Travis Sanheim is now the longest-tenured defenseman for the Philadelphia Flyers after the summer departure of Ivan Provorov. At one point in time, Sanheim was part of the highly-touted Philadelphia back-end that was supposedly going to revolutionize Flyers hockey for years to come.
Samuel Morin only played in 29 NHL games from 2016-17 to 2020-21 before succumbing to a career-ending injury. Phil Myers played in parts of 3 seasons for the Flyers and after a great rookie season, he was stuck in Alain Vigneault’s doghouse before being traded away. Shayne Gostisbehere was a revelation in his first 3 seasons before being forced to change his game, was placed on waivers, and then traded for scraps, and Ivan Provorov never seemed to find his groove as the team’s number one defenseman after 2019-20.
That leaves us with Sanheim, who has had a roller coaster tenure for the Flyers, where when he’s at his best he looks every bit like a top-pairing defenseman. However when he’s off his game, he commits ill-advised turnovers and loses battles in the corners, in front of the net, and everywhere in between. Taking his rookie season out of the equation, we’ve seen the good Sanheim in 2018-19, 2019-20, and 2021-22 but we’ve seen the struggling Sanheim in 2020-21 and 2022-23.
Sanheim scored 2 goals and 10 points in 49 games while playing 15:35 TOI a night in his rookie season. The following year he appeared in all 82 games, averaged 19:34 TOI, scored 9 goals and 35 points, and was a minus-4. For his efforts, Chuck Fletcher signed the defenseman a 2-year contract worth $6.5 million.
Fletcher tried swinging for the fences in the his first official offseason with the Flyers and as he traded for and then signed Kevin Hayes, traded for Matt Niskanen and Justin Braun, and re-signed Ivan Provorov, Travis Konecny, and Travis Sanheim. The 2019-20 Flyers were a fun bunch to watch and a lot of it had to do with their balanced lineup. Sanheim scored 8 goals and 25 points in 69 games, was a plus-4, and averaged 20:09 a night. In 16 post-season games, the then-23-year-old scored 7 points and averaged 22:37 a night.
The Flyers fell off the face of the earth in 2020-21 and Sanheim was no different, as he scored 3 goals and 15 points in 55 games, was a minus-22 on the season, but averaged 21:53 with Matt Niskanen out of the fold, which was a career-high. The Flyers weren’t any better in 2021-22 and Sanheim struggled mightily in his first 22 games as he posted 0 goals and 3 assists, while averaging 22:17 a night. His revival came about with the departures of Alain Vigneault and Michel Therrien as he exploded for 7 goals and 28 points in his following 52 games under Mike Yeo.
He finished the season without a point in his final 6 games, which gave him 28 points in 58 games under Yeo, but he averaged 23:14 in that stretch, all of his points came while on even-strength as the Flyers hesitated to give him power play time, and he was plus-8. He ended up winning the Barry Ashbee Trophy awarded to the team’s best defenseman and he earned every bit of it.
Once again riding high into a contract season, Sanheim was awarded a massive 8-year deal from Chuck Fletcher worth 50 million dollars right before puck drop on the 2022-23 season. Unfortunately with John Tortorella behind the bench, Sanheim lost a lot of his juice from the previous season. He started the year with 2 points in 17 games, was a minus-2, and averaged 20:27 TOI.
After being called out by his head coach for his lack of aggressiveness, Sanheim potted 3 goals and 9 points in his following 9 games, was a plus-2, and averaged 21:12 TOI. He never truly regrouped offensively after that because in his final 55-game stretch he accumulated 4 goals and 12 points with an ATOI of 20:15.
He is a defenseman first and foremost, however he has always been lauded as a two-way defender with offensive upside, and over the years the Flyers relied heavily on production from their back-end with the likes of Gostisbehere, Provorov, and Sanheim, which is why his 2022-23 season was so disappointing.
He suffered through a stretch of 30 games where he didn’t score a goal and only recorded 2 assists. He was made a healthy scratch in front in friends and family at his former WHL barn in Calgary, he was benched a few times, and his ATOI was not close to where it was the previous 2 seasons with other defensemen producing and playing more consistently.
This summer in particular was pretty tough on the 27-year-old as he had to deal with very public trade talks that had him going to St. Louis in the potentially massive Kevin Hayes-Torey Krug swap. When Krug refused to waive his NMC, it became very apparent – and public once again – that Sanheim was still on the trade market. TSN’s Darren Dreger tweeted a couple times about the Flyers looking to move him and potentially upgrading on their 22nd overall pick.
In the end, the Flyers kept him around and with Ivan Provorov and Tony DeAngelo no longer part of the back-end, there was going to be a huge void that needed to be filled by Cam York, Travis Sanheim, and Rasmus Ristolainen. The Flyers signed Marc Staal, acquired Sean Walker in the Provorov deal, and kept Nick Seeler, but the brunt of the responsibilities would be handed off to York and Sanheim. That only echoed louder when Ristolainen was placed on IR to start the season.
How has Sanheim fared in the team’s first 5 games?
@ Columbus: 1 assist, plus-1, 2 PIMs, 2 shots on goal, 2 blocked shots, 26:17 TOI
@ Ottawa: 1 assist, minus-1, 4 PIMs, 1 shot on goal, 1 blocked shot, 23:58 TOI
vs. Vancouver: no points, even-rating, 1 hit, 3 shots on goal, 3 blocked shots, 24:28 TOI
vs. Edmonton: 1 assist, plus-2, 4 shots on goal, 2 hits, 1 blocked shot, 27:03 TOI
@ Dallas: 1 assist, even-rating, 1 shot on goal, 28:28 TOI
Not only is Sanheim pacing the club with a ridiculous 26:03 ATOI – 2nd highest in the NHL, behind only Drew Doughty’s 26:14 – to start the year but he doesn’t look out of position, he looks comfortable, he’s aggressive, and he put on some size over the summer to negate his past proclivities of being outmuscled in the corners or in front of the net. He has also seen 16.5 minutes shorthanded, 15.3 minutes on the power play, and has a CF of 22:2 compared to last year’s 40:20 in 43.9 minutes and 55:21 in 2021-22 in 54.4 minutes.
Sanheim had a lot to prove heading into the 2023-24 season after a rough 2022-23, being on the trade block a few times, almost being traded to St. Louis, and needing to take on the alpha-role with a lot of missing pieces from years prior. He has started out the 2023-24 season with a bang and his partnership with Cam York is everything the Flyers need right about now. With Marc Staal out for the next 4-6 weeks, Ristolainen remaining on the sidelines, and Emil Andrae and Egor Zamula both being present, Tortorella will be relying on Sanheim for the foreseeable future.
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