WASHINGTON — Noah Cates scored the Philadelphia Flyers’ only goal on Wednesday night in a 3-1 loss to the Capitals at Capital One Arena. Cates, stationed just outside of the crease, got the blade of his stick on a floater towards the net from Travis Sanheim just 19 seconds into the third period, tying the game at one.
It was Cates’ first goal in 19 games, ending a miserable drought.
“Didn’t like my January,” Cates said after the game. “I thought the team struggled, as well. I feel like when I struggle, and the team struggles, you just want to get out of it and get going.”
Yet the team’s struggles continued. It’s probably time to stop considering a miraculous late playoff push. The Capitals are a club the Flyers would almost certainly have to leapfrog, and the loss now puts them six points back of Washington. The Flyers have won just three of their previous 16 games (3-9-4), and don’t look talented enough for a sixth consecutive season.
Nonetheless, perhaps more concerning than their likely early summer, which many predicted before the season began anyway, is that the Flyers don’t look any closer to solving their primary issue from a roster-construction standpoint: They don’t have enough high-end, playmaking centers.
Cates’ goal on Wednesday was just the fifth from a Flyers center in 18 games since the new year. Three of them have come from Christian Dvorak, while the other was from Rodrigo Abols, who is likely out for the remainder of the season with an ankle injury suffered on Jan. 17.
The Flyers’ centers are in such dire straits that coach Rick Tocchet was forced to ice Carl Grundström, a typical winger, between Garnet Hathaway and Nikita Grebenkin in the middle of the fourth line on Wednesday night. That line didn’t play much, and in 7:43 of ice time, Grundström lost both of his face-offs.
Yet Grundström, a pending unrestricted free agent who could be unloaded for a late-round draft pick before the March 6 trade deadline, isn’t vital to the rebuild. The other guys in the middle on the top three lines? They are, at least judging from their respective contract situations.
Christian Dvorak inked a five-year, $25.75 million contract on Jan. 6 that kicks in next season. Still, he’s gone cold since the ink dried on that deal. Dvorak has just five points (3 goals, 2 assists) in his last 13 games, despite playing as the de facto top-line center.
“I’ve got to be better for the team, and have to produce for the team,” Dvorak said after the loss to the Capitals. “These are big games, and this is the type of game it’s going to be the rest of the way. Low-scoring games, tight defensively. Just got to bear down, get to the net and find ways to help the team win.”
Dvorak is a nice player, and Tocchet knows he can trust him in just about any situation, even when he’s not scoring. Yet, he’s not a top-line NHL center.
Trevor Zegras, the player the Flyers had hoped would embrace playing in the middle, was back on Dvorak’s wing on Wednesday with Travis Konecny. Zegras started in the middle of the previous four games before the Olympic break, but apparently, that was not a look Tocchet preferred. That’s somewhat understandable, as the connection between Zegras and Dvorak earlier in the season was pacing the offense.
“Put (Zegras) at center for a bit, I don’t know if that made him uncomfortable,” Tocchet said before the game. “He just wants to win (and) what’s best for the team, but also we want him to feel comfortable. When he’s comfortable, he’s a good hockey player. … I think he likes playing with that line, he likes playing with (Dvorak).”
Cates and Sean Couturier, signed for three and four more seasons respectively, are the Flyers’ current middle-six centers. Couturier’s goal drought continued on Wednesday, marking 30 games without a score from the captain. Further, on the Capitals’ game-winning goal by Trevor van Riemsdyk, Couturier lost control of his stick in the neutral zone. By the time he grabbed it, the Capitals had the Flyers outmanned.
Tocchet was asked after the game about the centers’ offensive struggles for the past few weeks.
“They’re trying,” he said. “We need some speed through the middle. It’s just not the centermen. That’s a big part of an offense, getting that middle speed. But they’re trying. You’ve got to give them a lot of credit, they’re trying.”
Sean Couturier hasn’t scored in his past 30 games. (Hannah Foslien / Imagn Images)
Trying alone doesn’t earn points in the standings, though. And speed is not a word anyone would use regarding the Flyers’ current group of pivots. That lack of speed has been prevalent for some time, dating back to the start of the 2023-24 season when then-coach John Tortorella kept Jett Luchanko around for the first few games before the prospect was ultimately reassigned back to his junior club.
Flyers general manager Daniel Briere decided to deal two NHL centers last season, of course. Morgan Frost wasn’t a player they figured they would eventually win with, and moving him to Calgary also helped to rid them of Joel Farabee’s inflated $5 million cap hit. They would have preferred to keep Scott Laughton around in a perfect world, but the offer they received from the Toronto Maple Leafs was just too good to pass up, and it’s not like Laughton is considered an overly skilled player, anyway.
The Flyers’ strongest position at the NHL level and in the system is undeniable. They have several scoring wingers that can produce steady offense, and some promising youngsters in Matvei Michkov, Denver Barkey and, maybe as soon as the end of this season, Porter Martone.
Finding at least another center and maybe even two with speed and skill will be paramount if the Flyers properly develop these guys.
There’s no one coming from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms this season. Luchanko looks more and more like he’s going to need at least a full season with the Phantoms next season when he turns pro. It’s difficult to imagine other center prospects like Jack Nesbitt or Jack Berglund are ready next season, either.
Briere has remained patient during the rebuild. The urgency to somehow, some way, procure a center, though, is increasing with each ineffective game. How he does it is anyone’s guess, but the current crop doesn’t look strong enough, skilled enough or fast enough — now or for the future.