Just 65 days separate us from the Philadelphia Flyers’ season opener, which will take place against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on October 11th.
The Flyers entered an offseason in which they were rather quiet, which was expected. They bought out Cam Atkinson while re-signing Erik Johnson, Egor Zamula, and Bobby Brink in moves that affected the main NHL roster.
The largest splash of the summer came, however, when Matvei Michkov’s KHL contract was terminated to allow him to come to North America and sign his entry-level deal with the Flyers. The 7th overall pick from the 2023 NHL Draft is perhaps the most anticipated prospect the Flyers have possessed since Claude Giroux or even Eric Lindros.
As we inch closer to the beginning of the season, it will be interesting to see how head coach John Tortorella chalks up his lines throughout training camp and leading into Game 1 of 82. Of course, we won’t know what he rolls with until then, so I’m going to take my best guess at what the lineup may look like in Vancouver.
FORWARDS
Line 1: Owen Tippett – Sean Couturier – Travis Konecny
The Flyers’ top two goal-scorers from last season alongside the team captain and former Selke Trophy winner. Seems good on paper, right?
Couturier struggled as the season progressed last year after a solid start, which shouldn’t have been that surprising after he missed almost two years of hockey due to lingering back injuries. After going through a physically grueling year, Couturier underwent sports hernia surgery this offseason but should be ready for training camp, and having those two on his wings should work wonders.
Tippett and Konecny each recorded career seasons, but only Konecny played the majority of his minutes with Couturier. Konecny played 554:12 alongside Couturier in all even-strength situations, by far the most of any forward duo on the team, while Tippett played most of his hockey with Morgan Frost at center. That being said, the 74-14-11 trio did play together for 110:26 and scored 8 goals while allowing 6 with a 61.4 CF%. So there is some chemistry between the three and they did produce.
Tippett’s speed could also benefit Couturier the most on that line. Having someone like Tippett that can zip around with the bursts of quickness and possess the ability to pot 30+ goals would do wonders for the captain to help set him up for scoring opportunities.
While Frost scored more than Couturier last year, I don’t think Tortorella is ready to make him the top center just yet, especially over the team captain who is also still a better defender.
Line 2: Tyson Foerster – Morgan Frost – Matvei Michkov
A line chock full of speed, skill, and some fantastic two-way play from their left winger.
Frost isn’t the strongest defender, but he is a gifted playmaker and between those two potential wingers on his line, one excels at defense as much as offense while the other is the uber-gifted ‘savior’ of the franchise.
Foerster received a single 5th-place vote for the Selke Trophy – good for a tie for 37th in total voting – in his rookie season, in which he also placed 7th in Calder Trophy voting. Foerster also was one of just 4 Flyers to score 20 or more goals last year alongside Konecny, Tippett, and Joel Farabee.
Frost would be a solid contributor between these two with his high skill and incredible work with the puck offensively. He set a career-high in assists with 28 and his CF%, FF%, and PDO all raised from the previous season. Consistency will be the key for him but his production should continue to rise.
Michkov is obviously the X-factor on this line, however. He has been described by general manager Daniel Brière as the most skillful player in the organization on multiple occasions, and if he plays as advertised in year one, there will be plenty to like about him and this line. Coming off 41 points in 48 KHL games last year after being picked 7th overall in 2023, Michkov will be the one forward to watch the most in the top-six.
Line 3: Joel Farabee – Scott Laughton – Bobby Brink
Basically by default, Farabee gets the “relegation” to the third line though it shows just how deep the Flyers are on the wing, which is a huge positive. Farabee cracked the 50-point benchmark for the first time thanks to personal-bests in goals (22) and assists (28) and played most of his even-strength hockey last year with Brink, which bodes well for chemistry.
Brink had his ups and downs, but he got better as the season progressed and seemed to improve defensively after an 11-game stint in AHL Lehigh Valley. Brink finished his NHL campaign with 23 points in 57 games and has a strong set of tools that can help the third line become a force at both ends.
If we add Laughton to this equation, we can look back at the 89:05 the trio played together in which they were on the ice for 5 goals versus 3 against despite being outshot 47-44. Laughton had a noticeably down year, but hopefully he can rebound and if he can return to his 2022-23 self down the middle, the chances and shots could flip in their favor pretty easily.
While Noah Cates could make more sense at center here than Laughton, the former generated plenty of chemistry down the stretch with Ryan Poehling and Garnet Hathaway and that trio played the second-most minutes of any Flyers line at even-strength. I don’t think Tortorella wants to break them up anytime soon.
Line 4: Noah Cates – Ryan Poehling – Garnet Hathaway
As mentioned before, this line was together quite a bit – 162:03 in all even-strength situations to be exact. They outshot opponents by a whopping 108-49 margin at even-strength, by far the best shots-for percentage of any qualified line on the team.
Cates struggled offensively for much of the season but racked up 5 points in his last 7 games of the year and 13 in his last 31, a far cry from 5 in his first 28. Consistency and health will be the key for Cates, and while he probably won’t be a 70-point, two-way dynamo that Couturier was in his prime, being a stable defensive presence in the bottom-six with the ability to rack up 35-40 points will be great.
Poehling had the best season of his young career while primarily playing on the fourth line and occasionally filling in higher up. 11 goals and 17 assists for 28 points were all personal highs and showed that Poehling still possessed the skill that made him a first-round pick in 2017 despite flaming out of the Canadiens organization. He was promptly rewarded with a two-year extension back in January and never wavered in his play afterwards.
Hathaway, the NHL’s leader in hits among forwards last season and second overall, will continue to be a physical and defensive presence on the wing after signing an extension that will keep him on Broad Street through 2027.
Extras: Nicolas Deslauriers
Deslauriers will find his way in and out of the lineup as the year progresses. His teammates, coaches, and the front office love him, but 1 goal and 4 points in 60 games last year doesn’t warrant an Opening Night appearance unless he has a killer preseason – or the Flyers really think they need extra grit against the ultra-skilled Canucks.
DEFENSEMEN
Pair 1: Cam York – Travis Sanheim
The top pair last season, there’s no real good reason to break these two up as they gear up to reprise their roles.
Despite being out-attempted 1,048-966 and outscored 58-48 at even strength, the pair was on the ice for more shots on goal than against (510-489) and goaltending could be more to blame for goal differential issues considering the Flyers were tied for the worst save percentage in the league at .884 alongside Ottawa. They were also together for 1,082:45 at ES, so there’s bound to be some mistakes when you’re playing together that much on a rebuilding club.
If you’re looking closer at some of the numbers, York actually had some positives away from Sanheim. At even strength, York recorded positive shot differentials with almost every other defenseman on the team, most notably a 48-34 margin in over 105 minutes with the traded Sean Walker.
York’s defensive game improved in lieu of his offensive abilities being displayed. His 10 goals, 20 assists, and 30 points were new career-highs, but he scored at about a 30-point pace in 2022-23 anyway. He should be taking another large step forward this season, and hopefully his offensive acumen takes the biggest jump.
Sanheim, meanwhile, was Philadelphia’s best defenseman. He made a 21-point improvement from the season prior thanks to personal highs in goals (10) and assists (34) that also led the team among defenders, skated a career-best 23:48 per game, played in all situations, and demonstrated valuable leadership while claiming his second Barry Ashbee Trophy as the team’s top blueliner.
The longest-tenured Flyer among the defensive corps, Sanheim is a veteran at this point at age 28, effective in two-way play, and will continue his role as the team’s #1 defenseman.
Pair 2: Nick Seeler – Jamie Drysdale
One defensive stalwart and one smooth-skating offensive defenseman. This pair skated the 8th-most minutes at even strength on the team last year, so there is prior chemistry. How good the chemistry is might be another issue, though.
Seeler and Drysdale were on the ice together for just 1 goal while giving up 7, despite being on the positive side of shots on goal at a 58-46 margin in 105:38.
Seeler’s Corsi-For percentage at even-strength was 50.8% on the season, and with Drysdale alone it was 47.7%. It was clear to anyone watching last season that Drysdale had his fair of defensive struggles, and him being banged up throughout the season didn’t help.
Drysdale possesses all the tools to be a stellar defenseman, but it’s just a matter of putting it altogether. His skating is superb and he’s very sharp on his edges. His offensive game is something the Flyers desperately crave from the back-end and they know he can provide that, and the power play showed some improvement when he had the opportunity to run things. The next step is being more responsible in his own end and tying it all together.
“21-year-old kid, shocked by the trade, hasn’t played much because of injuries. Comes to a new team, I think (he) has a lot to learn,” said Tortorella back on February 15th. “I think he has a chance to be a star in this league, but there is a ton of work we need to do with him in understanding how we play.”
Drysdale racked up 5 points and a -18 rating in 24 games after being traded from Anaheim. Sheltering him in a lesser role won’t be the key, however. He needs ice time to grow and needs to keep making mistakes to get better, and quite frankly the Flyers don’t really have a better player to slot here anyway.
Drysdale is still only 22 as well. He’ll be fine as time goes on and it starts this season after a full training camp and preseason with the Flyers.
Pair 3: Egor Zamula – Rasmus Ristolainen
Zamula and Ristolainen were the Flyers’ third-most common pairing at even-strength last year, spending 198:23 together. They gave up 10 goals against while being on the ice for 6 of Philadelphia’s and were outshot 101-106 in ES situations.
Zamula showed glimpses of being a stable defenseman that thrived in a sheltered role and could step up when called upon in the top-4. He recorded a career-best 21 points in 66 games and led all Flyers blueliners in power play goals (2), power play assists (7), and power play points (9).
Ristolainen being listed here is solely dependent on him being healthy. He has missed every single season and/or home opener since being acquired from Buffalo in 2021. If he’s absent once again, this is Erik Johnson’s spot in Game 1.
Ristolainen missed a great deal of time last year, playing in just 31 games and recording 4 points (1g, 3a). He has actually become a really stable defenseman under Tortorella and Brad Shaw after struggling off the bat under Alain Vigneault and Mike Yeo in 2021-22.
The hulking Finn’s advanced numbers improved drastically albeit in a shorter sample size. At even-strength, Ristolainen’s CF% jumped to 50.8% a 5.4% improvement from last year, and his Fenwick For percentage elevated from 48.0% to 54.7%. His PDO took a slight dip to 95.7, but let’s just chalk that up to being a little unlucky.
Zamula is a young player locked into a two-year extension that runs through 2026, and Ristolainen is a solid veteran when he’s on the ice. This pair has promise, but Zamula needs to make another leap forward and Ristolainen needs to stay on the ice.
Extras: Erik Johnson
Johnson re-signed for one year and $1 million on July 1st. He’ll basically serve in the same role that Marc Staal did last season, but hopefully plays better than Staal. Johnson is the only player on the roster with a Stanley Cup on their résumé and will be entering his 17th NHL season. He’ll be a valued veteran on and off the ice, but he may not suit up for the first game unless Ristolainen is still banged up.
GOALTENDERS
Starter: Samuel Ersson
After an offseason to recover, Ersson has had time to prepare for this coming season as the starter after entering last year as the backup to the disgraced Carter Hart.
Ersson was basically thrown to the wolves since the Flyers didn’t really have a choice once Hart left the team. Cal Petersen and Felix Sandström weren’t much help behind Ersson. Ivan Fedotov’s late arrival didn’t spark the team as much as they’d hoped, either.
All things considered, Ersson still had a decent year. An .890 SV% isn’t ideal, but winning 23 games with a 2.82 GAA and 4 shutouts was a huge positive. Now that he can mentally and physically prepare for a starter’s workload, expect him to have a better year and expect him to be in the starter’s crease against Vancouver.
Backup: Ivan Fedotov
Fedotov finally made his way to the NHL last season after a lengthy saga that saw him basically kidnapped and banished to the Arctic by the Russian government to fill out his conscription duties before playing out the 2023-24 KHL season with CSKA Moscow – the Red Army team.
He made his NHL debut in relief of Ersson on April 1st in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Islanders and proceeded to go 0-1-1 in three appearances with an .811 SV% and 4.95 GAA. Those numbers are nothing to write home about, but he missed the entire 2022-23 season fulfilling his military obligations and his KHL numbers even took a slight dip from his Gagarin Cup-winning 2021-22 season.
Getting acclimated to the area and the team will be huge, and after he gets some preseason work in under his belt and gets comfortable in training camp, the tallest goalie in NHL history should be the #2 goalie on Opening Night and should hopefully provide some stability behind Ersson.
