Sometimes you have to slice and dice through various narrative layering with Occam’s Razor, a philosophical principle in which problem-solving is best done by searching for the simplest explanation.

In the case of Sean Couturier, who was scratched for two games and returned to the lineup this past weekend, maybe the guy was just fucking spent. Maybe he was knackered after logging a lot of early-season ice time, playing his first full year for John Tortorella after recovering from back surgery. That’s been the popular theory in the fan and media corner that subscribes to the idea of taking things at face value.

Speaking with the Snow the Goalie crew over the weekend – Sherlock SanFilippo, Bundy, and Russ “the white Marcus Hayes” Joy*, Flyers GM Danny Briere mentioned that Coots has been dealing with injuries all season long:

“Sean hasn’t played well enough, the last month. The encouraging part is how he played in the first half. We know it’s there. Coming out of the two-year hiatus he was on, it wasn’t an easy situation. So the way I look at it (now), we know Sean can still be a good player. He proved that in the first half of the season, played a lot of heavy minutes. Is that what caught up to him? I don’t know. But he lost a little bit of his jump lately. But it’s still there, and that’s the encouraging part for me, is I know Sean can still play. I know Sean is going to help us down the stretch and help us make the playoffs. That’s the way I see it. It’s not fun to see, it’s not something you enjoy seeing, but at the same time I think it’s going to help him, it’s going to put him back on track, it gives him the chance to refocus, maybe get angry a little bit. When you play with an edge, you’re able to dig a little deeper and find a little bit more, and I hope Sean uses that to prove to his coach and everybody else that he’s still the player he was in the first half of the season.”

…

“He played a lot of minutes, if you think about it, he hasn’t played for two years, and we put him back (in a significant role). Part of it, the situation was forced, because we didn’t have the centermen at the beginning of the season that were ready to take on the load he was given, playing 20, 22 minutes a night. For a guy who hasn’t played in two years, that was a lot to ask out of him. He’s part of the reason where we are (now), because of his play. You look at how Morgan Frost has turned his season around, (Ryan) Poehling has gotten better and better. Scotty Laughton early in the season was having his trouble as well and is now playing much better also. You also have these other guys who are pushing, asking for more ice time because of the way they’re playing. We have all the young guys looking for more responsibility the way they’ve been playing. In a sense, it was good to give Sean the chance to maybe recuperate a little bit more, but when I say that we know he doesn’t want to be scratched. Nobody expected it to maybe go that far.”

…

“We had those discussions (about pushing him too hard) along the way. Early on, we were asking a lot of him. He was playing on the power play. He was facing all the top lines. He was first on the penalty kill. And we had those discussions together, the coaching staff, as far as ‘well we’re asking a lot.’ Sean was really beat up, too. If you remember, you go back to early in the season, Sean was missing some practices here and there. It wasn’t just to recuperate from playing 22 minutes (each night), he was really banged up. I think at one point, he had five different injuries that he was dealing with, and he was still playing. And the back was best part for him (laughs). We’re joking, but everything else was hurting while the back was okay, so we were feeling good about it. But Sean plays hard and we were asking a lot of him. Hopefully this is a reset and gives him a chance to refocus and we’re gonna need him. We’re gonna need him down the stretch and into the playoffs if we get in.”

Part of me, and probably you, reads that last paragraph and thinks ‘well, it’s hockey, guys are always banged up.’ That’s par for the course, is it not? Everybody is dealing with some kind of knock, a bruise or two, maybe a nagging thing that bothers you but isn’t enough to keep you out of the lineup. But those things start to pile up, you tire a bit, and you’re not scoring goals or bagging assists. The coach scratches you, you hit the reset button, and then try to get back to being yourself. It’s not the first time or last time it’s happened, especially under Torts.

Coots played about 23 minutes total this weekend, 13 minutes in one game and 10 in the other. He had a couple of shots, no goals or assists, but clanked a backhand off the crossbar that would have really closed the door on this episode. For what it’s worth, he told media this weekend that everything is good, that the scratching is behind him, and so we move on and hopefully he plays better as the Flyers try to secure their first playoff berth since the COVID year.

*”the white Marcus Hayes” is a nickname given to Russ by longtime Crossing Broadcast listener ‘Ford’