When the regular season came to a close, it felt like all the hard work that the Philadelphia Flyers put together as a collective unit between October and February was long forgotten.
They finished 12th to the bottom in the league’s standings, they lost hold of their playoff spot in the final weeks of the season, and that epic collapse against some of the league’s bottom-feeders gave us PTSD of the trauma we’ve gone through as fans since 2013. It almost feels like things are operating the same way now as they have in years past under Paul Holmgren, Ron Hextall, and Chuck Fletcher.
However, the offseason has only just begun and Daniel Brière and company are still on track with their New Era of Orange.
In a year where the Flyers were expected to rebuild, they shocked and surprised by playing competitive hockey and winning games that team’s of yesteryears past would have not come close to fulfilling. Head coach John Tortorella’s system was working to a tee, several core players were playing to their moniker, and the team as a whole played as a collective unit – something that coach’s in the past failed at delivering.
On the surface, the team still lacked star-power and top-end talent but they found ways to win games thanks to their competitive drive, relentless forechecking, and insatiable energy. Defensively, they definitely overachieved – at least on the basis of pre-season expectations – but what undid a very strong start was a litany of injuries to core members of the back-end one after the other. Goaltending might have been their best asset until January but after Carter Hart‘s departure, the wheels completely fell off and Samuel Ersson was driven into the ground because the Flyers didn’t have any contingency plans in place and Cal Petersen and Felix Sandström just did not bring about any confidence from the coaching staff.
As we entered the offseason, it was tough to place a finger on which direction the Flyers would be heading into. Would they look at how close they were to making the playoffs and turn the rebuild into an aggressive rebuild? Or would they realize that they’re still a few years away from making any noise and continue to play it low and slow, while focusing more on the draft than free agency and trades?
The 2024 NHL Entry Draft was going to be our first chance to see what the front office had up their sleeves and as the picks were being selected one after the other, there were a few curveballs that changed the way many of the teams near the middle of the order went about their business. Anaheim selecting Beckett Sennecke at number 3 and Ottawa taking Carter Yakemchuk at 7 were not on many venerable mock drafts or final rankings. That allowed Zayne Parekh, Anton Silayev, and Zeev Buium to drop much lower than initially anticipated, which was seen as a boon for the Flyers.
With the Flyers on the clock at number 12, they had Buium, Konsta Helenius, and Cole Eiserman still on the board but decided to trade down one spot with Minnesota, knowing the Wild wouldn’t be taking “their guy”. The Wild got a steal in Buium at 12, the Flyers drafted Jett Luchanko at 13, and Buffalo – who previously had the 11th pick but traded down to 14 – had Helenius fall into their lap at 14. Much to the dismay of the fanbase initially, Luchanko was not on anybody’s radar and the pick seemed like a reach from Brière and company. Luchanko was ranked anywhere between the 18-22 range but with more NHL-ready talent still on the board, it didn’t look good.
Part of the reason why Luchanko was not talked about by a lot of people had to do with the Guelph Storm not being a good team. People cared more about the London Knights, Saginaw Spirit, and Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in the OHL than the Storm. London finished with 104 points and had players like Easton Cowan and Denver Barkey, whereas Guelph finished with 73 points and didn’t have many venerated prospects outside of Luchanko – who paced the club with 74 points.
On the second day of the draft, the Flyers traded up twice and finished the festivities with 7 new prospects including 3 centres, 2 wingers, and 2 right handed shooting defensemen. Up next was the free agent frenzy, which Brière explicitly made mention to a few times ahead of the draft to temper expectations.
Due to lack of funds, a not-so-interesting crop of unrestricted free agents, and the Flyers in a perceived rebuild, there was almost no reason to expect any kind of movement. Depth was always going to be addressed and the Flyers achieved that feat by extending Erik Johnson to a one-year contract. They announced the highly anticipated entry level contract for Michkov and called it a day with an AHL signing in Anthony Richard.
While teams like Nashville, New Jersey, and Toronto splurged on the first day of free agency to push the total to over $1 billion spent on contracts, the Flyers laid low and kept to themselves as they addressed their depth for the upcoming season. It’s going to be more of the same as we move ahead in the summer barring an unforeseen move for a Trevor Zegras or a Martin Nečas.
Brière attempted to wheel and deal ahead of the draft but his reported interest in Ottawa fell through once the Senators acquired Linus Ullmark from Boston, and they reportedly had a deal on the table for the 4th overall pick but the Columbus Blue Jackets wanted 3 first round picks instead of the 2 the Flyers had offered – and a roster player. There was also reported interest in prospect Ivan Demidov, who ultimately was drafted by Montréal with the 5th overall pick as everyone suspected.
While things may seem a little lacklustre, it will essentially be the same team as last year – the one that was actually exciting and held onto a playoff spot for nearly 5 months. The biggest difference will be the addition of Michkov, which while expectations should be slightly tempered, he carries around the skillset that the Flyers have desperately been searching for since the days of Eric Lindros. He can be that difference-maker, generational talent, and superstar talent that can push the Flyers rebuild ahead – instead of the usual 2-way, 200-foot players they’ve drafted and cultivated over the years.
They believe they have their goaltending dilemma solved with another year out of Ersson and the arrival of Ivan Fedotov. While the former had an amazing start to the season, he became overused and struggled mightily down the stretch. With Fedotov hopefully acclimated to his new surroundings and with a full training camp under his belt, he can lighten the load and provide the Flyers with a solid tandem option for the 2024-25 season.
They can split it right down the middle like Boston did with Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman or they can ride the hot hand and have a 60/40 split. Either way, they should avoid the possibility of running a goaltender into the ground and have Alexei Kolosov in the minors as a contingency plan should things flame out.
Defensively, it boils down to the health of Jamie Drysdale and Rasmus Ristolainen. If healthy, they can roll out with Travis Sanheim, Cam York, Nick Seeler, Drysdale, and Ristolainen with an open spot for one of their prospects. Being traded midseason is never easy and Drysdale had to come all the way from Anaheim, adjust to a new system on the fly, and acclimate to his new teammates and surroundings as soon as possible. With a full training camp under his belt as well, the sky is the limit for the former first-round pick but health and injuries will be his crutch until he can suit up for a full 82-game season.
There really isn’t much room for new additions on the everyday lineup should the club remain healthy, which is part of the reason they stuck with the status quo. On the backend they’ll have depth options in either Johnson or prospects like Egor Zamula, Emil Andrae, Ronnie Attard, and Adam Ginning. Offensively, they might be a little thin outside of Olle Lycksell but that could provide an opportunity for players like Elliot Desnoyers and Samu Tuomaala, among others.
The Flyers will seemingly be trudging the imaginary line of not being bad enough to get a top-3 pick but also not good enough to make a meaningful postseason run. They could very well sneak into the playoffs if they can avoid the disastrous collapse that cost them that opportunity this year. They could also find themselves in purgatory again, which would leave them stranded with a pick in the 10-12 range. It’s tough to tell with how the other teams have bolstered their rosters as well but the Flyers still possess a quality players that will assuredly surprise a large faction of people around the hockey world.
Nevertheless, Brière stuck to his word and pushed the rebuild ahead instead of making absentminded moves after seeing how close they were to making the post-season in 2023-24. The plan probably always revolved around the summer of 2025, where they not only have close to $30 million in projected cap space but are expected to have 6 picks in the first 2 rounds of the draft.
The quiet offseason might have been frustrating, but the Flyers avoided the albatross contracts that some teams laid out, which is something they haven’t been able to do in the past.
