Can Travis Sanheim rebound from down season and near-trade?

For a few days this summer, it looked like Travis Sanheim was on his way out of Philadelphia.

Just before his new eight-year, $50 million contract — and the full no-trade clause that came along with it — kicked in on July 1, the Flyers were poised to ship Sanheim to the St. Louis Blues, as multiple sources close to the situation confirmed back in June. The problem? The trade — which also would have sent Flyers forward Kevin Hayes to St. Louis — was contingent upon Blues defenseman Torey Krug waiving his no-trade clause, and Krug ultimately couldn’t be convinced to do it.

Three days later, Hayes was indeed shipped to St. Louis in a new deal — but this time, Krug wouldn’t be coming back to Philly, and Sanheim wouldn’t be heading there.

“Yeah, I didn’t see anything,” Sanheim cracked on Friday, when asked if he had followed the saga. “There was probably a week there, I guess, where there was lots going on. I was on my phone pretty well every day.”

But on July 1, Sanheim was still a Philadelphia Flyer — just as he was on Day 1 of training camp this week, returning to the club that came ever so close to trading him away.

Perhaps some players would have reacted by wanting out of the situation, figuring that if the team didn’t want him, then he no longer wanted to be there — especially with the Flyers entering a rebuild. But that hasn’t been Sanheim’s approach. He very much wants to remain a Flyer, and with his new NTC in tow, he’ll stay one as long as that desire holds.

“You know, it sucks,” he admitted regarding the trade rumors. “It’s not a position you want to be in, but it’s a business. I understand it. I understand where the team’s at. In saying that, I’m here today. There’s a reason I signed here for eight years — I want to be in Philadelphia. I’m excited, I like the group that we have. Now it’s kind of up to me, I guess.”

It wasn’t a shock that the Flyers explored the market for Sanheim over the summer. Given his age (27) and the eight-year length of his looming contract, he isn’t exactly an ideal fit for the Flyers’ newly-announced rebuild, as Sanheim himself acknowledged. Sanheim still has quite a few years left before he reaches the age when most NHLers start to decline, but during the remainder of his prime, the Flyers likely won’t be competing for titles. And around the time they hope to be turning it around, Sanheim’s play very well could start to slip, if he follows the natural NHL age curve. His contract — given to him by former GM Chuck Fletcher before Game 1 of the 2022-23 season — isn’t the kind of deal that fits seamlessly with the aims of a rebuilding club.

But their attempt to trade Sanheim wasn’t just because of age and contract. It was also because the defenseman delivered a serious down season in 2022-23.

Coming off arguably the best season of his career, Sanheim delivered what very well may have been his worst as a pro. He finished with just 23 points in 81 games, his worst point-per-game rate since his rookie season. And his underlying results — long where he provided the lionshare of his value — cratered as well. Sanheim’s best skill has long been his ability to use his smooth skating and puck skills to help the Flyers outshoot and outchance the opposition at even strength.

In 2022-23, however, that longtime strength became a weakness.

Statistics courtesy of Evolving-Hockey.

Sanheim also didn’t quite gel with John Tortorella, his new head coach. The two have very different personalities, of course. Torts tends to be loud, abrasive, and confrontational. Sanheim, on the other hand, is quieter and more contemplative than the average NHLer. The disconnect came to a head in Calgary, when Torts scratched Sanheim for a February game against the Flames after a poor performance in Vancouver, despite the fact that many of Sanheim’s family and friends had made the trip to Calgary to watch him. Sanheim wasn’t shy about the fact that Tortorella’s decision hurt him, even as he admitted that his play had slipped.

So the Flyers had a 27-year old coming off a bad year, with a monster contract about to kick in signed by a recently-fired GM, who hadn’t clicked with the head coach. It made perfect sense that the front office explored its options with him, especially before his NTC kicked in.

But now, the divorce is off. The Flyers and Sanheim are back together, and even went through couples’ therapy in the wake of the almost-trade. Sanheim spoke with all of GM Daniel Briere, new president of hockey operations Keith Jones, and Tortorella himself, with the goal of smoothing over their differences in anticipation of the looming season.

“There’s no hard feelings on either side,” Sanheim contended.

Strengthening the player/coach relationship remains key for both Sanheim and Tortorella, especially now that both appear to be staying in Philadelphia for the long haul. Sanheim noted that he didn’t feel like the two were at each other’s throats last season, but that they have taken strides in tightening up the relationship.

“I mean, I don’t want to sit here and say that we didn’t get along,” he explained. “I don’t think that was the case at all. I think we had a good relationship. I just think we know each other better now. He understands me, kind of what I’m all about and my personality, and I understand his expectations.”

Tortorella agreed.

“Sandy and I still are working through things together,” he acknowledged. “I think it’s going to be a lot smoother this year.”

The task of working to improve Sanheim’s play goes far beyond clicking better with Torts, though. That work started at the beginning of the summer for Sanheim, who declined an invite to represent Team Canada for the second consecutive season at the World Championships. Why? He remembered what happened in 2022 — he fractured his foot in the semifinal, forcing him to take six weeks off from training at the start of last summer to allow it to heal.

He wasn’t about to let something like that happen again.

“It didn’t really linger. I got it healed up,” Sanheim clarified. “But I mean, you go to Worlds and you come back, you’re already into June, and then you’ve got to take six weeks off because you fractured your foot. It affects your summer training, but I’m not gonna sit here and say that it affected my season.”

That said, given Sanheim’s slow start to 2022-23 — and the importance of physical fitness entering a Tortorella training camp — it’s certainly possible that his shorter-than-usual training program contributed to his early struggles, and ultimately contributed to his entire season spiraling out of control. This summer, the focus was on removing that variable from the equation entirely, with the goal of delivering a bounceback campaign in 2023-24.

And Sanheim will certainly not be lacking opportunity to do so, especially with Ivan Provorov (trade) and Tony DeAngelo (buyout) no longer with the organization.

“Somebody’s got to take those minutes,” Sanheim noted. “I want to be a guy that can step up and grab ahold of those opportunities.”

At least to start, however, Sanheim will be doing it as a right-side defenseman, rather than skating on his natural left, as Tortorella explained on Friday.

Sanheim has played the right side for extended stretches before at the NHL level, most notably during the second half of 2018-19, when he skated on the top pair alongside Provorov. Tortorella and the Flyers are focused on letting fellow LHD Cam York develop on his natural (and preferred) left side to begin the season, and after conversations with Sanheim, Torts made the call to ask him to flip sides. Sanheim, according to Tortorella, immediately saw the upside in such a move.

“The first thing he said to me when I asked him — it was a positive thought – is that he sees the ice better in the offensive zone,” Tortorella recalled. “So we’ll see. We’ll see how it goes. But I really want to give it a look.”

Is Tortorella concerned at all that asking Sanheim to play his less familiar side while also trying to bounce back from a rough season is putting a little too much on his plate?

“The deal Sandy and I have is (that) we’re just going to keep conversing on this,” Tortorella responded. “If it’s screwing him up, we’ll move them off of there. But I think he’s receptive. I do.”

If it works, Sanheim could establish himself as the team’s clear-cut 1RD, rather than battling the younger York for ice time on the left side. Organizationally, the Flyers appear to have accepted that Rasmus Ristolainen — the top natural RHD on their depth chart — probably is better served in a second-pair role, as opposed to the big-minute duties that helped lead to poor results in Buffalo. Potentially, this is a way for Sanheim to both maximize his minutes, and take a hand in aiding in York’s development, which will be an integral part of the Flyers’ rebuild process.

“I want to be a leader back there, I want to lead by example, and have a good season,” Sanheim said.

After all, there’s still a way for all of this to work out for Sanheim in Philadelphia, even after nearly being shipped away. His no-trade clause provides him stability and control, and perhaps with a full offseason of training and a better understanding of Tortorella, Sanheim can shake off his 2022-23 struggles, and return to the form that earned him that big contract in the first place.

“I’m hoping to hit the ground running this season. Not be waiting for anything,” Sanheim said.

Assorted camp notes

1. Tortorella was happy with the energy in the first scrimmage of the day on Saturday, but was thoroughly disappointed with Scrimmage No. 2, to the point where he came down from his perch above the ice at the midpoint of the session to read his players the riot act.

“It’s not about hurting anybody or doing something stupid, but you need to get in your work,” Tortorella said. “I just felt the first part of (the second scrimmage) they weren’t.

2. York did stand out during the scrimmages, flying around the ice and even sniping a highlight reel goal from the left faceoff circle. He’s had a strong camp thus far. “Showed some decent signs here,” Tortorella offered after the scrimmages regarding York.

3. Cal Petersen was a surprise standout in the Saturday scrimmages, robbing Scott Laughton with a windmill glove save and then making another lunging stop later in the session.

4. Wade Allison and Tanner Laczynski both scored during the scrimmages, and appeared to have solid days alongside camp invite Jonathan Fauchon. Tortorella was willing to give them grudging praise.

“At times,” he said, when asked if they impressed him on Saturday. “I don’t want to run through and give you a whole rundown of what I think of all the players. But I don’t think there’s any gray area, as far as where players sit a little bit here, especially those two guys. I don’t think it needs to be explained to them.”

5. Emil Andrae made more mistakes on Saturday than he did on Friday — particularly in terms of overcommitting in coverage on occasion — but he already has a case to be considered the best outlet passer among all the defensemen at camp. His passes are crisp, accurate, and creative.

“I don’t think he’s afraid to make a mistake, he made a ton today,” Tortorella noted. “But I don’t think he’s afraid to. And that’s a mindset, and to me, it’s a skill. It’s a mental skill. And you can see he has that right away.”

6. Tortorella noted that Ristolainen’s offseason was a bit complicated, because he had to finish up his military obligations in Finland.

7. Tyson Foerster was back on the ice on Saturday, after getting banged up near the end of the scrimmage on Friday. He looked no worse for the wear, and even scored a goal late in the second scrimmage.