The Philadelphia Flyers‘ time for evaluation is nearing its end. With the trade deadline looming and the offseason in the not-so-distant future, the team must decide which players are worth keeping around.
Points per 60 scoring of Bobby Brink, Cam Atkinson, and Jonathan Marchessault by age (The Hockey Writers)
Bobby Brink is one of the smaller players in the NHL, standing at 5-foot-8 and weighing 169 pounds. Though he’s still just 23 years of age, the Flyers need him to produce offensively to offset the limitations that come with his stature. To be a long-term member of the Orange and Black, it’s important that the young winger is piling up points. So, that begs the question: is he scoring enough? Let’s do a check-in on his 2024-25 campaign.
Putting Brink’s Scoring into Perspective
This season, Brink has eight goals and 21 assists for 29 points across 59 games. He’s doing that on 14:18 of average ice time, making him the fifth-best scorer on the team in points per 60 minutes. Helping round out a dependable line alongside Tyson Foerster and Noah Cates, it’s been a good season for Brink.
Before this season started, I highlighted Brink for a reason. A lot of guys cut from the “small, non-star forward who can score” cloth come out of the draft, but not many of them are able to make a longtime NHL career out of it. Unless you have a skill set like Cole Caufield’s, it can be quite challenging to get consistent minutes in hockey’s best league. Thus, production is essential—they rarely have “grit” to fall back on.
In the piece above, I compared Brink’s scoring rate to some players whose career arcs he can potentially follow. Cam Atkinson and Jonathan Marchessault, who didn’t immediately take off but became top-six staples, were two of them.
The chart below looks at points per 60 minutes generated by forwards at every age since 2007-08. While there’s a total of 6,510 entries, let’s focus on Brink, Atkinson, and Marchessault specifically. Here’s how they compare:
Since points were harder to come by when Atkinson and Marchessault were Brink’s age, this isn’t a perfect science. But it does show that he could become something rather special. While he won’t be the face of the league, there is a chance he will turn into a valuable second-line player.
Though Brink is already six seasons removed from being drafted, that doesn’t mean he can’t improve. Atkinson and Marchessault took even longer to make a real name for themselves, as you can see in the chart. Sometimes, it just takes a bit of patience for those who fall into this archetype to take off.
Is Brink Worth Keeping Around?
With that being said, should the Flyers maintain their loyalty to Brink? What are the cases for and against doing so?
Well, I sort of already presented the case for keeping Brink. The Flyers may have a long-term second-line player on their hands, which can save them the hassle of hunting for one through trade, free agency, or the draft. Giving up on Brink too early could be quite a regrettable decision.
However, the Flyers are also doing fairly well when it comes to wingers. Matvei Michkov is the future of the franchise, while Travis Konecny and Owen Tippett recently signed maximum-term contracts. Tyson Foerster, too, will likely stick around. Then, you get to the prospects. In January, I ranked Denver Barkey, Alex Bump, and Samu Tuomaala as top-10 players in the Flyers’ pool—all are wingers.
With one season left on Brink’s contract, he may not take a bridge deal like he did last offseason (two years, $1.5 million cap hit). You could make the argument that, although there is theoretically some upside, it’s just not worth the commitment. The wing position isn’t exactly a weakness for this team.
Brink isn’t a player to dismiss, as there is some real potential for him. Would it be a bad idea to move on regardless? I’d be interested to hear your thoughts in the comments!
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