The Philadelphia Flyers underwent a leadership change during the 2023 offseason when Danny Briere was officially given the reins of the organization joined by new president Keith Jones and governor Dan Hilferty. The trio wasn’t afraid to openly pander to a beaten down fanbase, and their efforts, backed by their “former Flyer” status have worked well in re-gaining the trust of the fans.
The battle cry which they built the entire season revolved around “culture.” After identifying and removing problem children like Kevin Hayes and Ivan Provorov, all the players loved each other and it’s the greatest room that’s ever existed in the history of the sport and yada yada yada every other bland, blanketed statement. Remember, playing 17 games during a massive losing streak was apparently the pinnacle of former first overall pick and Stanley Cup champion Erik Johnson’s career.
For a long time, the cultural overhaul seemed to be doing wonders for the team. They overachieved all season and posted their best campaign in four years. But after a late-season collapse where pretty much everyone on the team palpably gave up, can they just magically get back in unison next season?
The chances the culture from 2023-24 would carry over from year to year was highly unlikely in the first place, but now they have to answer for it because it didn’t even carry them to the end of the season.
If you’re a Brotherly Pod listener, you know the word we’ve used to describe culture all season long has been “intangible” because, well, it’s not real. Vibes are not a tangible building strategy. Players liking each other may bring some minor short-term added boosts, like some some potion in a video game that inflated their core stats, but it doesn’t mask their anemic roster forever.
To be fair to the Flyers, there were never open signs of struggle or tension behind the scenes. Many beat reporters suggested the team was still in high spirits even during their losing streak when their on-ice play was at 2021 levels of terrible. The losing streak was downplayed by Tortorella, the media and especially certain sections of the fanbase. And their rebound during the last three games does seem to indicated the culture was breached but not broken during the losing streak.
The fact the ran quite literally the entire roster back may not be a smart decision if they’re looking to progress and grow from a competitive standpoint, but it should bode well when it comes to maintaining the culture. Hard to imagine a major shift from that aspect when there’s no new faces to integrate and conform to their desired attitude.
Maybe the offseason does everyone well. A chance to disconnect and start fresh is just what they need. Put the last few weeks of the season in the rearview and start back with a full tank of vibes.
“Culture” is a fun battle cry for the fans and it can be beneficial for the team as well. But if the Flyers remain ambivalent when it comes to addressing the faults of the main roster, they’re putting a lot of stock in the intangible feel-good nature of friendship to make up for their atrocious power play or shoddy goaltending.
It’s a fine snake oil to sell if things are going their way on the ice, but if things aren’t clicking during the 2024-25 season after their passive summer, falling back on how great the culture of the team is probably won’t be the same “get out of jail free card” that it was for justifying their late-season collapse.
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
photo credit: nhl.com
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