Ideal potential Flyers linemates for Kuzmenko and Pelletier

2 weeks ago  /  Broad Street Hockey  /  Read Time: 4 minutes 51 seconds

It’s an exciting time whenever the Philadelphia Flyers bring in some new talent. Whether it is some heralded prospect, a free agent acquisition, or as they did last Thursday, acquire a couple of forwards in a path-shaping trade with the Calgary Flames. Andrei Kuzmenko and Jakob Pelletier are your newest Flyers.



We did attempt to get more familiar with both players by watching a whole collection of their highlights on our YouTube channel and reacting to some sick plays, but we won’t really know how they perform in Philadelphia until they perform in Philadelphia. Both players have tendencies to do certain things and we can conjure up an idea of what they bring to the table, but it will take some more digging to get a true sense for if they can mesh well and provide what this team desperately needs.



Until we do that and until we see both Kuzmenko and Pelletier in the Orange and Black, we can only have an educated guess for what their role on this team could be. But beyond that, what are some potential linemates that we could see working well with both of these players?



Andrei Kuzmenko



Kuzmenko’s whole deal is an interesting one. He is not a speedy player or plays with a high-end pace, but he does have some incredible puck skills and loves to cut inside, dangling his way one-on-one with a defender and getting a chance off from the left side. That is how he made a whole lot of his plays through his 39-goal season in Vancouver, and that could be what he likes to do in Philadelphia.



So, who could use a finisher that won’t necessarily do a whole lot of work along the boards, but on the left wing, provides a scoring threat?



Travis Konecny



Kuzmenko should have a good opportunity to shine with the Flyers. Danny Briere said it himself that they were potentially looking at signing the Russian winger as a free agent this summer anyways, so now they will get a good look at what he can be on this team before they make any decision that can impact the future.



Potentially linking with Travis Konecny can certainly do that. The duo would get loads of minutes as a top line to hope to get some goals, and Konecny could certainly benefit from someone willing to stickhandle through some opponents, and be another option for some high-danger opportunities. While Konency has found some success with Owen Tippett or Tyson Foerster on his left, the former prefers to shoot from distance and the latter is still trying to find some of his offensive game as a young player. Kuzmenko would theoretically bring something different and could free up Konecny from trying to do a whole lot of heavy lifting in the offensive zone.



Matvei Michkov



Instantly, people thought of a potential Russian connection between Michkov and Kuzmenko. Former SKA St. Petersburg teammates, the duo could certainly play off of one another and it would be an absolute blast to see what they could do. And if you’re trying to see if Kuzmenko has enough in the tank to stay in Philadelphia, then why not partner him with the future face of your entire organization?



The hurdle would be someone needing to care about defense, but it would be extremely funny to see both wingers cheating and exiting their own zone way too early. Feels like a high-risk, high-reward play that would just be temporary, but it does feel like maybe a late-game, down-by-one pairing that John Tortorella could whip out.



Noah Cates



While we’re thinking about wingers he could potentially partner up with, there needs to be someone that cares about defense on the line. Kuzmenko brings so much offensive potential, but without someone controlling play and responsible enough so that they don’t just get stuck in their own zone for the entire shift, it feels like a mute point.



Noah Cates does feel like the ideal center for Kuzmenko. We have seen him explode offensively with Bobby Brink and Tyson Foerster, but imagine a player that has experience scoring dozens and dozens of goals at the NHL level.



Jakob Pelletier



When you see an undersized winger who scored heaps of points in junior hockey and in the AHL, there are stereotypes that come to mind. A contact-avoidant, weak winger who might only care about offense. Well, everything we have heard and seen about Pelletier is that he is the opposite. A winger that has a real motor to him and has been killing penalties much more often than any opportunity on the power play.



So, if he can be an offense-generator but also be responsible and potentially retrieve some pucks for his linemates, which forwards could work well with him?



Matvei Michkov



Michkov could certainly use someone to do some work for him. While the rookie is uber competitive and has a fire in his belly, Pelletier could be a complementary winger to poke and prod at the opposing team and if some chemistry develops, Michkov would know exactly where to be to score some dang points.



Michkov’s most common opposite winger has been Owen Tippett this season. While we love Tippett, he doesn’t exactly do what Pelletier has been advertised as. On that line, Michkov is the distributor, and Tippett is the trigger man who is hoping for an odd-man rush at every opportunity. A Pelletier and Michkov connection would provide a dynamic that we haven’t seen a whole lot of.



Tyson Foerster



What if the Flyers had a line that was extremely annoying to play against? A winger combination of Foerster and Pelletier might just do that. Both can provide offense and have scored points before, but beyond that they provide an annoying amount of puck care and would rather get impaled by their own stick than lose possession.



This partnership feels like it could benefit both players as they try to find their way as top-six NHL wingers, and it would free up a whole lot of opportunity for the top guys on the Flyers. What if a line could be excellent without Michkov and Konecny on it? And since we saw so much success with that trio of Cates, Foerster, and Brink, Pelletier brings a little bit more overall impact than Brink and it could really explode from there.



Sean Couturier



If any center could use a little guy skating his heart out and giving it all for control of the puck, it would be Sean Couturier. The elder statesman of the forward group isn’t the fleetest of foot and if he could be the connective tissue between two hard-working wingers with some scoring touch, then it would be an ideal spot for the 32-year-old.



Maybe Pelletier can breathe some life into the veteran center and maybe Couturier would be excited to get a sense of what his new teammate is like.



We have no professional hockey coaches on staff and ultimately it will be up to John Tortorella and his crew, but we tried to put our best foot forward and have an educated guess as to what could work, with what we know about the two new wingers.







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