This past season wasn’t anything out of the ordinary for 25-year-old Nicolas Aube-Kubel. He played 50 games, and recorded 12 points (3G, 9A). His season obviously wasn’t a great one, but it isn’t very surprising if you look back at his earlier career records. A few things I feel as if I should acknowledge are his line mates, his presence on the ice and what he needs to fix in his game. Although Aube-Kubel’s season didn’t hold anything major, he is still an interesting player to recognize.  

I feel as if a disadvantage to NAK this season could have been his lines. He commonly bounced around different line mates, which in no way can help anyone’s playing and skills. For a player like him- who’s only played 95 games since his 2018 start- it can be important to have at least one specific teammate that you’re familiar with. Even though his only NHL experience has been with the Philadelphia Flyers, every player plays the game a certain way. He’s still noticeably young, and most likely isn’t used to every player he gets paired with, or at least enough to play well each night. Another issue to recognize with his teammates, is he often played with Nolan Patrick. Now, I’m not trying to throw Patrick under the bus. In fact, I have a lot of hope for his future career in the NHL. But just by looking at his records, you can tell his season was far from the standard of a 2nd overall draft pick. So, in no way could this have been helpful if one was trying to encourage improvement from NAK. He could/should have been paired with other and more-advanced players (on the occasion), who could lead by example. The game of hockey is very much a team sport, but this didn’t always work out very well for Aube-Kubel. 

Although this might sound weird, I believe an issue for NAK’s game was his presence on the ice. When thinking about what I should say about him, nothing really came to mind. This is because he doesn’t have a strong presence. There isn’t much you can point out in the player’s individual flaws, besides the lack of points. I don’t believe he stands out to anyone as a bad player or trade bait. However, he certainly doesn’t stand out as a player with hope. At the age of 25, you should start to see a player’s general rhythm of their game. Even in his AHL and junior career, he’s never been a standout player. Although his ice presence isn’t terrible, it’s certainly not great either. Even rookie Wade Allison scored 4 goals in the 14 games he played, and Aube-Kubel scored 3 in 50. I feel as if even recording a few more assists would be good for the Nicolas Aube-Kubel’s ice time. Overall, there is room for him to improve during his playing time. 

As to what NAK needs to improve in his game, it’s simple- points. He collected 12 points this season, ranking 13th amongst the Philadelphia Flyers. For his position and the number of games he played, this number should 100% be higher. Even Oskar Lindblom- who was going through cancer treatment this time last year- recorded more points than him. He even spent some time on a line with James van Riemsdyk, who was 3rd for goals scored on the Flyers this season; couldn’t he have picked up a few more assists? With just a few more goals or assists, his game could seriously improve. After all, it’s not like he has lots of major giveaways or turnovers. It’s unclear to me why he didn’t put up anymore points in 50 games, but I certainly know that’s it wouldn’t be difficult for him to improve next season. 

All in all, I’m not particularly worried about Nicolas Aube-Kubel. There are still lots of ways he could benefit and help the team. Maybe he’ll take a trip to Leigh Valley and spend some time with the Phantoms, allowing some more young talent to truly spark in Philadelphia. Maybe the management staff will include him in a trade for an average defenseman. Maybe he’ll come next season and collect 76 points in 82 games (and yes, I know that’s unlikely). I’m overall not upset or disappointed with Aube-Kubel’s season. He didn’t mess up our top lines and he didn’t have ambitious standards that he did not meet. At this point, everyone inside of the Philadelphia Flyers organization has room to improve, and Nicolas Aube-Kubel is no exception.

On May 10, the Philadelphia Flyers ended their season with a 4-2 win over the New Jersey Devils. This was extremely important, especially after their season ending with a 25-23-8 record. Lots of things went wrong this season, and the offseason will definitely be an interesting one. Three main things I believe truly impacted the Flyer’s season were the schedule, the defense’s regression, and our goalie’s rough patches. All of this being said, I do believe that with a proper off-season, the 2021-2022 season can be a comeback for the team.

            One of the main things that the entire NHL had to face was the season’s messed up schedule. After the COVID-19 shutdown, the hockey season was paused in March of 2020. This pushed the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs to August 2020, forcing the 2021 season be shortened to 56 games (instead of 82) and start in January instead of October. Since the season was already so condensed, there was no time for a pre-season camp and all players had to jump right in, all in the second week of January. Another way the condensed season affected the NHL was that each team played 3-4 games a week. This left no time for practice, and players could only try to improve their skills through struggles in real-game situations. I do believe that with a regular off-season of training camp, and practices during next season, every Flyer can improve and step up their game. 

Although I hate to say it, another huge setback was the regression of the Flyers’ defensemen. All three lines were no help to the rest of the team. In no way should we blame this on one specific Flyer, but you have to point out a few. Although his playing wasn’t far from seasons past, none of us saw Ivan Provorov step up as much as we needed to. However, this is in no way his fault because he’s only 24 and was being asked to be a 1A defenseman. Even being a 1B defenseman is good for him, given his young age. Like I said before, I don’t want to point fingers at anyone in specific, but it would be wrong of me not to mention the Sanheim-Myers line while talking about the defense’s regression. I really don’t want to say it, but that line was a huge disappointment. Although they were always a 2nd or 3rd line, they left all teammates on the ice out to dry; especially the goalies, who faced rough patches on their own. Although neither of the players were a highly anticipated draft pick or prospect, the line exceeded all expectations of disappointment. The icing on the cake –  we lost Matt Niskanen after 1 season and 68 games in the orange and black. To sum it up, Philly’s defense isn’t completely to blame for the disappointing season, but it obviously didn’t serve us well.

The final thing I would like to focus on, is the goalies’ rough patches. All 3 goalies that got to play on the ice this season truly went through some form of regression. Let’s start with Carter Hart. After being selected 48th overall in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, Hart played 18 games with the AHL, before being brought up to the Flyers in December 2018. He went on to having a record-breaking rookie season, and even made it to the 2nd round of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs, just weeks after his 22nd birthday. So, you would expect an impressive third season from the young and talented goaltender, right? Well this would be inaccurate. His season started off great, until he and the other Flyers played on Lake Tahoe. The team lost 7-2 to Boston, with Hart in net the entire 60 minutes. It only got worse from there, including a 2-game scratch in mid-March. Hart rarely played full games, and let about 3-6 goals in per night he played. Although this rough patch was intense, on April 15 we saw a light at the end of the tunnel for Hart. He allowed 1 goal on 45 shots in regulation, and was a shootout star; all against the state rival, the Pittsburgh Penguins. His confidence was growing, and according to him, his mental health was improving and allowing him to begin to return to his normal self. This all sounded great, until the Flyer’s Organization and the fans learned Hart had tweaked his knee during the game. He continued to play through it, and only made it worse. About a week later, Hart was cut from the rest of the season due to the injury. As far as the other goalies, Brian Elliot proved why he is a backup goalie, and overall just had too much ice time. Even Alex Lyon began to prove himself, and show some disappointment in the 6 games he played. Overall, the Philadelphia Flyers’ goalies fell behind this season, but are on the right track for a strong 2021-2022 season. 

I believe the main thing all Flyers fans must realize is that all of these problems are small and most definitely fixable. We have a strong management staff who will work to address the issues of the team. After all, it’s just many small issues painting a very disappointing picture. The whole NHL will face a normal season in October. We can adjust our defensive lines and continue to see Carter Hart grow his confidence as he did at the end of the season. The Philadelphia Flyers are a great team with a few issues waiting to be ironed out. This offseason will be an interesting one, as there are obviously necessary changes looking to be made. Even if just half of our struggles are fixed, or at least improved, the team can have an extremely improved 2021-2022 season. Overall, there is still lots of hope for the Philadelphia Flyers Organization, as well as the fans.