When the Flyers inked Ryan White to a one-year, two-way contract last August, the general consensus was that he was a depth signing who would likely be a key fixture in the minors.
After all, the 27-year-old had just five goals and 12 assists in parts of five seasons with the Montreal Canadiens. He also compiled 232 penalty minutes in 141 total games with the Habs, and was known more for throwing his body around and using his fists to collect a paycheck than contributing offensively.
As it turns out, there’s much more to White than meets the eye.
In his first season with the Flyers, White didn’t do anything drastic to change the way he plays the game. He still showed the fire and grit that endeared him to Canadiens fans, but something was different in Philadelphia.
The Flyers knew they could get more out of White, and supplied the 6-foot, 200-pounder with a chance to have a larger role than what he was accustomed to.
“I definitely want to be back,” White said after the Flyers held their exit interviews earlier this week. “It’s a good fit here for me. Finally got an opportunity to show what I can do every night on a regular basis and it was a lot of fun.”
White, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, was a bright spot in a dark season for the Flyers. Though the gritty, hard-nosed forward was limited to just 34 games, he managed to set new career highs in goals (six), assists (six) and points (12).
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More importantly, White injected some much-needed energy into the lineup no matter who he played with. He was moved up and down the lineup but never wavered. He was one of the few Flyers who you knew would show up on a consistent basis.
It showed in the standings, too. The Flyers picked up at least a point in 25 out of the 34 games White appeared in this season. Coincidence?
“I’m not going to go out there and score every single night,” White said. “It’s the little things that help teams win. Sometimes it’s contagious.
“You have a new guy come into the lineup and this person is trying to do whatever they can to stick around. You see some guys who do a little bit extra sometimes and I think it ran through the team pretty quickly where guys were starting to put a little bit more into the defensive part of the game.”
It makes you wonder where the Flyers could’ve been earlier in the season when White was recovering from a torn left pectoral muscle, which he suffered in a training session in late August shortly after signing with the club.
White is far from a game-changing player, but his calming influence and positive outlook is something the Flyers sorely missed in the locker room in the early going.
The injury also cost White the opportunity to compete for a roster spot at training camp last summer. He admitted it made things difficult because he knew he had to learn a new system and get acclimated with his new teammates and coaches.
But White credited the Flyers’ medical staff, specifically conditioning coach Jim McCrossin, for constantly pushing him during his rehab. He was ready for game action a month ahead of schedule and joined the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in the AHL for a brief stretch of games after Christmas.
“Probably the one thing that really helped me too was getting down and playing in Allentown there for the 11 games I did,” White said. “When I did get the opportunity to play I was feeling really good about my game and I was playing quite a few minutes down there. It was an easy transition. It put me in a good spot to look good. I think that was probably the biggest benefit of everything. It’s tough when you’re hurt and missing games, but I don’t think it could have worked out any better than it did.”
White speaks highly of the Flyers’ organization. He said he takes pride in playing an “old-school Flyer game.”
While contract negotiations have not yet begun, White made it clear he wants to continue to wear an orange and black sweater and hopes to be part of the team’s future.
“It’s a very positive environment,” he said. “Even toward the end of the season when we were out of the playoffs, we were still competitive in games. Yeah, we underachieved as a team this year but I think at the same time we’re not that far off from where we need to be.”