The Philadelphia Flyers recently re-signed forward Owen Tippett and Ryan Poehling to contract extensions, and rumors have emerged they’re already looking to re-sign Travis Konecny a year early as well as bringing back depth defenseman Nick Seeler. The front office is clearly looking to keep the band together thanks to their culture-based rebuild, but looking ahead to the 2024-25 season, there’s a disturbing trend when it comes to the Flyers’ roster- it’s practically already complete.
There are 12 forwards already under contract, and if you factor in fringe guys like Bobby Brink, Olle Lycksell and Samu Tuomaala, they could easily create a dozen-man unit and then some.
There are currently four main roster defensemen under contract, but Ronnie Attard’s deal converts to a one-way contract, Emil Andrae is very good and should challenge for a spot, and Egor Zamula is an RFA who could be re-signed at a cheap cap hit, which brings to total to seven and that’s not including the rumors of Nick Seeler potentially re-signing.
As far as the goaltending goes, they’ve got Sam Ersson and Cal Petersen already under contract and are currently serving as the main roster tandem. Prospect Alexei Kolosov expected to make the jump to North America and see a bulk of the AHL minutes.
That’s a full 12-6-2 lineup (or in Tortorella’s case 11-7-2) composed entirely of the same exact players already here. That isn’t the makeup of a bubble team that still needs serious upgrades ready to grow and get better, that screams “we’re running it back” months before the offseason even arrives when the playoffs aren’t even a certainty yet.
The Flyers’ “rebuild” strategy has been questionable ever since they first started promoting it when Danny Briere took over, but their status as a playoff bubble team has eliminated the chances of building through the draft, they’ve actively worked to eliminate most of their prospects from seeing NHL minutes, shipping them to the AHL one by one, and now they’ve, on paper, committed to keeping the same group for at least one more season.
Can the team succeed if they do indeed get run back in entirety? It’s hard to imagine a better outcome than what they’re doing this season considering so many players are playing the best hockey of their careers. If their top guys like Konecny, Sanheim, Couturier and Farabee are playing close to their max potential, that doesn’t leave a ton of growth beyond what’s on display this season. Guys like Foerster and Drysdale can take their games to new levels, but will the vets still be at their bests next season too? And even if all the stars align and everyone is at their absolute peaks at the same time and are fully bought in to the Torts mindset, it it enough to be a substantially better, legitimate Cup contender?
The disturbing trend lies in both the recent history of Tortorella-led teams, as well as the Flyers organization’s decade-long drought of adding worthwhile outside pieces.
Tortorella spent six seasons with the Columbus Blue Jackets and turned them into a hard-nosed playoff bubble team. They made the postseason in four of his six seasons behind the bench, but were eliminated in the first round in three of those appearances. They worked hard, they remained relevant in the playoff picture during the regular season, but lacked the high end talent to keep up with the beasts of the east when it mattered most.
And for the Flyers, well, building a competitive team has alluded them since the early days of Paul Holmgren’s tenure when he led them to a Stanley Cup Final appearance in 2010. Ever since, notable additions just haven’t happened. A 33-year-old Vincent Lecavalier (2013), James Van Riemsdyk (2018) and Kevin Hayes (2019) are the only notable outside additions brought in over the last nearly 15 years, and it stretches the term “notable addition” to comical levels.
Can things change? Sure! There’s nothing stopping them from making trades or free agent signings, besides the added step of shedding a player so they can add one. They’ve got cap space and more than a couple assets and unused prospects to wheel and deal with if they so choose. And, at least at face value, the new front office regime seems serious about re-establishing the Flyers as a perennial playoff team, but do they? Or, rather, do they change anything for the undisputed better?
Tortorella already hinted earlier in the season that “go time” won’t be achieved until Matvei Michkov arrives, which is still estimated to be 2026. That’s two more seasons, 2024-25 and 2025-26, before he’s expected to make the jump to the Flyers. If this organization was smart, they’d be building for his arrival and hit the ground running when he showed up, but they could also sit on their hands for the next two seasons with minimal change then panic-add in 2026 and 2027 when they realize they need to actually compete when their prized prospect makes the jump.
Can Danny Briere and the Flyers takes steps to build the team into legitimate contenders? Or are they fine just running it back in the name of good culture, and proactive progress be damned? Considering just about the entire roster is slated to be run back, it’s a valid question. We’ll get a peak into their mindset at the trade deadline next month, but the early construction the organization has opted to go with signals some serious red flags that they’re going to need to deal with in order to continue the process back to contention.
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
photo credit: nhl.com
brotherlypuck.com 