Flyers' History: Looking for insight on the 08/09 Hartnell-Carter-Lupul line

[Trap Jesus]

I was looking back at different teams' 30-goal scorers over the years recently and saw that the 2008/09 Flyers really stood out. As a Bruins fan, I know the basics of the 08/09 team, but nothing too in depth.

They had the following top 6 lines that were used most frequently at even strength:

Gagne (34g, 40a)-Richards (30g, 50a)-Knuble (27g, 20a)
Hartnell (30g, 30a)-Carter (46g, 38a)-Lupul (25g, 25a)

First line's production makes sense with Gagne and Richards both being adept scorers/playmakers (Richards more so the playmaker), and Knuble cleaning up the garbage, but the 2nd line strikes me as a complete anomaly.

Carter 29 ES goals (Hartnell assisted on 9, Lupul assisted on 5, 3 goals had both drawing assists on the same goal)

Hartnell 23 ES goals (Carter assisted on 12, Lupul on 7, 5 goals had both drawing assists on the same goal)

Lupul 19 ES goals (Carter assisted on 8, Hartnell on 10, 6 goals had both drawing assists on the same goal)

101 goals to 93 assists, 71 ES goals to 66 ES assists, with no player ever having more assists than goals, either overall or at ES.

How did this line even function? Based on the stats it looks like they almost played independently from one another, Carter especially.

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[Rebels57]

I was looking back at different teams' 30-goal scorers over the years recently and saw that the 2008/09 Flyers really stood out. As a Bruins fan, I know the basics of the 08/09 team, but nothing too in depth.

They had the following top 6 lines that were used most frequently at even strength:

Gagne (34g, 40a)-Richards (30g, 50a)-Knuble (27g, 20a)
Hartnell (30g, 30a)-Carter (46g, 38a)-Lupul (25g, 25a)

First line's production makes sense with Gagne and Richards both being adept scorers/playmakers (Richards more so the playmaker), and Knuble cleaning up the garbage, but the 2nd line strikes me as a complete anomaly.

Carter 29 ES goals (Hartnell assisted on 9, Lupul assisted on 5, 3 goals had both drawing assists on the same goal)

Hartnell 23 ES goals (Carter assisted on 12, Lupul on 7, 5 goals had both drawing assists on the same goal)

Lupul 19 ES goals (Carter assisted on 8, Hartnell on 10, 6 goals had both drawing assists on the same goal)

101 goals to 93 assists, 71 ES goals to 66 ES assists, with no player ever having more assists than goals, either overall or at ES.

How did this line even function? Based on the stats it looks like they almost played independently from one another, Carter especially.

Really underrated line for sure. I just remember Carter being unstoppable on the rush, Hartnell crashing the net and deflecting pucks in like a maniac and Lupul being very opportunistic. Too much has happened in the last 10 years for me to remember too much more than that.

 

[JojoTheWhale]

@MiamiScreamingEagles is probably the person best equipped to give you an answer, but to add to what Rebel said, I (think I) remember them being pretty aggressive in transition compared to what you might expect from a Hartnell group and the whole line driving the center lane pretty hard — Carter-Lupul 2 on 1s and 2s, things like that.

They were broken up at various times for decent stretches too.

 

[Trap Jesus]

Yeah, I remember Carter being great on the rush/in transition. I'm sure that's a big part of it.

 

[baudib1]

That was the year Briere missed most of the season.

 

[mja]

Carter during his Philly years was a bit of a one man show, and I don't mean that in a pejorative sense. I haven't watched him enough in LA to see if that continued, but he was better offensively with the puck on his stick and did not really need nor want a set-up man and to some extent was indeed independent of his linemates. He always gelled best with guys like Hartnell who could crash and bang so he could scoop up the puck and do his thing. Lupul was also an opportunistic guy who could cash in on rebounds or scoop up a loose puck, put a move on a guy and score.

 

[BringBackHakstol]

Carter's goals were mostly all snipes and not necessarily tick tac toe passing types of plays, so that could explain part of it

 

[usahockey22flyers]

I remember this game specifically -

Jeff Carter's first career hat trick leads Flyers past Leafs 8-5 | The Hockey News

 

[FlyersMania2]

Man lots of rose-colored glasses for Carter so far.

Guy had tons of skill but was streaky. He had a lot of EN goals one year if I remember correctly and for a center, wasn't really a playmaker. He def was a great talent but he was distracted here and young. Lupul had some really cool moves at times but was also streaky.

 

[Rebels57]

Man lots of rose-colored glasses for Carter so far.

Guy had tons of skill but was streaky. He had a lot of EN goals one year if I remember correctly and for a center, wasn't really a playmaker. He def was a great talent but he was distracted here and young. Lupul had some really cool moves at times but was also streaky.

We are talking specifically about a season where he scored 46 goals, so rose-colored glasses are appropriate.

 

[FlyersMania2]

We are talking specifically about a season where he scored 46 goals, so rose-colored glasses are appropriate.

Ah I was interpreting the comments I was reading as a review of his time as a Flyer.

 

[MacDonald4MVP]

Every single line hartsy played on was money. Even the one time Vinny Schenn line looked good was when he was there.

 

[PAZUZU]

 

[Rebels57]

Just as I remember. Killing it on the rush.