Laughlin: Couturier Has Grown Leaps And Bounds Past Couple Years

As the Flyers prepare to head up to Toronto for the NHL's return to play, Philadelphia will head into the postseason with arguably their best team in six years and the 2019-20 season was only the fourth time the Flyers have won at least 40 games in a year in the last eight years.  A major catalyst in the Flyers success this season has been the play of Sean Couturier who was selected as a finalist for the Selke Award for the second time in the last three years.  This season Couturier led the Flyers in Plus/Minus and over the last three years he has the most Time On Ice of all Philadelphia Forwards.  At 27 years old, Sean Couturier has grown into the Flyers best two-way forward; He finished the 2019-20 top 20 in the NHL in Assists, Plus/Minus, and Face Offs Won.

SiriusXM NHL Radio Host Scott Laughlin joined Josh Hennig on Thursday with perspective on Sean Couturier's growth into one of the top Forwards in the NHL:

"He was a leading scorer in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League at one point, so we always knew that the offensive side of the game was going to be there with Sean Couturier, we also know he had the bloodlines (because) his dad Sylvain played in the NHL albeit briefly.  But Sean's actually a guy as we've seen that has really grown leaps and bounds the past couple of years, the type of guy you play in every conceivable situation, he's a big body guy that can certainly match-up against any player in the league when it comes to taking draws and the defensive side of the game. - So we have seen the all-around game just really take shape for Couturier here the past couple of years, I think that's a lot for Flyers' fans to get excited about....Couturier is such a key part upfront leading that Flyers attack and then being defensively responsible (also)."

Check out what Laughlin had to say about Couturier's chances at winning the Selke Trophy, perspective on Carter Hart's importance to the Flyers postseason chances, how Philadelphia matches up versus the top teams in the Eastern Conference, and more