While there are a laundry list of reasons the 2021-22 Philadelphia Flyers were a dumpster fire, perhaps one of the biggest was a revolving door of a fourth line that was consistently caved in by opposing teams.
Inked to a one-year, $800K deal to return to Philadelphia after a seven-game run in 2019-20, Nate Thompson was penciled into the fourth line to start the season for then-head coach Alain Vigneault. The 37-year-old came cheap for Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher during the summer and the general feeling was that Thompson would play a specific role and potentially be a press box body depending on what other players had in the tank.