Player Spotlight: Owen Tippett

Flyers right winger Owen Tippett is one of the "toolsiest" players on the team. Tippett, who will celebrate his 24th birthday on February 16, has all the elements of an NHL impact forward: good size, good speed, a heavy shot and a good work ethic to strive for continual refinement of his game.

Tippett missed five games early this season due to a concussion suffered in the regular season opener against the New Jersey Devils. Through the All-Star Break, he had posted 14 goals and 28 points in 46 games played. He has a solid shot at his first career 20-goal, 40-plus point season in the NHL, and has room to expand on it in the future.
For roughly a six-week period from mid-December to late January, Tippett found success playing right wing on a line with veteran left winger James van Riemsdyk and center Morgan Frost.
In the final game before the All-Star Break and the first game afterward, the trio was separated and placed on three different lines. Tippett primarily played at 5-on-5 with Scott Laughton in the middle and Kevin Hayes on left wing in the Flyers' 2-1 loss to the New York Islanders.
Tippett did not record a point in the game against the Islanders. Nevertheless, he was easily among the Flyers' best players -- perhaps even the single most effective forward -- in that game.
Tippett had his skating legs going all night: creating transitional rushes including two he started by blocking shots and then taking off with the puck, keeping his feet moving up ice to create a pair of power play opportunities and getting to scoring areas.
Tippett has seen ice time on both the power play first unit and the second unit, which has had its personnel juggled around frequently all season. Most recently -- subject to change around again at any point -- Tippett has been on PP2 with Frost, Noah Cates, Joel Farabee, and Cam York forming an all-young (ages 24-and-under) unit. The unit had a strong game in the final pre All-Star Break game in Winnipeg -- Tippett and Frost assisted on a Cates power play goal -- but was unable to get set up in the Islanders' game. Neither unit fared particularly well against the Islanders.
Flyers head coach John Tortorella has said multiple times this season that he believes the key to success for Tippett is to consistently identify and present himself as a power forward. Tortorella doesn't mean "power forward" in the Tim Kerr/John LeClair mold as an oak-tree like presence parked in the slot or in the Rick Tocchet sense as a player who combines goal scoring in the "hard areas of the ice" with dropping the gloves frequently.
When Tortorella refers to Tippett as a power forward, he's referring to a desire to see the player use his size/speed combination take more pucks directly to the net, use his first-step explosiveness to drive the slot to receive a pass in prime shooting range, and to fend off defenders to create a little more time and space for himself.
Tippett can occasionally score from the flanks or from distance but would arguably become a more consistent, less streaky, goal-scorer if he consistently focuses on getting below and between the dots. He is also underrated at using a defender as a screen and firing a shot on net. Bottom line: This is a player capable of scoring a variety of ways. A little more consistency is needed but the tools are there.
DEMONSTRATED DEVELOPMENT
* Offensive zone entries:Tippett also showed this ability last year, especially on the power play. Flyers assistant coach Rocky Thompson has taken notice of this skill, and it is notable that more entries have been worked in recent months with Tippett as the player tabbed to bring the puck in over the attacking blueline.
* Tippett has been evolving into a transitional play threat at 5-on-5. Once up ice, he has always had a more of a shoot-first mentality than looking to dish the puck, but he now has more of a game plan of how he wants to attack.
* Defensive awareness was one the knocks on Tippett before he came to Philadelphia last season in the Claude Giroux trade with Florida. He's worked hard in that area in the last two seasons. While not infallible in terms of D zone reads, Tippett has improved significantly as a two-way player over the course of the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons to date. In particular, he's made multiple strong backchecking plays this season to thwart opposing scoring chances (two of which prevent potential opposing shorthanded goals). He's still not infallible defensively -- or a likely future Selke candidate -- but Tippett deserves credit from how much his off-puck game has gotten better over the last couple years. When he does make a mistake that ends up in the net, he normally bounces back.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT
* Tippett is still a bit streaky and has had period dips in his play where he doesn't get the same quality and quantity of scoring opportunities that he has in the games where he jumps out as one of Philly's standout players. Often, these are the games where Tippett too often plays along the perimeter.
* While Tippett has improved immensely in terms of applying back pressure, he still has room to sharpen his defensive awareness in his own zone. For example, after the Islanders' game on Feb. 6, Tortorella noted that Tippett lost his man in coverage on what turned into New York's second goal (the game-winner).
TOP 3 SEASON HIGHLIGHTS
1. Used the D as a screen in Montreal (Nov. 19, 2022): Tippett scored two goals in a 5-4 shootout loss to the Canadiens. The second of the two goals, scored directly off the drop the puck on a right circle draw in the offensive zone after Tippett stepped in for Frost -- was the more "highlight reel" goal. The first one, however, was more reflective of where Tippett presents a threat. In transition, Tippett takes a pass from Travis Sanheim. He slickly uses the defenseman as a screen and fires off a tracer past Jake Allen into the net. This play is an example of how Tippett is capable of scoring from different areas.
2. Self-created space in LA (Dec. 31, 2022): Watch Tippett receive the puck along the boards, maneuver himself across the circle and below the dot before sniping a shot upstairs on Jonathan Quick. The goal knotted the score at 2-2 on the way to an eventual Flyers win.
3. Breakaway Goal in Winnipeg (Jan. 28, 2023): Tippett took a stretch pass from Ramus Ristolainen and buried a breakaway goal against Connor Hellebuyck to put a third-period stranglehold on the Flyers' eventual 4-0 win.
HE SAID IT: OWEN TIPPETT
"It's taken some time for me to realize different areas and different times of the game on when I can do what.... Sometimes you have more time than you think. Other times, you just need to get the puck to the net and kind of see what happens. It's a process...I think it is a bit of everything. Realizing you have space and taking a couple strides out of it."
Tippett on evolving offensively as an NHL player, Jan. 13, 2023 and Feb. 6, 2023.
"I think the more you play together, the better you get."
Tippett on developing chemistry with linemates (said on Feb 6 regarding switch-up to play with Hayes and Laughton).
THEY SAID IT
"You can see he's just about to bust out, and not just the offensive part. He's been a more consistent power forward. Winning puck battles, carrying the puck on the boards, getting pucks in when he needs to, chasing them down."
John Tortorella on Tippett, Jan. 13, 2023.