2023-24: 38-33-11 6th in Metropolitan Division, 11th in Eastern Conference, 21st in league
An incredibly weak Philadelphia Flyers squad was playing so far above their level for so long that they had everyone convinced that they had taken that next step to being a playoff team. John Tortorella was doing his thing, being a great coach, as he has consistently taken teams to the next level with an elevated standard. But there were a few details missing from Philadelphia that Tampa Bay, the NY Rangers, and the Columbus Blue Jackets had. All those teams had strong goaltending, good offense, or all of the above. Philadelphia's best defenseman is Travis Sanheim, their best forwards are Travis Konecny and Owen Tippett, and teams like that can survive, but they won't be very well off for a long run. Carter Hart was playing adequate hockey until his legal troubles surfaced, so the team turned to Samuel Ersson the rest of the season. Though they played well in front of him, his .890 save percentage eventually played into their late season collapse in which they lost 3rd place to the Islanders and the 2WC spot to Washington. Not that it would've made a difference; either way they would've been swept in Round 1.
The Flyers appeared to be a strong defensive team early on in the year, and it made up for their lack of offense. Cam Atkinson, since being acquired from the Blue Jackets, has proven to be a disappointment, and has since been let go to Tampa Bay, had only 13 goals, and Sean Couturier only had 11, so it shows the mess that Danny Briere has been left with to clean up from Chuck Fletcher. But the younger players, like Owen Tippett, Joel Farabee, and Tyson Foerster showed a lot of promise. Even though the Flyers didn't make the playoffs, John Tortorella has built an identity where, like the rest of his teams, they are going to be defensively sound, and hard to play against. His teams block a lot of shots, and I saw that firsthand only twice this year when they played the Canucks, but they can enforce that style onto teams very effectively.
Briere is already showing why Philadelphia hired him, because he made the best out of a bad situation by getting Jamie Drysdale from the Ducks and a 2nd round pick in 2025. They also got Colorado's 2025 1st round pick from them and Ryan Johansen for Sean Walker and a 2026 5th round pick, and with Colorado stagnating, the pick is likely going to be in the top 25 of this year's draft. Tortorella and Briere are trying to create their own thing, and shedding some of the team's previous baggage was crucial to their improvement. They let JVR go to the Bruins in free agency, and they let Tony DeAngelo, a notorious dressing room toxin, go to Carolina, and Carter Hart likely won't be back in Philly, no matter how his court case turns out for him, so there's a change going on where losing isn't considered acceptable anymore, and with a 2022 Stanley Cup champion in Erik Johnson, they have good leadership on the blue line for guys like Oliver Bonk and Travis Sanheim, who are likely in for the long haul.
Their good improvement isn't much to convince me they'll be anything spectacular this season though, because their forwards don't score enough. Sean Couturier is nowhere near the player they need him to be for him to be considered captain material, never mind top 6 centerman. Tyson Foerster and Morgan Frost are the team's future down the middle, so they just need to cut their losses and get Couturier's contract dumped before it inhibits them from moving forward. His contract doesn't expire until the 2029-30 season, so if they want to develop, their money is better spent elsewhere, but they would need to wait another couple years before the benefits of a buyout are worth it, and for it to benefit the team, they would have to do it before he turns 35. Matvei Michkov is also going to be a big piece of the Flyers moving forward, and if they don't want to lose him to free agency because they can't pay him, Sean Couturier will have to go, because on rebuilding teams, the past doesn't matter, because you have to be useful today.
With all that in mind, I have the Flyers finishing 37-36-9, 6th in the Metropolitan Division, 11th in the Eastern Conference, and 22nd in the league. I'm not predicting a massive step back, but a strong performance from Michkov will keep them afloat until April because of how weak the bottom of the Eastern Conference is right now.
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