PHILADELPHIA — It was an unfortunate consequence of his jersey number. Moments after Team Canada lost the Olympic gold-medal game to Team USA in overtime on Feb. 22, the players lined up to receive their consolation silvers. The on-ice camera was ready for a must-see series of reaction shots, focused initially on the player wearing No. 6 in red, standing glumly at the head of the row.
The devastating scowl chiseled into Travis Sanheim’s blank face, eyes down and unmoving, might as well have represented an entire country.
“Disappointed, upset,” Sanheim said on Monday, when asked about that moment six weeks ago. “You’re one shot away in a game you thought you played your best.”
Sanheim and his Canadian teammates probably won’t ever fully get over that defeat. But he feels a bit differently about it now than he did in the immediate aftermath of Jack Hughes’ game-winner for the Americans.
“I’ve had time to reflect on it, and just what it meant to be there at that stage and represent my country, and to come home with a medal means a lot,” he said.
It has become evident in the weeks since that Sanheim, who turned 30 last week, has benefited from his Olympic experience. He has as much to do with the Philadelphia Flyers’ post-Olympic surge, which has them back in playoff position, as anyone on the roster.
In 25 games since, Sanheim has four goals and eight assists for 12 points and a plus-10 rating. The Flyers have outscored the opposition 18-13 with him on the ice at five-on-five, and he owns a 55.92 expected-goals share, per Natural Stat Trick.
Trevor Zegras labeled Sanheim as “the backbone” of the team.
“Can put him out there in all situations, (he can play) either side,” Zegras said. “Big body with a great stick. He’s chipping in some offense. He’s doing it all for us.”
But perhaps the most remarkable Sanheim stat is this: despite leading the Flyers in average ice time at 24 minutes, 41 seconds per game since the break, Sanheim hasn’t taken a single penalty. You have to go all the way back to Jan. 28 for Sanheim’s last infraction, a first-period hooking minor on the Columbus Blue Jackets’ Charlie Coyle. He’s played 617 total minutes since that Blue Jackets game, fifth-most in the NHL.
“Jesus,” Zegras said, when relayed that information. “That’s crazy.”
Indeed.
Even Sanheim acknowledges that he’s currently playing his best hockey of the season, despite not getting a February respite like most other players around the league.
“I feel like my play has kind of been at its best this season since then,” he said. “It’s a credit to some of the training that the staff has done with me. Body feels good. Feel like I’m in a good situation. Just want to continue to keep playing well.”
It’s a stark difference from one year ago.
The way that Sanheim concluded the 2024-25 season stuck in his craw. He wasn’t pleased with his game after the 4-Nations Face-off. The fatigue of the regular season, coupled with his competing for Team Canada in that brief but intense international exposition, adversely affected his performance with the Flyers over the final few weeks. It was the second straight season that Sanheim appeared to wear down during the final stretch.
As a result, Sanheim dialed in on his training over the summer, since he figured he was a good bet to make Canada’s Olympic team. He tweaked his regimen just a bit with a little help from the Flyers’ staff, skated more than usual and came to training camp ready to have a big season.
“He was one of our best-shaped guys at the start of the year, in training camp,” coach Rick Tocchet said. “I think he’s played better since he’s played in the Olympics. I thought his game on the Island (a 4-1 Flyers win over the Islanders last Friday), he was a monster out there. The back-to-back (after the Flyers played Detroit the night before), the fatigue didn’t even enter.”
“Maybe that’s just the experience I needed to go through, is not getting that break last season and understanding how to take care of your body and set yourself up down the stretch,” Sanheim said. “Last year, just, my body was not in the situation where it’s at now.”
That game on Jan. 28 is notable for another reason, beyond it being the last time Sanheim took a minor penalty. It’s when Tocchet shifted the left-shot Sanheim back to the left side of the top defense pair, where he has remained ever since. He’s been paired with Rasmus Ristolainen, who also played in the Olympics, earning a bronze medal with Finland.
Initially, part of Tocchet’s thinking in making that move was to get Sanheim some games in that spot ahead of the Olympics, as that’s where he was expected to skate for Team Canada. But the Sanheim-Ristolainen pair has given the Flyers a legitimate top duo that has both size and mobility, which Tocchet has been able to lean upon a great deal.
Along with some defensive system changes that Tocchet and assistant coach Todd Reirden implemented coming out of the break, the Flyers have been among the best defensive teams in the league. Entering Monday, their team 2.38 goals-against average since the break was second in the NHL to the St. Louis Blues. Sanheim and Ristolainen are often out there against the other team’s top players.
“Me and Risto coming back, the game that we’ve been playing, we’ve fed off each other well, playing solid,” Sanheim said.
Tocchet, an assistant coach on Team Canada, got to witness Sanheim in a different light in Milan. There, Sanheim wasn’t one of the big dogs. He had to fight just to get into the lineup, as he was a healthy scratch in Canada’s first game.
But Sanheim got in for Canada’s second game and was determined from then on to remain in an active lineup featuring all-stars and future Hall of Famers. He did.
“Him in that environment, you could tell that he was soaking it all in,” Tocchet said. “When he got in, he didn’t look back. I could tell he wanted that spot. He did some really good stuff there.”
Tocchet, Sanheim and the Flyers have all been benefiting from it since.
“Being in that environment fuels you. You to want to win again, and you want to do it here, ultimately,” Sanheim said. “I brought that back, and I’ve had a good mindset. I think it’s been showing.”