A total of 33 points in 81 games won’t impress most fans, but considering the circumstances Oskar Lindblom’s 2018-19 season was pretty successful. It was anticipated to be a breakout season for the Swede, but much like many other of the Philadelphia Flyers’ plans for this past season that didn’t happen. The combo of former head coach Dave Hakstol’s inability to trust the forward and former-interim-coach-turned-back-to-AHL-head-coach Scott Gordon needing some time to figure out his roster caused Lindblom to average little ice time for a good chunk of the season due to reasons mainly out of his control. Hopefully Alain Vigneault doesn’t repeat the actions of Hakstol and Gordon when it comes to managing Lindblom, because The Big O produced well and drove play when he was actually on the ice.
The season started pretty well for Lindblom, who recorded four goals (including the team’s first goal of the season) and four assists in his first 15 tilts of the campaign. The line he formed with Jakub Voracek and Nolan Patrick played a critical role for the team when they grabbed seven out of eight points during an early season West Coast trip, as the 2014 draft pick accrued two goals and four helpers on the other side of the country. In an attempt to switch things up after the team lost their fourth straight game with a 5-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, Hakstol promoted Dale Weise to the second line with Voracek and Patrick for the team’s Black Friday game against the New York Rangers, as Lindblom was relegated to the fourth line with Scott Laughton and Tyrell Goulbourne.
After he received 12:18 of ice time against the Toronto Maple Leafs two days later in Ron Hextall’s last game as general manager, Lindblom saw more than 11:30 time on ice in a game once (when he received 14:10 in the 7-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on December 9th) and saw under ten minutes of ice time in nine of the next 14 contests. As he slowly started to get more ice time under Gordon, Lindblom snapped a 30-game goal drought in a 4-3 win over the Boston Bruins on January 16th. This started a stretch of nine goals and seven apples for 16 points in 23 games before he closed the campaign by scoring in four of Philly’s final five games.
BY THE NUMBERS
Basic Stats
| Games Played | Goals | Assists | Points | PIMs | Shots on Goal | Shooting Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 81 | 17 | 16 | 33 | 20 | 162 | 10.5 |
Stats via NHL.com
5v5 Individual Stats
| Points/60 | Primary Points/60 | Shot Attempts/60 | Expected Goals/60 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.7 | 1.5 | 12.73 | 0.87 |
Stats via Corsica
5v5 On-Ice Stats
| Score-Adjusted Corsi for % | SA-Corsi Relative | Score-Adjusted Expected Goals For | SA-Expected Goals Relative | Goals For % | PDO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50.16 | 3.37 | 53.84 | 6.79 | 45.68 | 97.8 |
Stats via Corsica
Much like his basic stats, Lindblom’s 5-on-5 individual stats are a little bit better when given context. Even though this season review discussed Lindblom’s lack of consistent ice time he still managed to be one of nine forwards to see 900 minutes or more at 5-on-5 this past season. Out of those nine forwards Lindblom finished fifth with a points-per-60 of 1.7 and fourth with a 1.5 primary-points-per-60 both of which are good rates, but they weren’t as good as Lindblom’s ability to consistently produce high-quality scoring chances. His 0.87 expected goals-per-60 rate was the best out of those nine Flyers’ forwards and placed him tied for 18th out of 192 forwards that played 900 or more 5-on-5 minutes last season. These rate stats show that Lindblom produced and created chances at the same rate or better than the team’s other top-six forwards, which should help his case to earn a spot in the top-nine this season without any problem.
Lindblom’s 5-on-5 on-ice stats illustrate how rough his season was overall. His score-adjusted corsi relative of 3.37 was the third-highest out of those nine forwards mentioned above behind only Claude Giroux and Voracek. Similar to when we qualified his individual numbers Lindblom’s expected goals’ numbers are better than the rest of the team and stack up pretty well across the league. Not only did his score-adjusted expected goals for percentage and relative score-adjusted expected goals for lead the Flyers, his score-adjusted expected goals for percentage was 47th and his relative score-adjusted expected goals for was eleventh (behind some bum named Kevin Hayes) out of that aforementioned group of 192 forwards. Despite the fact he drove play and the team did worse when he was off the ice, Lindblom finished 154th across the league with his 45.68 goals for percentage and 181st in PDO. Hopefully this means Lindblom’s luck will swing back the other way this season and maybe he’ll get a few deserved bounces in 2019-20.
Three Burning Questions
Did this player live up to our expectations for this season?
I’m saying yes. Again, 17 goals and 33 points isn’t the sexiest stat line (neither is a 30-game goal drought), but this was his first full season in the league. Pair that with the fact he inexplicably had to prove he deserved more ice time than Dale Weise and Jordan Weal at points this season it’s fair to say he lived up to our preseason expectations.
What do we expect from this player next season?
Since it seems like, at least in this point in time, Lindblom will start the season on Patrick’s wing on the third line it is hard to expect a ton of production out of a forward who will receive third-line minutes 5-on-5 and time on the second power-play unit. With that being said, he put up 17 this season with a drought that lasted over a third of the season and barely playing in another handful of games. If he does end up getting power-play time again on a hopefully improved second power-play unit, it’s not crazy to think Lindblom pots at least 20 goals and averages over half-a-point per game in 2019-20.
What would we like to see this player improve on?
There aren’t many concerns with Lindblom’s game. He’s a pretty well-rounded player that thinks the game well and seems to do a lot of the little things right. On top of that he drives play and plays in all three phases of the game. If he’s going to be a regular on the second power-play unit we could ask that Lindblom plays a role in finally getting the second unit to produce. Certainly it’s not all on him to correct that problem, but he can help to solve the issue and there aren’t a ton of concerns in other areas of his game.
