completed Passes

Kevin Hayes

• 22 Touches
• 8 Turnovers
• 3 Shot Attempts
• 9 Completed Passes

Travis Konecny

• 28 Touches
• 1 Turnover
• 7 Shot Attempts
• 19 Completed Passes

My Conclusions for Defense:

The Maple Leafs Dominated this game. That much was stupendously obvious to anyone who watched the game. I would have hated to track the game in this fashion for them. Recording every touch would have been quite a chore.

Despite that, I still thought there were some impressive performances and encouraging signs.

Ivan Provorov was not buried under the immense pressure of the Maple Leafs. There’s been a lot of criticism among Flyers fans for Ivan’s ability to move the puck when he’s under pressure, but I’m simply not finding that.

If I tracked games from last year, which I eventually may, I might find different results.

But the results of this season are clear: Ivan Provorov is an extremely efficient and effective puck mover. Combine that with his proficiency in 1-on-1 coverage, and all the reasons we liked “Provy” are still there.

Tony DeAngelo is a risk-taker. His touches and his completed passes did not decline when the pressure on him intensified. But his turnovers did increase.

Carolina was on the second half of a back-to-back and Toronto was looking to prove a point. The forecheck was much heavier here, and his ability to move the puck up ice remained unblemished.

However, because of the amplified pressure, his turnover rate increased. This is not a symptom of him spazzing out or him reacting poorly to pressure. Mainly, I think it’s because DeAngelo is borderline allergic to dumping the puck off. He’s always looking for the next man.

Sometimes, the next man plays for the other team.

I think this is mostly an acceptable proposition. It may affect the defensive results with him on the ice. But adversely, the offensive results would crater even more if he played safer.

We don’t have the forward depth to really want DeAngelo to play safely.

Travis Sanheim and Rasmus Ristolainnen were just as bad as advertised.

To my eye, they just seemed completely out of sync.

Ristolainnen is what he is. His reads under pressure remain as terrible as they’ve always been. That’s always been his problem. Decision making when the window of time is compressed.

Sanheim is a bit more of a curious case.

Like I said, instead of creating with his feet where there was an opportunity, he relied on his hands.

While DeAngelo has the passing talent to play the role of gun-slinging NFL Quarterback, Sanheim does not. This isn’t an insult to him. Rather, a recognition that he needs to get back to his game.

Egor Zamula impressed me. He impressed the living shit out of me, in analytical terms.

His puck-moving was sublime. He reacted well to pressure almost every time, and found the next man nearly every time he touched the puck.

His turnovers were a touch on the high side, but I was reminded more of DeAngelo than Ristolainnen if I were to characterize those turnovers.

This was a kid stretching the limits of his abilities to make a play. I respect the hell out of it. And since the Flyers don’t stand to win many games even if they play perfectly, I want to see more of it.

Nick Seeler even fit in much better, deferring to Zamula on all but the most obvious opportunities to move the puck. It put him into a role where he could succeed, relative to his abilities.

I didn’t track this, but Zamula even showed me something defensively. He had an ever-active and disruptive stick that broke up prospective danglers and intercepted passes.

And his passing prowess is advanced enough that he even turned a couple of his intercepted passes into touch passes of his own.

Simply put: this kid is good. He can play. Is he perfect? No, not at all.

But he’s an impressive prospect.

Conclusions for the Forwards:

Kevin Hayes is not nearly active enough in the play at 5-on-5. A large majority of his recorded touches came from his work on the Power-Play, and it’s not as if his prowess with the man advantage is so great that I find this acceptable. Frankly, he’s not that good with the man advantage either.

His relatively few puck touches–for a 1C, at least–is a problem that’s compounded by his inability to make the quick play when it’s needed. If slowing something down is required, he can do that! But he only knows two speeds: slow and turtle-like. This goes for both his skating and his processing.

Owen Tippett was eminently noticeable, and quite easy to track. I love his willingness to skate into space and to make a play. His reactions under pressure are solid and he’s been good at finding open targets.

Tippett’s turnovers were a bit on the higher side, but I found that to be a consequence of ambition rather than silliness. Like Zamula. So I liked it well enough.

That said, I think he’s suffering ill-effects from having played most of this game as the only puck handler on his line.

No, Noah Cates and Scott Laughton do not qualify as puck handling forwards. Just not players I really want with the puck on their stick for more than a flash very often.

Travis Konecny? Have yourself a day, dude.

Mandatory credit: Flyers Twitter