There are a lot of exciting story lines to follow this year for the Philadelphia Flyers. Before the Flyers make their season debut tonight in Vancouver, we should take a look at a couple exciting players and areas of opportunity for the big club. Whether it’s team performance, individual players, or management, no matter what level it is with the Flyers, it will be interesting to see how things play out.
1. How Many Points Will Matvei Michkov Score?
Let’s start with the player everyone is talking about. Matvei Michkov took the league by storm this preseason, earning 7 points (3 goals, 4 assists) in 4 games played. He will likely not score at a 1.75 point-per-game pace – 140 points – this season. However, he may be able to be close to a point-per-game player assuming he dresses for all or most of the 82-game season.
We also have to consider how the 19-year-old will handle the fatigue that will inevitable arrive during the second half of the season. This notably impacted the Flyers last year when they slid out of a playoff position. If they reach a similar position to where they were last year during that time, and Michkov is producing, will it be enough to drag them into a playoff berth?
2. Can the Power Play Reach Semi-Respectable Levels of Success?
The last two seasons on the power play have been particularly ugly for Philadelphia. The Flyers have finished in 32nd for three consecutive seasons. The 2022-23 season ended with a 15.6% success rate. Last year, the Flyers finished the 2023-24 season with a dismal 12.2% success rate.
Everyone knows the Flyers’ penalty kill finished near the top in the league and is a legit scoring threat against their oppositions. Everyone also knows that the Flyers’ power play is nearly non-existent. Can Michkov and co. bring the power play to a near-respectable level again?
If the Flyers could just even hang around the slightly below average mark in the early 20s this season, that could also be enough to get them over the final stretch of the regular season to secure a playoff spot.
3. Will Sean Couturier Finish the 2024-25 Season the Way He Starts it?
Sean Couturier being an effective center for entire season will be another critical area of improvement.
Between October 1st and December 1st of 2023, Sean Couturier had scored 5 goals and 10 assists, good for 15 points in 21 games. Not a point-per-game, but close enough. He was also looking like his old self, as in the “one that got regularly nominated for the Selke Trophy” kind of self. While +/- can be a little faulty, his +4 rating suggested he was outscoring opponents on the ice.
Unfortunately, from December 1st until the end of the season, Couturier only scored 23 points (6 goals, 17 assists) in 53 games. He was also a -14 on the plus/minus scale. Again, it is not the most reliable, but if you are a -14, there is no question that you’re was getting buried and outscored while being on the ice.
55+ points and solid, consistent two-way play is the goal, but we will see if he can do it.
4. What Does a Fully Healthy Jamie Drysdale Look Like?
Jamie Drysdale has already been a lot of fun to watch this preseason if you have been following him closely. There are more moments in games where he pops. Whether it is him making moves with the puck via shifty skating, or getting aggressive in the rush and offensive zone, there has been a lot more to his game.
It would not be fair to expect Drysdale to immediately put it all together, however. As Flyers management has noted, he needs to learn how to play NHL hockey. We can expect him to continue to make some mistakes with and without the puck. This season is his first true opportunity to show us why the Flyers traded for him in the wake of the Cutter Gauthier saga.
Can Drysdale offer the same value Sean Walker did during his short time with the Flyers? Walker was instrumental in the Flyers’ 5v5 offense, especially off the rush, and the Flyers’ penalty kill unit. He was sensational in transitional play and scored some goals on the penalty kill as well. Drysdale has some big shoes to fill, but he has all the tools to do it.
Then there is the power play. Now, if there is any single player who is going to have the biggest impact on the power play, it is going to be Michkov. However, the power play quarterback plays an instrumental role with puck movement, and creating space and opportunities. The power play will be an excellent area for Drysdale to flash his quickness and agility with the puck. He truly just has to be “passable”, and I mean that literally. Like, he literally just needs to pass the puck to Michkov…
The easiest way to give opportunity to allow everything else to go right is to have a reliable duo in net. Samuel Ersson flashed the ability to be a starting goaltender last season.
Through January 1st, Ersson had a 9-5-2 record with a respectable .902 SV% and a 2.54 GAA.
However, once he was run into the ground between December to the end of the 2023-24 season, his numbers tanked to a 14-14-5 record with a .884 SV% and a 2.94 GAA. The Flyers will need Ersson to be his former self if they want a chance at the playoffs.
That’s also why the backup goaltender will be so important and that leads us to Ivan Fedotov. While he looked okay in the preseason games, they are just exactly that, preseason, and he will have a lot to prove this year if he wants to keep his job. Fedotov did appear in 5 games last year, where he finished with a .811 SV% and a 4.21 GAA. Needless to say, the Flyers will need more than what he showed in that short stint if he is to make a positive impact for the Flyers this season.
Jett Luchanko will debut as the youngest Flyer rookie in their history. He flashed talent with the puck, strong attention to detail, and a mature attitude that landed him a spot with the big club. His speed, IQ, and maturity swindled the eyes and mind of John Tortorella. We will see how he performs against real NHL talent on a night-to-night basis.
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