The Flyers have been struck again by the injury bug. With Rodrigo Abols taking an injury in yesterday afternoon’s game against the Rangers and the prognosis immediately not looking so good, the time came again for the Flyers to dip into the well of options from the AHL squad to bring into the mix to help fill that role centering the fourth line.
For this, veteran centerman Lane Pederson was given the nod. Pederson has spent the better part of this season centering the Phantoms’ top line, and with that increase in usage has really carved out a nice role for himself — he sits, as we speak, as the Phantoms’ top producer, with 13 goals and 28 points through the first 37 games of the season.
He will join forwards Denver Barkey and Carl Grundstrom as well as defenseman Hunter McDonald (who was just recalled yesterday) in the growing contingent of Phantoms players now on the NHL roster.
What Pederson offers
The choice to recall Pederson does not come as a surprise. His production is certainly worth the nod on its own, but what’s been particularly notable about his game is the consistency with which he’s been able to not just produce points, but also create a bulk of dangerous scoring chances. While not overly physical, his game is hard-nosed, and along with the bit of speed he brings along with him, he’s stepped up as an effective puck-possession player.
And even as his production has taken a bit of a dip over these last few games — he has just one point in the last three — he’s been around it a lot, having put 11 shots on goal between those last three games, and as recently as last night had two excellent scoring chances just pass him by as his shots have missed the net. All the same, his game has remained focused, unfrustrated, and he’s continued to show a commitment to getting to the right areas of the ice.
There is, in a way, a resilience to Pederson’s game, which is something which will be sorely needed as he jumps in with a Flyers team in the midst of a six-game losing skid, and the light at the end of the tunnel feeling quite distant indeed. He won’t have the same wealth of minutes at his disposal, nor quite the same caliber of linemates as far as the raw puck skill is concerned — though it is worth mentioning that he did show well in the handful of games he played with Carl Grundstrom on his wing in the early part of the season — but there’s reason for optimism here that he can bring a bit of pace to the mix and help to manufacture a bit of individual offense with that in the minutes he does get.
All in all, this recall is a deserved one for a player who’s been a nicely consistent contributor for the Phantoms so far, as well as a good faith gesture towards an organizational depth piece.
What this means for the Phantoms
This move, of course, will have its implications of the Phantoms as well. This is a bit of a drain on their center pool, but barring further injuries, they have enough pieces to make it work. This will likely mean that Phil Tomasino will be promoted to center their top line, and most likely Tucker Robertson will slide back into a spot down the middle, while Karsen Dorwart — who had experienced a bit of a break from centering a line in favor of moving him up in the lineup and over to the wing to get his game going again, but saw himself moved back over to center for the first time in a couple of weeks last night — will also go back to centering his own line, meanwhile, they also have Zayde Wisdom as a pinch option to rotate in to a depth center role, as he’s done in flashes already this season.
It will be, as well, a significant drain on their offensive firepower. With Denver Barkey already up on his recall with the Flyers, and Alex Bump officially out week-to-week with his upper body injury, Pederson’s removal from the mix means that the Phantoms are now completely without their once unstoppable looking top line, and as the scoring has slowed down for them already, without one of their most consistent producers.
This all makes for an extra challenging situation for that group, but not one which is impossible to overcome. New opportunities will arise for new players, and it will be interesting to see what they do with them.