Philadelphia Flyers: 3 under the radar players to watch in Canadiens series

James van Riemsdyk

Look, I get it. It is hard to call a guy who makes $7 million dollars per season an “under the radar” player; but let’s be real, the Philadelphia Flyers will need James van Riemsdyk to step up if they want to increase their chances of making a deep run this post season.

As multiple Flyers have taking their game to another level this season, JVR has remained at best a decent option for this team. Nowadays, he finds himself in the bottom six more than he does in the top six, but he still has value he brings to the table.

The talent is there, Flyers fans just need to see JVR step up. Skating in that bottom six along with the fact many people aren’t in love with number 25 is exactly what makes him the perfect “under the radar” kind of guy.

Having chipped in 19 goals and 21 assists across 66 games this season, van Riemsdyk was still a solid player and showed he still can offer something as a supporting player.

To hammer things home even more, the Flyers went 14-2 when JVR scored a goal this year as well as 22-5 when he notched a point. This signals to the importance of JVR’s play, especially considering he has always been an incredibly streaky player.

For example, the season began with seven straight scoreless games for van Riemsdyk, only to be followed by nine points in his next nine games. Sadly, this has been the norm for JVR throughout his career, and has made it harder for people who are fans of his (like myself) to defend him to the naysayers.

The fact of the matter is though, JVR can get hot and carry this team for stretches of time, and if that happens this playoff run, the Flyers may be able to reach the ultimate goal of hoisting the Stanley Cup.