‘It’s an adjustment’: Several Flyers excelling while playing their ‘off-side’

VANCOUVER — Scrolling your finger down the Flyers roster, you may have given your head a scratch.

Among the Flyers’ eight active wingers, six are right shots. On the blue line, it’s just two of the seven that rotate in. What is a coach to do?

Turn the calendar back a few years, and you would never see a guy sporting a right-handed stick playing the left side. How would he play the puck if he had to turn his back to his forehand? Doesn’t the angle seem off? Former longtime radio color commentator Steve Coates would have adamantly pointed out that he scored on his off-wing. A rarity!

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But that is an old-school way of thinking and this iteration of the Flyers (19-11-4) not only has guys playing their “off-side” they have guys excelling at it. Defenseman Travis Sanheim is a left-shot playing on the right and up front it is Owen Tippett and Tyson Foerster.

“I just think it depends on the player. Can the player handle it?” coach John Tortorella said recently. “I think it’s easier for forwards doing that because it just seems to be easier. The funny thing to me is when you put a left shot on the right side, it doesn’t look as weird. But when you put a right shot on the left side, that really sticks out. Maybe [that’s] because we just don’t have enough right-handed defensemen in our league. But it depends on the player.”

Tippett dabbled at previous stops on the left wing, but this is the first time he’s consistently been in that spot in the lineup. He was told at the start of training camp he’d be making the shift and has fully embraced his new role. Entering Friday’s contest with the Seattle Kraken, he has 12 goals in 34 games, tied for second on the team with Joel Farabee, and is on pace to replicate his breakout 2022-23 (27 goals).

“I think for me coming into the offensive zone, sticks always to the middle [and] defensive zone, you can kind of protect the puck more as the puck’s kind of on the wall,” Tippett said. “I think you have to get used to retrieving everything on your backhand, instead of your forehand, skating up the ice.”

Foerster had a bit more experience being a right-handed shooter on the left side, having played the position a bit in juniors with Barrie, and AHL Lehigh Valley last year on the power play. He’s specifically netted two goals from the left circle that were perfectly placed snipes with the man advantage in late November and early December. A wee rookie, he has 14 points in 33 games and is a key cog in creating turnovers by using his long stick to wreak havoc while also showcasing a wicked shot.

“I think you saw it maybe in the 90s, the Europeans came over and they switched wings a little bit. But everyone’s doing it now,” former NHler Warren Rychel, who coached Foerster in Barrie, said recently. “He was on the flank on the power play, obviously for the one-timer, but he can play [there any time]. When you come down these guys have their stick on the inside of the dots, it makes a big difference in the analytics and the ability to score goals.”

Sanheim is on pace for a career year after collecting 24 points in his first 33 games and showcasing an ability to skate down the right side, control play, and get shots on net; he’s on pace for the most shots on goal in his NHL career too.

“I told Sanny right away he’s going right side because I needed to get Cam [York] on the left side and we needed to develop him on the left side and see what he was and is. And then I think he just felt comfortable in the offensive zone,” Tortorella said. “I think it’s freed him up; he sees the ice better there. I think he’s played very well there.”

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The move has also impacted his partner York, as he has to be cognizant of the fact that his partner is not a traditional righthander.

“It’s an adjustment. I think offensively on the offensive line, like, if I go D to D, I’m used to having a right stick and now have a left one. Same thing in the neutral zone,” York said. “I’m trying to just find his forehand as much as I can. But it’s honestly it’s not a huge adjustment. I think we’ve done a good job so far of kind of figuring it out. And I think as time goes on, you continue to figure out.”

Carter Hart is expected to get the start in net Friday vs. the Kraken. The former Everett Silvertip (WA) goalie will have a local cheering section, including his octogenarian billet, Parker Fowlds, whom he calls his Gramps. ... Travis Konecny left in the third period due to illness. If he cannot go, expect Rhett Gardner to make his season, and Flyers, debut.