Couts survived the first day of camp, a good sign!
Unsurprisingly, Couturier hits camp raring to go. He packed on a few extra pounds of muscle to better stand up to the pounding he expects to receive, and he wants to play in as many preseason games as the organization will let him, just to be sure he’s ready both physically and mentally for Game 1. But most of all, he wants to prove to everyone — himself included — that he can be the player he once was.
From 2017-18 (his breakout offensive season) through 2020-21, Couturier finished in a tie for 29th in points scored (252) by NHL forwards. And he racked up all those points despite constantly taking on the toughest assignments that the Flyers faced, earning a Selke Trophy in 2020 for his efforts.
Per Evolving-Hockey’s public Wins Above Replacement model, Couturier ranked fourth in the league among all skaters over that four-year span, trailing only Connor McDavid, Brayden Point and Mark Stone. Couturier ranked in the 96th percentile during that same timeframe, in terms of his impact on his club’s expected goal differential.
1. Tortorella let slip an interesting aside about Marc Staal on Thursday, who he envisions playing a big role for the rebuilding Flyers. But his “big role” doesn’t necessarily include an every-night lineup guarantee. In fact, it’s apparently the opposite.
“As I stated to him, he’s not going to get in the way of the kids, of us developing the kids. There’s going to be some nights he’s not going to play,” Tortorella bluntly stated.
“The team’s probably going to be younger, just as you look at the layout,” he said. “Especially our back end, that is definitely young. We’re gonna have some horror shows at night in certain games, with our young back end. But we’re going to work with them, we’re going to live with through some of the mistakes and see what we have there.”
4. When asked if he planned to approach this season any differently than he had last year — given the fact that this year, the organization has openly acknowledged that they’re rebuilding — Tortorella provided an interesting answer.
“See, in my mind, we were rebuilding last year,” he responded. “I don’t care what we said,
what was allowed to be said, or whatever. In my mind, we were rebuilding. I’m going to the second step of this here.”
Sean Couturier is aiming to make his comeback, and he passed the first test -- Day 1 of a John Tortorella training camp.
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