Spreading Their Wings

Back when the Flyers selected Calgary Hitmen defenseman Travis Sanheim in the first round of the 2014 NHL Draft, the organization's former player personnel director (and later assistant general manager) Chris Pryor, said, "It's fair to say that Travis has the upside" of a 4S NHL prospect: skill, size, speed,and smarts.

Philippe Myers inexplicably fell through the cracks of the 2015 NHL Draft and ultimately signed an entry-level free agent contract with the Flyers after an impressive showing at the team's rookie camp that September. However, it took only one year removed from that time for the Flyers and other now-kicking-themselves organizations to view his potential in similarly high regard.

It's now been six years since Sanheim, who turned 24 on March 29, was drafted. Myers turned 23 on Jan.25. Both players had their share of early ups and downs after turning professional. The growing pains and inconsistency were par for the developmental course of young defensemen. The organization remained patient, not just because of their respective physical gifts but also because both the 6-foot-5, 210-pound Myers and the 6-foot-3, 202-pound Sanheim were highly coachable and displayed excellent work ethics.

Now both are spreading their wings and blossoming into highly effective defensemen at the NHL level, both individually and in tandem as defense partners.

Over the quarter-season plus stretch leading up to the NHL's pause for the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, Sanheim and Myers (who were previously paired together on the top pairing for the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms) thrived as the Flyers' second pair. After a solid training camp, the duo has seemed to pick up where they left off as the posteason has gotten underway in the Bubble in Toronto.

In Sunday's round-robin opening 4-1 win over the Boston Bruins, Sanheim and Myers attacked the ice with confidence. They were aggressive challenging plays from a defensive standpoint. Offensively, they jumped into the rush with full confidence and generally picked their spots very well. Even when there was the odd miscue here and there. there was no "snowball effect", and the players bounced right back.

Sanheim's blueline keep of a Boston clearing attempt and gorgeous pass Michael Raffl produced the game's first goal. Moments after Boston narrowed a 2-0 Flyers lead to a single goal, Myers restored a two-goal margin with a perfectly placed and practically unstoppable shot from the top of the right circle that found the top left corner of the net.

"There's no doubt both are excellent skaters. Both have great size. Both young players that we put together and put faith and trust in them. Tonight they played a real solid game. I thought the first exhibition game they played was average. Tonight there was no doubt they made some big plays and made some big defensive plays. They were a big part of tonight's win," Flyers head coach Alain Vigneault said afterwards.

It was not just in the most recent game that Sanheim and Myers shined. It has been happening on a regular basis for much of the season. For the first time in his NHL career, Sanheim saw extensive use on the penalty kill. His gap-management defensively, which was one of his primary areas of inconsistency his first year in the NHL, has gotten much better. So has some of his decision making up-ice and when dealing with forechecking pressure. Myers, meanwhile, has much better learned when to be aggressive physically and when to play the angles and use his reach. Both players are very mobile -- not just "mobile for big men" but legitimately strong skaters with wide swatches of range where they can challenge or make a play with the puck.

For Sanheim, who played for a junior program that lacked high-end forwards and which heavily relied on him and Jake Bean to push the attack from the back end, it's a source of pride that he's become an NHL penalty killing regular.

"It's something that I've worked on in junior. Early on, I wasn't a PKer. With the coaching staff there, it's something that I wanted to take pride in and be able to be a top guy and be able to play in all situations. When I went to the American League, it was kind of the same thing. I was able to step up in that role and play a lot of minutes in that situation as well. It took a little bit of time in the NHL. This year, I think I took a pretty good step in that direction. That's something I want to continue to do well in and be able to help the team out," Sanheim said.

For Myers, who sustained a fractured kneecap shortly before the NHL pause and was able to fully heal by the time training camp arrived on July 8, it has been gratifying to see the degree to which he and Sanheim have earned the coaches' trust. At the end of the Boston game, he took far more satisfaction from having contributed to his Flyers time having kept Boston's deadly Patrice Bergeron and dangerous second line centered by David Krejci from scoring than from his own goal.

"The goal's a bonus. I'm a defenseman. My job is to stop the other team's top players. The goal is just a side bonus. I had an opportunity and I took it. I'm glad it went in and I could chip in offensively," Myers said.

As a matter of fact, Flyers assistant coach Mike Yeo, who is in charge of the defense and the penalty kill, said during training camp that the staff is not only unconcerned if the Sanheim-Myers pair (rather than the top duo of Ivan Provorov and Matt Niskanen) end up on the ice against another team's first line, there are times when the Flyers strategically choose the second pair to go out against such lines even when Philadelphia is the home team and has the right to the last line/pair change.

Yeo cited examples from the season of using Sanheim and Myers against Alex Ovechkin's line in a game against Washington and another where the Flyers had to deal with Toronto's Austin Matthews (Provorov and Niskanen drew John Tavares' line).

"To hear that, obviously, it gives us a lot of confidence," Sanheim said. "That's the kind of challenge, to compete against the best players in the game that we all love to have."

The Flyers' offseason additions of Niskanen to pair with Provorov and Justin Braun (who initially saw frequent time with Sanheim during the early part of the season) to help stabilize the lower pairs eventually enabled Sanheim and Myers to be slotted as the team's second pair. It has paid significant dividends.

Sanheim averaged 20:09 of ice time during the regular season. His 52.2 percent Corsi rating (percentage of all 5-on-5 shot attempts for/ against the Flyers when he's on the ice) led the team's blueline this season. He also led the Flyers defense corps in 5-on-5 expected goals.

Meanwhile, Myers posted a traditional plus-minus rating of +17 as a rookie in 2019-20. He had a 51.43 percent on-ice Corsi, 50.87 percent Fenwick, and 50.34 percent expected goals percentage at 5-on-5. Myers also averaged 5.61 hits per 60 minutes of ice time (trailing only Robert Hägg among Flyers defensemen who have played in 10 or more games), 3.08 blocked shots per 60 minutes, Owing to his strength, reach and quick stick, Myers' 21 credited takeaways trailed only Sanheim (22) among Flyers defensemen in terms of cumulative total, and his 1.47 takeaways per 60 minutes leads the Flyers blueline by a wide margin.

These are the tangible benefits, along with Myers compiling a three-game goal streak at one stretch during the first half and Sanheim posted eight goals (he had nine last year). Intangibly, the two players recognize that they both still have room for even further improvement yet their "baseline" games are comfortably of NHL starting caliber. Put more simply, they know they belong and are important parts of the team's aspirations for a deep run this season and contendership for years to come.

Sometimes, it is easy to overlook the process it took for a player to get to a certain level of achievement and focus only on the results on the other side. Part of what makes both Sanheim and Myers easy players to root for is that they recognize the process it took to arrive at their current status and what it will take to reach greater levels.

Sanheim and Myers put in extensive work with development coach Kjell Samuelsson, Phantoms head and assistant coaches Scott Gordon and Kerry Hufman, and their NHL defense coaches including Gord Murphy, Rick Wilson and Yeo. They've both expressed gratitude to their NHL head coaches for the opportunities they've been given. In particular, Sanheim's emergence at the NHL coincided with Gordon and Wilson extending his role significantly last year and then Vigneault and Yeo adding PK responsibilities.

The primary credit, however, goes to the two players themselves.

"Both Travis and Phil are tremendous young men, and very diligent and conscientious," Vigneault said. "There's no doubt that they understand the challenges and this level and that they are always striving to improve. They're valuable players on our hockey team."