Flyers name Sean Couturier captain, Travis Konecny and Scott Laughton to serve as alternates

Flyers center Sean Couturier, who returned this season after almost two full seasons out injured, will be the 20th captain in team history.

The Flyers showed Sean Couturier the love on Wednesday as they named him the 20th captain in team history.

”It’s such a great honor. It’s a really prestigious organization so this makes it even more special. This city is my home and I love it here,” the 31-year-old Couturier said in the team’s press release.

“It’s going to be business as usual for me. Nothing is really going to change from me or my game and how I approach things. I love my teammates, how we have grown as a group, and I want to make sure we keep going on the right path here.”

Originally drafted No. 8 overall by the Flyers in 2011, Couturier has skated in 771 games and ranks fifth on the franchise’s all-time games played list. He needs 20 games to pass Brian Propp for fourth. Couturier is the first Flyer to wear the “C” since Claude Giroux was traded to the Florida Panthers on March 19, 2022. He joins franchise legends like Bob Clarke, Bill Barber, and Eric Lindros as players to have captained the Orange and Black.

The veteran center has long been one of the NHL’s top two-way centers and won the Selke Trophy as the league’s top defensive forward in 2020. Center Scott Laughton, who will remain an alternate captain, was the only player to wear a letter over the last two seasons. All-Star winger Travis Konecny, who leads the team with 25 goals and 49 points, has also been added to the leadership group as an alternate captain.

Inside Flyers star Sean Couturier’s 21-month journey to get back on the ice

“Sean Couturier is an ideal choice to be the next leader of the Philadelphia Flyers,” general manager Danny Brière said. “Sean was drafted here and has made Philadelphia his home. I have personally seen his development from a responsible forward to one of the best two-way centermen in the game and a playoff performer.

“The adversity he has had to overcome has only strengthened his proven leadership. In this “New Era of Orange” with Dan Hilferty, Keith Jones, and John Tortorella at the helm, we couldn’t be more proud to call him captain.”

Couturier missed almost two years with a back injury that required multiple surgeries. He returned at the start of this season and has played a key role as the team’s top center while also playing on the penalty kill and the first power-play unit. In 50 games, he has 11 goals and 22 assists, and is plus-7. He is seven points shy of 500 points for his NHL career.

”He’s a crusty old pro. And he’s a huge part of this. I have a tremendous amount of respect for how he’s handled this year after taking two years off,” Tortorella said following the team’s win against the Seattle Kraken on Saturday after Couturier snapped an 11-game goal drought with the game-winner.

During training camp, Tortorella said he wanted to see how things develop and that the team was “in no rush to put letters on people because I want to allow people to feel like they have the opportunity to say something.” Although the room is as tight as ever, which the veteran bench boss and the players will attest to, there was always the underlying notion that Couturier was the de facto captain.

A leader on and off the ice, Couturier has proven to Tortorella that he can carry the weight of captaincy. In fact, he thoroughly impressed the fiery bench boss when, after riding him pretty hard on the bench for a defensive zone gaffe that led to the Kraken’s tying goal in the third period, the forward stormed back to win the game. “That was [expletive] you to me,” Tortorella said with a smile postgame.

Maybe that’s what turned the tide.

“I wasn’t sure where he’d be,” Tortorella said in early January. “When I watched the first couple of weeks, I said, ‘Oh my God, is he that slow?’ And I keep on watching him and I don’t think he’s slow. I just have a different respect for him as I see him day in and day out.

“When you’re afar with another team and you watch a guy, you know he’s a good player but you really don’t see really what he is. I watch him every day. I watch the intangibles he brings, I’m very, very happy and a little bit surprised how quickly he’s gotten a lot of things back in his game. And there’s more there. I think Sean knows that, but I’m impressed how he’s handled himself.”

Couturier is in Year 2 of an eight-year, $62 million contract that he signed prior to the 2021-22 season. He is currently the longest-tenured Flyer.

©2024 The Philadelphia Inquirer. Visit inquirer.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.