The Philadelphia Flyers are tired of life on the outside of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The Flyers have not made the NHL postseason since the 2019-20 season and their fans don't want to hear anything about improvement, the pipeline of prospects and how hard the team competes. It's time for results and a return to the postseason.
This appears to be a reasonable ask from the team's fan base, but it can be a very difficult achievement in the highly competitive Eastern Conference. As the Flyers prepare for the 2024-25 season, the team appears to have a the strength up front to make a real run at a spot inside the top three positions of the Metropolitan Division.
Russian prospect Michkov joins the Flyers and will provide an offensive spark
The big news in the offseason was the arrival of 19-year-old Matvei Michkov from Russia. He is going to have a spot on the top line with center Sean Couturier and Tyson Foerster. Michkov is supposed to give the Flyers a talented offensive performer who can put the puck in the net with regularity and also make his teammates better.
Of course there will be an adjustment to playing against bigger, faster and more powerful men in the NHL. However, he has excellent instincts with the puck on his stick and should be a creative force throughout the season. He had 19 goals and 41 points in 47 games with HK Sochi of the KHL last season.
Couturier is a solid 200-foot player, but the Flyers need more from him on the offensive end. He had 11 goals and 27 assists in 74 games last season, and that's not good enough. Tyson Foerster made a very positive impression last year with 20 goals, and that's a fine jumping off point for the 22-year-old. He many be ready to deliver quite a bit more as he mans the right wing spot next to Couturier and Michkov.
The other players on the top six include Travis Konecny, Morgan Frost and Owen Tippett, and the team's forwards should be a strength for head coach John Tortorella this season. It will be up to the defense and goaltending to step up if the team is going to end its playoff drought.
Konecny will approach 40 goals this season
The Flyers have a legitimate star on their second line in Travis Konecny. He is coming off back-to-back 30-plus goal seasons, including 31 in 2022-23 and 33 markers last season. At the age of 27, Konecny is in the prime of his career and he will likely have an advantage over most second-line players he competes against this season.
It seems quite likely that the slick skating Konecny will take another step up the ladder and approach or exceed the 40-goal mark this season.
Konecny will be skating with Morgan Frost at center and Owen Tippett on left wing. Frost has the requisite size at 6-0 and 193 pounds, but Tortorella would like to see just a bit more offense from him. He scored 13 goals and 28 assists last year, and Frost should be able to approach 60 points this season if he improves this season. Meanwhile, Tippett showed that he is a legitimate scorer. He finished second on the team in scoring with 28 goals and 25 assists last season.
When it comes to offensive capabilities, it doesn't stop with the top two lines for the Flyers. Joel Farabee had 22 goals and 28 assists on the third line, and youngster Bobby Brink appears ready to come into his own. The third-line center position will be manned by Scott Laughton or Ryan Poehling.
D Travis Sanheim and G Samuel Ersson ready to step up
While the Flyers have talent and depth on the forward lines, the defensemen and goaltenders must step up and deliver.
Travis Sanheim is a solid defenseman who will pair with Cam York when the Flyers are defending a one-goal lead late in the game.
Sanheim stepped up in a big way last season as he scored 10 goals and 34 assists. He has the size at 6-4 and 222 pounds, and he will use his skating ability and reach to make plays on the offensive side. He can also get in the passing lanes and break up offensive forays by the opponents.
York displayed significant improvement last season as he scored 10 goals and 20 assists and became a major factor on the blue line. The 23-year-old is still improving and he clearly has a very bright future for the team.
The Flyers goaltending took a major hit last year with the suspension of Carter Hart, and the team has since parted company with him. The Flyers did not give him a qualifying offer in the offseason after he was among five players charged with sexual assault in connection with a 2018 Hockey Canada investigation.
That means that Samuel Ersson will have to handle the bulk of the goaltending. Ersson made a positive impression last season, but he appeared to wear down as his number of games piled up.
Ersson had a 23-19-7 record last year with a 2.82 goals against average, an .890 save percentage and 4 shutouts. The Flyers are likely to depend on the 24-year-old for an even larger workload this season.
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