Optimizing the Flyers’ defense without Travis Sanheim

Photo by Mark Blinch/NHLI via Getty ImagesThe Flyers won their game against the Capitals yesterday and maybe we can say that the game was fun. It depends on your definition of fun, I guess. It was pretty wide open and there was a whole lot of scoring, which was fun. But that also means that there were certainly stretches where the Flyers’ defense, well, sort of forgot what defense even looked like, which was decidedly less fun for us to watch (and probably even less fun for Carter Hart to live out).

We know that the Flyers’ defensive situation this season has been, tenuous, to say the least, and yesterday was more of the same, further exacerbated by the absence of Travis Sanheim. And the bad…