The Philadelphia Flyers are by far not the strongest team at the center position, but they are trying to work with what they got. Part of that is, according to head coach Rick Tocchet, managing captain Sean Couturier’s workload so that he can be as effective as possible.
Heading into this season, the Flyers added Christian Dvorak to their center depth, but they still are sorely lacking quality high-end players down the middle. Noah Cates has done an admirable job trying to resolve the issue, and Dvorak has certainly played well this season, playing himself into a five-year extension with the club. However, the injury to Rodrigo Abols puts the Flyers — already rather thin — even thinner at the center position. The most likely result is that Cates, Dvorak and Sean Couturier are going to have pick up more of the slack unless Flyers general manager Danny Briere tries a short-term fix in a trade.
The injury also puts the team in a no-win situation of sorts. While Abols was working with fourth-line minutes, it’s still a position they’re now down an NHL-level player. And with Couturier not getting any younger, and going through a rather bad goalless streak, it’s crucial the Flyers try to get Couturier going without Tocchet benching him for a brief reset.
Rick Tocchet wants to manage Sean Couturier’s workload better
In a post-practice presser Sunday in Vegas, Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet hinted that Couturier hasn’t looked quite as strong the last few weeks as he has earlier in the season.
“He always tries, I think his energy level we have to manage it maybe,” the coach said when asked about the forward and longest-serving Flyer currently on the club. “But you know, you only have so many centers and he’s got to take a chunk of it. There’s some management time maybe. I think his energy level hasn’t been as great the last couple of weeks.
“So maybe manage him and give him more days off, things like how to manage him. But he still does good things, he’s got a good stick and he does the little things good for us. Things like winning draws is big. That’s part of another thing; on our power play we don’t win draws. I mean that’s thirty-second so. Maybe if we can’t win draws then we might have to get him back out there again. But we’re trying to save his ice time too.”
It’s a tough spot for both the coach and the forward. It seems apparent Couturier has hit a wall. Whether it’s the ridiculously condensed schedule for all teams with the Winter Olympics on the horizon, or just hitting a wall like he did in previous years, Couturier hasn’t looked as strong as he did even a month or six weeks ago. He hasn’t scored in 2026, and has just four assists. In fact, he hasn’t scored since Dec. 7 in a loss to Colorado. He did seemingly get a bit of a bump for a few games when the Flyers called up winger Denver Barkey, giving Couturier a younger, high IQ linemate who has done quite well in his short time in Philadelphia. But it appears Tocchet is going to have to figure out a way to limit Couturier a few ways.
How can the Flyers get the most out of Couturier?
One way would be to possibly have him take more practices off between games and allow himself to take more maintenance days. This approach to his workload might help in the short-term, particularly once the Flyers finish their pre-Olympic schedule on Feb. 5. Most likely Couturier can nurse and bumps and bruises in that nearly three-week period of downtime to be ready for the equally condensed gauntlet of games the rest of the way.
But given the dearth of depth, Couturier is almost one of the core go-to guys down the middle, possibly playing in a top-six role when the energy required isn’t quite there. Granted, Tocchet and the coaching staff have curtailed Couturier’s minutes this month.
After averaging 18:09 per game in October, Couturier saw his minutes diminish slightly. In November it was down to 17:24. December saw another slight drop to 17:13. So far in January, Couturier’s has averaged 15:50 per game, including just 14:20 in the Flyers’ embarrassing 6-3 loss to the Rangers on Saturday afternoon. So, the workload has been scaled back slightly. It will be far more challenging however given Abols’s absence.
If Tocchet feels he can trust Lane Pederson, who played under the coach for a short stint in Vancouver back in 2022-23, then that might help lighten the burden somewhat for the Flyers captain. But most likely Pederson will be filling in for Abols, not stepping into a top-six or middle-six spot in the lineup. Ideally, one thing that could help snip some of Courturier’s minutes would be the number of stupid, undisciplined penalties the Flyers have taken of late. The center leads the forwards with 99:51 time on ice on the penalty kill, 11:09 more than Christian Dvorak. And he’s only four minutes back of defenseman Nick Seeler (103:24) which is not ideal. Trying to take a regular shift on top of being used three or four minutes on the special teams can certainly sap energy, especially for a recently-turned 33-year-old forward.
Hopefully, the Flyers begin to steer towards gaining points and some traction in the standings. And reducing the minor penalties that they simply can’t kill much at all. Otherwise, the longer the losing streak continues, and the longer Couturier is not on the scoresheet, the more unwanted attention the situation will receive. And not for any positive reasons. Maybe Couturier lights the lamp on this current road trip and can get back on track. Like the rest of the team, this month has been very tough sledding.
