The Forgotten: Andreas Nodl

[duballstar014]

The Flyers have a history of taking a young player and using them in all kinds of situations. When Richards and Carter first stepped in the league, they both did this. RJ Umberger did the same. Darroll Powe did a little bit too until they realized that no matter how much time they gave him with scorers, Powe had stone hands and couldn't bury his chances. Powe has now been relegated to 4th line duties and sees the occasional third line minutes.

Nodl is following this same path of showing he is a versatile player who can be used in all situations (PP, PK, even strength) and can skate on any of the four lines. He can be a checking forward and he can put points on the board alongside Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, or Claude Giroux. Nodl is still trying to solidify his role as a scoring forward on this team and when you look at their roster, you know it's not easy. But the fact of the matter is the coaching staff is confident in him, both defensively and offensively, and they want him skating with the Flyers, not the Phantoms.

The best thing you can do with Nodl right now is stash him on a farm or prospect system and reap the benefits next year. But, if you (like me) have him on your active roster, don't get discouraged. There's a lot of offensively talented players in Philly and you don't usually have all 9 of your top 9 forwards clicking on every single night. He has 4 points in his last 7 games and is still skating with Mike Richards.

Another thing to consider, below are Philly's top 10 forwards. Before you read this article (and maybe still today), how many of them were/are available on the waiver wire? Probably only the profiled player in this article, and maybe our 4th liner Dan Carcillo. No one wants Betts, Shelley, or Powe, but chances are that just about every other Flyer forward is owned in your league except Nodl.

Leino
Briere
Hartnell
Nodl
Richards
JVR
Giroux
Carter
Zherdev
Carcillo

Edit: Nodl's currently on pace for 32 points, but I think he'll get back up to the 35-40 point area at the end of the year. I was hoping for 45, which he still might hit, but 38 might be a closer number now.