@KingBogo I went back and looked at total shifts and he doesn't really do much better by that metric. He was 8th among forwards in shifts per game, tied with Iafallo, and behind Appelton. His average shift length was 50 seconds per game, tied with Perfetti for 4th on the team. Only the top line averages more.
So even going by that he's not deployed as one of the more important forwards. I get that he can drive offense no matter the center but they have deployed him driving the third most important line in more sheltered situations with limited pp time on the second unit. Not really what I'd call as being highly valued.
Also Cole showed he could drive that line just fine without Fly last year. The KC Monohan Perfetti; and the Perfetti, Name, and Iafallo lines did an excellent job. There was really no reason to not have Fly on the top line as he wasn't needed to drive line 2.
Edit: Or maybe use him on Lowrys line to drive offense given the minutes it eats.
So even going by that he's not deployed as one of the more important forwards. I get that he can drive offense no matter the center but they have deployed him driving the third most important line in more sheltered situations with limited pp time on the second unit. Not really what I'd call as being highly valued.
Also Cole showed he could drive that line just fine without Fly last year. The KC Monohan Perfetti; and the Perfetti, Name, and Iafallo lines did an excellent job. There was really no reason to not have Fly on the top line as he wasn't needed to drive line 2.
Edit: Or maybe use him on Lowrys line to drive offense given the minutes it eats.