For Flyers and for Sbisa, return to junior hockey was best move
Luca Sbisa won't be pulling on the Flyers sweater for a little while.
In an interview posted to the Flyers’ official blog yesterday, Sbisa did not conceal his disappointment, but added he was looking forward to seeing ice time again. “I am really looking forward to playing a lot of minutes there, play the power play, [penalty kill] and the last minutes of a game. I kind of missed that stuff,” he said in the interview.
We can certainly sympathize with Sbisa. He goes from chartered air travel and luxury hotels in North America’s greatest cities, including several he probably has not seen before, to buses and motels in places like Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan and Red Deer, Alberta (in the dead of winter to boot). We don’t mean to insult anybody in said locations, but that’s a tough break for anybody. On the other hand, and Sbisa said this himself, it allows him to get ice time. He’s done fine for the Flyers so far and has demonstrated he is capable of holding his own when necessary. But he needs to get better and on-the-job-training is simply not a realistic possibility at this point. Not with the Flyers battling for position in the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference and not with some of the team’s best (and highest-paid) players due back from injury.
For these reasons, it makes sense to send Sbisa, who just turned 19, back to junior hockey until the end of the WHL season in March. After that he’ll be better equipped to contribute to the Flyers’ stretch run and/or to Switzerland’s world championship efforts.
Flyers coach John Stevens told the Delaware News Journal there is “no question” Sbisa will have a spot on the Flyers’ blue line next season, and acknowledged he could be back even sooner if the Flyers battle injuries in the playoffs.
