Ivan Provorov is off to a strong start under John Tortorella, with crashing the Norris Trophy conversation ‘the goal’

Players around the league talk. So when defenseman Tony DeAngelo arrived in Philadelphia via trade from the Carolina Hurricanes, he already knew all about Ivan Provorov’s strengths — his skating, his physicality, his competitiveness, his ability to win puck battles.

What he didn’t realize was Provorov’s patience going back to get the puck. Even with most team’s top lines matched up against the Flyers’ top pairing this season, DeAngelo said he’s learned that his new partner rarely bats an eyelash in the face of the forecheck. That poise is part of the reason why the 5-2-1 Flyers have had some early success, with Provorov on the ice for a team-high nine of the Flyers’ 24 goals.

» READ MORE: October has been a ‘roller coaster’ for John Tortorella and the Flyers

“I think there’s three or four plays already this year where he’s got assists on a few of them, but sometimes they’re third assists where he does a really good job, hold, hold, hold,” DeAngelo said. “He breaks a play out, now we go and transition, and maybe 15 seconds later, we score.”

For assistant coach Brad Shaw, Provorov is off to a strong start alongside DeAngelo, averaging 23:37 of ice time, collecting five assists, and compiling a plus-four rating through eight games. But there’s far more out there for Provorov to accomplish, according to Shaw.

“Hopefully we do keep improving and we get him to a point where he’s back in that Norris conversation, which for me is the goal,” Shaw said. “I would love to see him get his game to a point where he is mentioned with the top defensemen in the game.”

Before Shaw joined coach John Tortorella as the Flyers’ defense and penalty kill specialist, he spoke to coaches about some of the different personalities on the team. Provorov was one of them.

He heard that when things weren’t going well for the team last season — and for most of the season, things didn’t go well — Provorov took a lot of it on himself and let it weigh on him. Tortorella went as far as to say on film, Provorov looked like “a shell of what he was when he first came to this league.”

Shaw wanted to make sure that the new coaching staff got off on the right foot with the Russian defenseman.

“He’s ultra-important to us,” Shaw said. “He’s power play, penalty kill, first D pair. But I didn’t want him putting too much pressure on himself. That kind of can happen to some guys that are trying to do sometimes almost too much instead of just doing their job.”

Provorov was one of the first Flyers that Tortorella spoke to after being hired, their introductory conversation lasting about an hour and 20 minutes. As the Flyers got closer to the start of the season, Tortorella informed Provorov that he would be taking him off of the power play so he could focus on his five-on-five game. That conversation was far more brief and one-sided.

With one less responsibility, Provorov could focus on simplifying his play at even strength. He responded immediately in the season opener against the New Jersey Devils on Oct. 13, collecting two assists and racking up 10 blocked shots and a team-high 16:23 of even-strength ice time.

Just four periods into the season, Provorov assumed his role as quarterback of the Flyers’ second power-play unit.

“I think he answered right away as far as how he’s handled himself,” Tortorella said. “He had a really good camp. I just love the way he competes. And he deserves to be playing both, well, really all three. Both special teams and five-on-five.”

Even over a small sample size, Shaw noted that Provorov already looks different than he did on film last season.

“I think he’s trying to insert himself into the game with the puck more than I remember seeing him,” Shaw said. “A little bit more like when I first came across him as a visiting coach. Saw him when he was young in his NHL career. He seemed to have the puck a little bit more. “I think he’s trying to find more solutions himself with the puck.”

Shaw found that Provorov’s game against the Nashville Predators on Oct. 22 was “exceptional,” as it related to his play with the puck. His execution on breakouts helped the Flyers generate scoring chances, including his pass through the neutral zone for center Kevin Hayes that led to winger Joel Farabee’s third-period goal.

But this rediscovered wrinkle in Provorov’s game from Shaw’s point of view isn’t something new to the player himself.

“I think that’s always been my game,” Provorov said. “I like to make plays, whether it’s D zone, neutral zone, offensive zone. Execution-wise, obviously the last, I guess, year or two years, as a team, we weren’t on the same page. So obviously, that comes into play overall as a team. The better the team plays, the more plays you make as a team, the more confidence you have.”

What is new to Provorov this season is a steady defensive partner in DeAngelo. Since the retirement of Matt Niskanen in 2020, Provorov has been on the market for a consistent top-pairing sidekick. Last season, that was supposed to be Ryan Ellis, but Ellis played just four games before his season was derailed (and continues to be derailed) by injury.

With the knowledge that Ellis wouldn’t be healthy to start the season, if at all, general manager Chuck Fletcher traded three picks for DeAngelo at the draft.

DeAngelo serves as an offensive-minded foil to Provorov’s physical, two-way game. In just a handful of games, DeAngelo said their chemistry, especially offensively, is already beginning to develop.

“We’re just reading off each other,” DeAngelo said. “And I’m encouraging him to go, like I want him to go. And when I can go, he’ll stay back for me. So you’ve got to have that trust as a partnership. It can’t be one guy. And I think that both of us get involved together, it makes it that much more difficult for teams.”

Shaw senses a balance in their individual styles of play, where DeAngelo is a bit more of a “free spirit” who is not always “textbook” in what he does, and Provorov is more “foundational” and “structure-based.”

» READ MORE: Flyers’ Tony DeAngelo says he isn’t who you think he is. And he’s ready to prove it to hometown fans.

But while they differ stylistically, Shaw said they are both ultra-competitive and hard to play against, making them a valuable duo for the Flyers.

“I envision that the more they play together, the better they get, the more seamless they get, the more efficient they get,” Shaw said. “There’ll be quicker reads, they’ll be able to know exactly where the other guy is going to be before even maybe they know it themselves. So they’re both smart players and they’re both learning off each other. And so that’s a process. We’re down the road, but it’s going to get better the farther we go.”

In their 55-year history, the Flyers have yet to draft and develop a Norris Trophy winner. Provorov has pulled off remarkable feats throughout his seven-year career with the Flyers, from ranking sixth in the league in average ice time in 2019 as a 22-year-old to notching 15 even-strength goals in 2018 as a 21-year-old, tying 2018 Norris Trophy-winner Victor Hedman for the most among defenseman.

But he’s yet to propel himself consistently into the Norris conversation.

“Personally, I think I have the ability to get there,” Provorov said. “Obviously, the better overall the team plays, everyone’s stats look better. I think that, partially, is a big part of being in that conversation. ... But I think overall, just continue to play my two-way game. Take care of defense and support on offense.”

For Provorov to take that next step, Shaw said that he needs to achieve a sense of consistency to perform at a high level.

“How do we get him to the pinnacle of how good he can be?” Shaw said. “That’s the challenge for us and for him. That’s what we’re looking for every day, whether it’s through video or through just talk on the ice, or suggestions or feedback from him. That’s the goal.”

» READ MORE: Method to the madness: Inside John Tortorella’s plan to rebuild the Flyers