was coots the missing piece

Team: 2023-24 Philadelphia Flyers

Initial Creation Date: Dec. 10, 2023

Published: Dec. 10, 2023

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

The Flyers have been great after that embarassing loss to the Sharks. Having Couturier back is huge. Couturier only played 29 games in the 2021-22 season and no games in the 2022-23 season. Philly with Couturier were 12-12-5 in 29 games during 2021-22 season. Without Couturier they were 13-34-6 in the remaining 53 games. Having Torts made them better in the 2022-23 season where they had to deal with no Couturier and no Atkinson. Now that both of them are back, they've been far better than most anticipated. Without Coots, their center depth was not good. In 2021-22 Giroux would end up playing center more often because of the injury to Couturier (obviously got traded that trade deadline as well and so did Brassard another center) and in 2022-23 Hayes ended playing both center and wing due to Torts. Morgan Frost and Noah Cates also played down the middle, but both of them do not have the elite 2 way game the Couturier provides. They are currently 2nd in a Metro with a blueline that is led by Travis Sanheim (who they tried to trade). They could be buyers this deadline. The Metro looks wide open right now. Carolina and Pittsburgh both have been disappointing. Although the Islanders have been on a roll recently, their blueline is currently dealing with injuries and i don't think they've gotten rid of the habit of blowing leads. Jersey has goaltending issues. Washington has been a weird team because the veterans have been bad and nobody is scoring at a pace close to a point per game, but goaltending has been good. If they do buy at the trade deadline, they probably need one more center especially if Frost continues to be disappointing.