There’s familiarity for Christian Dvorak coming to Philly.
The 29-year-old centerman signed a one-year, $5.4 million deal with the Flyers at free agency’s opening on July 1, which reunites him with head coach Rick Tocchet, who he produced some solid years under when they were both in Arizona and as Dvorak was trying to find his way as a regular NHLer.
Looking at the Flyers’ depth chart, there’s an obvious opening for Dvorak to fit into, too.
“He said there’s a big opportunity, that they’re a little bit thin down the middle,” Dvorak said of his initial talks with Tocchet since joining the Flyers, in a Zoom call with the local media on Thursday. “So it felt like a great fit for me, a guy that can play a 200-foot game, play in all situations, win faceoffs, I think that was a big thing, too.”
For a team in big need of it.
The Flyers are still in search of a true, top-of-the-lineup center. They won’t be counting on Dvorak to be that, but they are looking for him to be a dependable short-term veteran to, hopefully, help bridge the gap toward finding one.
And maybe be someone who can bring some recent playoff wisdom to a young and developing team, too.
Steve Roberts/Imagn Images
Christian Dvorak won the majority of his faceoffs last season in Montreal.
Dvorak, after injuries cut his previous two years in Montreal short, stayed healthy and skated in all 82 games for the Canadiens last season, carving out a key role for himself in the Habs’ long-awaited bid back into the playoffs.
He scored 12 goals and 33 points skating at an average of 15:15 a night, but bigger in terms of puck possession was that he won the majority of his faceoffs at a 55.8-percent clip, and generated expected goals for (48.64 percent) and scoring chances for (48.25 percent) rates that each ranked fifth on the Canadiens last year, per Natural Stat Trick.
Additionally, Dvorak’s high-danger chances for percentage capped out at 50.82, again per Natural Stat Trick, which ranked fourth on a young Montreal team that sat on the verge of a breakout.
They finally did in the latter half of last season, and coming to Philadelphia now, Dvorak said he senses a bit of that same situation brewing with the Flyers.
It just might take a bit of time to realize it, but for where the organization is at right now, it’s aware of that. It’s the process they signed up for.
The Flyers are making a bet, though, that Dvorak can bring at least modest production and the experience that will help them take a step forward, even if it’s only a slight setup on the path to something bigger.
“I think the similarities are how young both teams are,” Dvorak said. “Sometimes it takes a little bit of time when you’re that young, but yeah, in Montreal, we started a bit slow, everyone probably counted us out and thought we were going to be sellers at the trade deadline. But we got hot the second half of the year and right before the deadline we kept everyone together, and made a nice run there.
“That was a lot of fun, and I think we could do something similar in Philly this year, too.”
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(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
