The Rest Of The NHL Should Be Very Afraid Of Travis Sanheim
Two years ago it was Shayne Gostisbehere coming in and lighting the NHL on fire his rookie year. Last year it was Ivan Provorov. This year there’s a chance the Flyers could be playing with 3 rookies on the blueline. Sam Morin, Robert Hagg, and most importantly, Travis Sanheim. 1st round pick in 2014. Put up 11 goals and 40 points in the AHL last year. And last night he did his part to push Henrik Lundqvist closer to retirement by scoring both goals for the Flyers in their 3-2 overtime loss. Just gotta give a quick warning here before posting the highlights. Make sure you don’t have to stand up in public any time within the next few minutes or else things could get a little embarrassing.
That, my friends, is what we in the biz like to refer to as a Nick Cannon.
First of all, that pass from Nolan Patrick was so clean. Picks up the loose puck, little backhand sauce perfectly placed for Sanheim to come back into the zone with speed. And then a bullet that bounced back out of the net so hard I think it ended up at center ice for the faceoff. Let’s get another look on that.
That’s Henrik Lundqvist. It’s not some sieve the Rangers pulled up from the ECHL to stand between the pipes for a random preseason game. That is who they refer to in New York as the “King”. Granted, that’s the worst nickname in all of sports considering the man has won nothing in the NHL but they call him the king anyway. And I guess you can call Travis Sanheim “Bill Cosby” now considering how hard he just roofied Hank here.
Advertisement
Goal #2 isn’t anything spectacular or out of the ordinary until you remember the kid plays defense.
Even slowed down that reaction time is ridiculous. Off the rebound, kicks it to himself on his backhand and it’s in the back of the net. So he can either step in from the top of the circles and blast one by you at 100 mph. Or he can be right on the crease and have the skill and the net front presence to put in a rebound like this. I just don’t believe it’s possible for anybody with a functioning brain to think this kid shouldn’t be up on the opening night roster.
But even if Hextall does the unthinkable and sends Sanheim back to Lehigh Valley to start the season, Travis Sanheim represents what’s the come. Ghost and Provorov have already given us glimpses. But having Sanheim on the roster gives the Flyers 3 legitimate puck moving studs on the blueline. It’s essentially a clone factory at this point. And just when you think the Flyers couldn’t possibly have any more offensive defensemen to bring up, Phil Myers is still on the way. So Travis Sanheim himself may not be enough to make other fans and teams across the league shit their pants just yet. But the idea of him should. Because Sanheim making the roster this year is one of the final steps to completing the blueline that Flyers fans have been envisioning for the past few years. One of the most talented groups in the league with speed, skill and youth. All that’s next is for MacDonald to find himself in the press box and we’ll finally have something here.