Spending two weeks on the team’s injured reserve with a lower-body injury, Owen Tippett will be back in the lineup tonight for the Philadelphia Flyers as the team announced they had activated him from the injured reserve. The news of his return also comes 11 days after Tippett signed an eight-year, $49.6MM extension in Philadelphia that will run through the 2031-32 NHL season.
Returning to the lineup tonight, it will be the first time playing his former team, the Florida Panthers, as a visiting player. Before his trade to the City of Brotherly Love during the 2021-22 season, Tippett played in 94 games for the Panthers spread out over three seasons, scoring 14 goals and 33 points altogether.
Now in a more elevated role with the Flyers, Tippett surpassed his totals in Florida relatively quickly in Philadelphia, scoring 27 goals and 49 points over 77 games last season. In a similarly productive season this year, Tippett has played in 46 games for the Flyers up to this point, scoring 18 goals and 30 points.
On a rather interesting note, even though Tippett is producing slightly better this season than last, he has lost nearly two minutes in average time on the ice as compared to last year. In a 10-game stretch from November 4th to November 25th, Tippett scored five goals and eight points but only played about 14 and a half minutes of those games on average. However, in his most recent 10-game stretch, head coach John Tortorella has seemingly extended his leash, playing Tippett nearly 18 minutes a night on average.
Nevertheless, while taking his recent playing time as well as the contract extension into consideration, it goes without saying that the Flyers view Tippett as being a long-term fixture in their forward core. Even though he has not scored 30 goals yet in a singular season, Tippett is well on his way to becoming one of the select few players who can average the mark over several years.
Should be a fun game