Philadelphia Flyers head coach Alain Vigneault announced yesterday after practice that forward Oskar Lindblöm will be a healthy scratch tonight against the Calgary Flames. Lindblöm skated in practice as an extra defenseman with Ryan Ellis being injured again, which was an eyebrow raiser that suggested a scratch may be coming. Patrick Brown will slot into the lineup in Lindblöm’s place tonight.
While some fans are up in arms about it, it’s honestly not the end of the world. Keep in mind Vigneault is not the second coming of Dave Hakstol, and he isn’t scratching him for the sake of scratching him and inserting a clearly worse player in the lineup who they think is actually better.
Lindblöm has played relatively okay, and Vigneault and the coaching staff have noticed that, but he has yet to score a goal or consistently contribute offensively. A game off for Lindblöm, whether it’s a one-game situation or every once in a while, is not going to break the team.
Keep in mind, this is Lindblöm’s first full 82-game slate since 2018-19. He was a late season recall in 2017-18, he missed the majority of the 2019-20 season while undergoing treatment for Ewing’s sarcoma, and last season contained a COVID-shortened 56-game schedule with little practice time. Despite all of that, he has been noticeable on the ice still, which is a really encouraging sign of his play. However, the results have not shown that on the scoresheet.
His advanced numbers suggest that he’s been good so far but he has also been super unlucky as well. He has zero goals and just one assist in 13 contests this season so far, which came all the way back on October 18th against the Seattle Kraken in the second game of the season. Lindblöm is getting 54.4 percent of his starts in the defensive zone, which may be dragging his offensive chances down just a little, but he maintains a 51.3 Corsi-For Percentage at 5-on-5 and his Expected Goals For is 6.7, the latter of which is 8th among Flyers skaters and 3rd among Flyers forwards.
Lindblöm and his linemates, primarily James van Riemsdyk and Scott Laughton, have been creating scoring chances and are capable of buzzing well in the offensive zone, but they collectively have not had a super productive season. Of course, Lindblöm is the lone player of the three without a tally year, but the opportunities have been there and he hasn’t necessarily been bad, but just unlucky.
Tonight’s game gives Lindblöm an opportunity to reset for the evening and be fresh for Thursday’s matchup against the Tampa Bay Lightning, which coincidentally is the Flyers’ Hockey Fights Cancer night at Wells Fargo Center. It will an emotional yet special night for Lindblöm and the Flyers, and he’ll return to the Philadelphia lineup better and stronger than before.
