Flyers-Leafs observations: Ryan Hartman’s success means the Flyers might be winning the Wayne Simmons trade

The Flyers still have a gasp of life after Wednesday’s 5-4 shootout victory over Toronto. Here are some extra thoughts.

When the Flyers traded Wayne Simmonds for Ryan Hartman and a conditional 2020 draft pick at the trade deadline, the overall consensus here and in the hockey world was that new GM Chuck Fletcher had been fleeced. Simmonds was a couple of years removed from being an All-Star Game MVP. Hartman was heading to his third team in two years. The draft pick, whether a third- or fourth-rounder, wasn’t high enough.

Hartman scored his second goal as a Flyer on Wednesday, one more than Simmonds has for the Predators. It was a big one, too, snapping a 3-3 tie in the third period against Toronto. Over his 14 games as a Flyer, Hartman has two goals and three assists playing a mostly bottom-six role.

Meanwhile, Simmonds has seen his ice time shrink as his offensive woes have continued.

Here is his ice time over his final five games as a Flyer: 16:58, 16:52, 18:42, 17:17, 13:41.

Here is his ice time over his last five games with Nashville, as the Predators gear up for the playoffs: 14:35, 13:07, 11:23, 10:58, 12:37.

Simmonds has a goal and an assist in his 12 games with the Predators so far, and is a plus-3, albeit with a reduced role.

Hartman is a minus-5 with the Flyers. He has averaged roughly the same amount of ice time as Simmonds has.

He is also not the policeman Simmonds was, and neither has he filled Simmonds’ role as a locker-room leader. But so far, this trade is not as one-sided as many believed at the time. And the Flyers will get a third-round pick in the 2020 draft if Nashville wins a playoff round, a fourth-rounder if they don’t.

Flyers coach Scott Gordon went on an extended rant Tuesday about his players’ whipping the puck around the rim in an attempt to break out or shake trouble. So he couldn’t have been too pleased when his team began another game doing that, leading to prolonged play in their own zone and a 2-0 Toronto lead.

Here’s what he said Tuesday: “One thing we talked about was being more efficient on our breakouts. We’ve shown we can rim the puck. And it drives me nuts. It’s a good breakout, at the appropriate time. But we’ve kind of fallen into a trap of 'This is the only thing we want to do now.’ … You have to find ways to make plays. … When we do that, we’re a hard team to play against. When we start rimming everything, teams are just going to sit on it.”

The Flyers were much better in ensuing periods. But there is a danger in the message, too, evidenced when Shayne Gostisbehere’s attempted clear using the middle of the ice was picked off by Auston Matthews in front of the net and deposited past Carter Hart by William Nylander to tie the game at 4 in the third period.

On replay, with two offensive players circling the middle, the obvious play was to go up the boards.

Sean Couturier was named the first star Wednesday after his shootout goal won the game for the Flyers. He also had a redirection goal to put the Flyers up by 3-2 in the second period.

But there were some notable gaffes, too, and they led to opposition goals. Couturier tried to backhand a puck as he skated backward in front of his net, and it was picked cleanly by Nazem Kadri, who scored moments later to push the Leafs ahead, 2-0. After his goal broke the tie, Couturier’s attempted keep was picked by Matthews, resulting in a breakout and Matthews’ tying goal.

Despite his goal and shootout heroics, Coots was a minus-2 for the evening.