APP ONLY: Where is JVR?
By Chuck Bausman
Daily News
In this Flyers regular season of amazement, there is one glaring smudge, a cracked windshield on a shiny Mercedes.
It's James van Riemsdyk.
Through 17 games, the No. 2 overall draft pick in 2007 had zero goals and seven assists. He was a healthy scratch for four games. JVR has mostly been a bystander, watching while the Flyers are dazzling the rest of the NHL with all four lines scoring, Claude Giroux breaking out into a top-flight star, a strong and deep defense and the wonderful rookie goalie Sergei Bobrovsky.
It wasn't supposed to play this way. No. 2 overall picks are supposed to be elite players, centerpieces of a franchise. They are the players who refurbish teams that finish last in points in the entire NHL, as the Flyers did in 2006-07, the only time in their quite illustrious history they managed that dubious feat.
JVR was the consolation prize in the 2007 draft. In the NHL's draft lottery, the Blackhawks won and took the universally acknowledged top draft pick, Patrick Kane. The Flyers got the No. 2 pick and took JVR. Kane was an integral part of the Hawks run to the Stanley Cup last year. JVR was on the ice in the finals, too, but was a healthy scratch in two of the six games. Kane even scored the Cup-winning goal.
Now, JVR has been benched while Andreas Nodl has played (and flourished). JVR has sat while both Jody Shelley and Dan Carcillo played. In this current NHL, you need one deterrent, either a Shelley or a Carcillo – not both.
If you can't break into a lineup that includes both Shelley and Carcillo, you have problems. You likely spend every waking moment worrying about your Flyers future. You might have even Googled restaurants in Glens Falls, N.Y. You likely have pondered what a demotion to the AHL's Adirondack Phantoms will feel like.
JVR is in his second Flyers season. He is 21 years old. He should have a long career. He came into this season after a successful offseason of training. It was said he was faster on his skates and much stronger than last year. He already is big (6-3, 190) and he played big during the preseason. Last season he scored 15 goals and 20 assists in 78 games. His production was acceptable and promising.
During JVR's benching, Flyers coach Peter Laviolette talked about the left wing's need to be "more competitive." It's hockeyspeak for working harder, playing more physical and getting your nose dirty in front of the net.
Van Riemsdyk has said the right things, the hockey player things. He talked about working harder, getting a break or two, even a lucky bounce or two. He didn't whine, he didn't blame anyone else.
In this season of promise and expectation, the Flyers must wonder how much better they would be with a productive JVR. Their No. 2 overall draft pick has spent too much time in the press box, looking dapper in a nice suit, all dressed up with nowhere to go.