When Danny Briere took control of the Philadelphia Flyers in the spring, he wasn’t afraid to throw around the term “rebuild” without a second thought. But ever since the offseason, most of the organization’s actions haven’t directly matched a classic youth-focused rebuild. Which makes us ask the question, have the young players actually taken steps forward during the “rebuilding” 2023-24 Philadelphia Flyers season?
Tyson Foerster
Foerster was more or less expected to make the opening night roster due to the fact that he was one of the only players in the organization with a high-end scoring upside. And while he did indeed make the team, he hasn’t exactly been the bonafide sniper everyone had hoped for (yet). He has nine goals and 20 points through the team’ first 50 games, which is not the pace expected at the beginning of the season.
Though, unlike most of the other young players, Foerster has not yet been scratched from the lineup. He’s playing a very responsible two-way game, undoubtedly pulling at Tortorella’s heart strings, and even though he’s only scored nine goals, some have been of the highlight reel variety and leaves hope that a star is buried within.
So despite the fact that Foerster hasn’t been all glitz and glamor just yet, his overall game has been very good and he’s been given pretty much every chance to succeed under Torts.
Bobby Brink
If anybody watched the Phantoms in 2022-23, it was clear Bobby Brink had plenty of natural talent, but considering he missed half the season after recovering from hip surgery, it was expected that he’d start the season with the Phantoms. He showed up to camp and earned a main roster spot, but a vast majority of the season has been an uphill battle as Tortorella doesn’t seem to have a ton of patience as he transitions to the NHL.
He’s played in 38 of the team’s 47 games (thanks in part to a six-week injury to Noah Cates which limited their forward options) but has regularly been seeing less than 10 minutes of ice time a night throughout the month of January.
He was demoted to the AHL for the All-Star break where he’s already posted three goals in three games, so the question becomes whether or not he’ll get recalled right away and given a real opportunity to succeed this time, or whether he’ll remain a Phantom for a while longer. It’s a good sign they were willing to take a chance on Brink, but whether or not they see though his development will be the next major question for his future.
Joel Farabee
Farabee doesn’t feel like a young player because he’s in his fifth NHL season already, but he’s still just 23 years old with an upcoming birthday in late February. Between injuries and learning to adjust to life after subsequent surgeries, Farabee has been relatively limited when it comes to his production up to this point in his career despite having a pretty regular top six spot.
But Farabee’s already got a new career high in points (40) and tied his career high in goals (17) through 50 games this season. He finally feels like a guy with high-end potential. Tortorella has always seemed to give Farabee a fair shake. Cutting his minutes when he’s down, but bumping them up when he’s hot. Overcoming serious injury and an itchy trigger finger coach is no easy feat, but Farabee continues to impress.
Morgan Frost
The battle between Frost and Tortorella has reached levels of self parody at this point. Realistically, Frost has developed quite a bit over the years, but his overall game just isn’t well rounded enough, and he hasn’t been a big enough force offensively to overcome it. It’s left him in a weird limbo, compacted further by a coach that clearly doesn’t trust him. And if it wasn’t for other young guys struggling or a limited pool of forwards to play, Frost may not get NHL ice time at all.
If Frost has another level to his game, it’s highly unlikely he hits it in Philly. He just doesn’t appear to be a bonafide star, and he’ll never truly be able to overcome Tortorella’s distain.
Noah Cates
During Noah Cates’ rookie season in 2022-23, he was moved to center from his natural wing and immediately threw himself in both the Calder and Selke race for his performance. It raised expectations to a high level, but he failed to replicate those results early in the 2023-24 season. He missed six weeks with an injury, which makes his progression difficult to truly judge yet.
The strong two-way nature of his play made him a Tortorella favorite, but he has fallen down the depth chart this season with his diminished play. Did he just capture lightning in a bottle last season and he’s going to be just a guy moving forward? Is he just marred in a sophomore slump? We’ll need more time for a definitive answer, but by the rules of this exercise, he has not taken a step forward this season.
Cam York
York got a bit of tough love from Tortorella at the beginning of last season when he spent nearly half the campaign with the Phantoms, but when he was finally recalled to the big club on December 9, 2022 he’s pretty much been a mainstay in the top four ever since. He’s one of the very few examples of a young guy getting heavy minutes without much interference from Torts masked as “development.”
Egor Zamula
Zamula made the NHL roster because his contract turned into a one-way deal with his offseason extension, so he was no longer waiver exempt. The additions of Marc Staal and over-reliance on Nick Seeler have limited his overall opportunity, but he has been given more rope as the season has gone on, most noticeably on the powerplay.
The Flyers took the very, very log road with his development and he’s had to fight for every second of NHL ice time he’s getting, but he has indeed cleared the very low bar that was set for him by the organization when it comes to making progress this season.
Wade Allison
Plain and simple, the Flyers did Wade Allison dirty. He made the NHL roster for the 2022-23 season, but played a very limited fourth line grinder role. Then he was demoted to the AHL to start the 2023-24 season after the team signed Garnet Hathaway during the summer and Foerster and Brink both made the main roster.
Allison is a power forward who is going to do most of his work on getting in the dirty areas on the powerplay. He barely saw any powerplay minutes and saw some of the lowest total TOI of any of the regular main roster players.
He’s a perfect candidate to sign with another team this summer and get utilized properly by an NHL coaching staff and go on to have a successful career at the NHL level.
Olle Lycksell
Lycksell is arguably the player that best personifies the poster child status of “Tortorella not liking you for no reason thus no matter how hard you work you’ll never be given a real opportunity.”
He has been recalled to the NHL a handful of times over the last season and a half, including once during 2023-24, but has played just 12 games total, including just one game for eight shifts in early December before he spent over two weeks in the press box in favor of an 11F/7D system.
Lycksell has posted 73 points in 86 career AHL games, and has been a master on the powerplay during the 2023-24 season. Are those numbers he can attain at the NHL level? Probably not, but settling in as a third line winger with an offensive upside who can help the powerplay would be a huge add for a team with a dead last ranked powerplay.
Why has their de facto top forward prospect been held back by the coaching staff? There doesn’t seem to be a real answer. But when you’ve got a player tearing up the AHL and refuse to give him an NHL opportunity during a “rebuild” that is just pure nonsense.
Ronnie Attard
Attard was the Flyers’ third round pick in 2019. He’s now 24 years old and one of the bigger examples of a guy who’s taking the long way around to break into the NHL. He’s got over 100 AHL games of experience over the last two seasons, but has continued to get better along the way. He had 32 points in 68 games last season and has 22 points in 38 games this season. He came out of the gate slow both years, which played a part in him not making the Flyers out of camp, but he ended last season strong and has looked just as good this year at the midway point.
For Attard’s benefit, his contract converts to a one-way deal next season, which means he’s no longer waiver exempt and should have a main roster spot on opening night… at least that’s the theory anyway. That didn’t stop the Flyers from waiving Wade Allison, Tanner Laczynski or Felix Sandstrom if they didn’t fit the Tortorella mold.
The Flyers’ defense is a numbers game, and Attard (along with all the other blueliners stuck in the AHL) just can’t overcome the reliance on veterans to prove whether or not they’re NHLers.
Emil Andrae
21-year-old LHD Emil Andrae turned some heads when he played 10 games with the Phantoms to close out the 2022-23 season, then he earned a main roster spot out of camp. But the numbers game on the blue line and inexperience he brought to the table made him the odd man out. He was demoted after playing just four games in a limited role in October. But he has remained at a high level during the season with the Phantoms, especially when it comes to running a powerplay,
His smaller stature (5’9 180lbs) and offensive defenseman role combined with a still overcrowded main roster defense will make it difficult for Andrae to break through Tortorella’s system
He’s young enough that this season can be looked at as a development year, but he’s talented enough that he should be on the main roster sooner rather than later, but will he get his chance to shine?
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
photo credit: Getty Images
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