Flyers Defenseman Is Ready To Continue Developing His Game
Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim proved himself to be a crucial part of the team's back line this season, establishing himself as a top-pair blueliner across the 2023-24 season.
Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports - Flyers Defenseman Is Ready To Continue Developing His GamePhiladelphia Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim proved himself to be a crucial part of the team's back line this season, establishing himself as a top-pair blueliner across the 2023-24 season.
Sanheim has faced a fairly tumultuous couple of years prior to his most recent campaign in Philadelphia, and credits his offseason preparation with why he was able to emerge as such a capable defenseman.
"I think the way that I attacked my offseason, obviously based on a lot of things that went on, used it as motivation," he said. "[I] came in ready to prove a point, ready to show the type of player that I thought that I was capable of. I thought for that first quarter of the season that was the best hockey I've played in my career. Obviously, I would have liked to have played that way for a full 82 [games], that's not usually possible, you have ups and downs throughout the course of the season, but definitely proud of what I did, what I accomplished.
"[I] set career highs in all categories and those are goals that I have coming in, and that's what I set in the offseason. So I'm happy with that and saying that I'm going to do the exact same this offseason. [I'm] going to find motivation. I think the last couple of weeks is motivation in itself, where this team wants to get to what we're capable of. I think we understand that we're capable of reaching the postseason, and so those are all the things in the offseason that I'm going to continue to look to add to my game. I'm going to try to be a better player when I come back next season and try and take another step."
Despite a great individual season, he acknowledged how unfair it feels to have such a close group but narrowly miss the playoffs.
"Obviously it sucks right now. I would like to think that we deserve to be in the postseason," he said. "But obviously [this team has] a bright future. I think there's a lot of guys that had great seasons this year, a lot of steps that were made. The locker room was great. That's one thing that we've all discussed behind doors here, that it's just disappointing in the fact that the group isn't fully going to be together again, and we're gonna miss each other. We love that group in [the locker room] and we didn't want this to end."
Even so, he's looking forward to the group continuing to build up their incredible chemistry in future seasons.
"Each day that we came to the rink, we loved it, we enjoyed it. I think that's a good thing and something that we can take moving forward," he said. "There's obviously going to be more challenges along the way, and nothing is going to be easy, nothing's going to be given to us. We're going to have to continue to keep earning it and this group is going to need to continue to take steps over the next couple of seasons."
He highlighted his relationship with Cam York, as the pair became the Flyers' first-choice defensive pairing this season, acknowledging that he's been impressed with the 23-year-old's development this season and is excited for the pair to continue playing together next season.
"Yeah. I think [York] took huge steps this season. I think everyone knew the skill set that he had," he said. "I think the maturity of his game that developed this season, the way that he played without the puck, his checking, his ability to make plays under pressure, his ability to make plays when the game's on the line, I think are all big steps that he took this season, and I was fortunate to be able to play with him. So, I'm obviously not sure what the case is moving forward, but I love playing with him. I hope that we can continue to play together. I thought we both took strides this season and I think we're both going to come back looking to take another step as well next season."
Another thing Sanheim is looking forward to is continuing playing on the right side, despite admitting that he wasn't the most comfortable with the position when the season first started.
"He brought it up to me a couple days before training camp, obviously must have been based on how he saw the lineup," he said. "My first opinion, or thoughts, I wasn't quite sure. I just spent the whole summer training and skating on the left side, working on my entire game on the left side and now he's telling me I'm going to play the right side, so I would have liked to have known maybe a couple months sooner. I think it was more or less my mindset of coming into camp and where my head was at, that it didn't matter where he was going to put me, I was trying to prove a point and it worked out really well. I thought I thought the right side was, right from the get-go, I thought it was a pretty good fit for me and obviously he likes me there. I feel comfortable over there now, playing a full season on that side. I would like to think that's probably where I'll be moving forward."
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