For The First Time In A Long Time, The Philadelphia Flyers Are Heading Into The Season With The Expectation Of Being A Bunch Of Winners
Len Redkoles. Getty Images.The Philadelphia Flyers reignited the passion for hockey again in this city last season. The Dave Hakstol era of the Flyers was just years of never actually knowing what kind of hockey team we have here. The Alain Vigneault era of the Flyers has legitimately been wiped out of my memory. The John Tortorella era of the Flyers was definitely building towards something, but the team was just such a disaster from a roster construction standpoint that they were never good enough to sniff the playoffs.
Honestly I don't think Flyers fans have truly loved a team since those Peter Laviolette teams. But then last year happened.
Trevor Zegras came in and instantly added a little bit of swagger back to this organization. Dan Vladar came out of nowhere and gave this team something they haven't had in years with some stability between the pipes. Jamie Drysdale showed some signs that he's starting to reach his potential. Owen Tippett showed some signs that he can consistently be one of the biggest nightmares for opposing defensemen to keep up with. There was a flood of young guys breaking onto the roster with Denver Barkey, Alex Bump, and of course--Porter Martone.
There were a ton of highs last season, but also plenty of lows. Obviously Matvei Michkov had a "rough" season. A rough season for him is still good enough for finishing 3rd on the team in points with 51 on the year. But it just felt like months and months of discourse around a disconnect between Michkov and Rick Tocchet that became unbearable by the end. And obviously it's never fun to see your season come to an end with a sweep, but I guess if you're going to get swept by anybody in the playoffs it might as well be the eventual Cup winners.
Playoff hockey was finally back in Philly. The boys won a big series against the Penguins. And now we head into a new season where this team already feels like they're gelling right away.
The Flyers took a swing on Leo Carlsson this summer but obviously that ended up with Anaheim matching the offer sheet. So there aren't too many major changes to this year's lineup from last year. Noel Acciari comes in to give you some extra depth on the 4th line. That 6/7 D spot will be a battle between Simon Benoit and David Jiricek early in the season. And Joseph Woll comes in to hopefully be a more reliable backup for Dan Vladar. Sam Ersson gave the Flyers a few solid years but Woll is absolutely an upgrade.
While things might not look too much different on paper, however, this is going to be a completely new team out there. Because Trevor Zegras gets to head into this season knowing that this is his home. He signed a 4-year, $36.5M contract extension. Jamie Drysdale earned himself a 4-year, $26M deal. Tyson Foerster is healthy. Porter Martone will be playing his first full season in the NHL. And of course, Matvei Michkov went back home to Russia this summer and worked his ass off to make sure there are never any allegations of being out of shape again.
He dropped some weight, he looks so much quicker on the ice, and most importantly--his English is starting to sound fantastic.
Which might not initially seem like a huge deal, but it is. It's going to allow him to 1) have a bigger presence in the locker room with all the guys, and 2) have better communication back and forth with the coaching staff about what he's seeing out there. Michkov is an incredible player who took a bit of an ego hit last year. Usually the special players like him are able to turn that into a monster bounce back year.
Personally I would still like to see him get moved up the lineup a bit. I'm glad he's playing on the right side now, but I still think he needs to play with a more creative center. Noah Cates is awesome and the guy is a workhorse. He's exactly what you want out of a 3C. A guy who is going to grind every shift he's on the ice for, win a bunch of battles, and contribute offensively from time to time. I just don't think he's able to compute the game at the same speed as Michkov. But there is still plenty of time (and cap space) for some lineup changes. Either way, this forward group looks incredible. The speed of Tippett, the creativity of Zegras, and the natural goal scoring capability of Porter Martone gives that line a chance to become one of the more dangerous lines in hockey. Foerster is such an underrated 2-way guy, Dvorak is a horse, and Konecny is a proven 60+ point guy in the league. That line rips. The 3rd line is going to get such a great boost from a lean and motivated Michkov. And the 4th line won't let opponents feel like they have even a minute to catch their breath during games.
The blueline is still very good, just not great. Sanheim is never going to be a guy who is in the Norris conversation, but he's without a doubt a guy who you can count on to be a rock for your backend. It'll be interesting to see how this season goes for Rasmus Ristolainen considering he's in a contract year, and is absolutely going to be a huge target at the trade deadline. There's a chance a deal comes across Danny Briere's desk that is just too good to pass up at some point. Cam York had a very up and down season last year, but hopefully the fact that he scored the series clinching overtime winner against the Penguins sends him into this season with the confidence he needs to put together a strong season.
We already mentioned that Jamie Drysdale should feel great about his game right now after locking in that 4-year deal, and he's going to continue getting better. And then whether it's Benoit or Jiricek on the 3rd pair, that combo of one of them + Seeler is going to be a bitch to deal with in the corners. It's a really solid group of defenseman, just nothing that immediately jumps out off the paper at you.
Dan Vladar easily had the best year of his career last year. He finished 6th in Vezina voting. He was a massive, massive reason why the Flyers had the level of success they had. He played 52 games, and would have played more if he didn't get hurt in January. He still has to prove he's capable of having another season like that in back-to-back years, but he seems like a goalie who only gets better the more he plays. Getting comfortable and playing every night definitely adds to his game, and that will absolutely be the case this year.
Again, there weren't any major additions made to this team (yet). So I won't go crazy and say this is one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference just yet. But as far as the Metro goes? They should absolutely be right there in the 2nd or 3rd spot in the conference. They should comfortably be able to get back into the playoffs and keep building on what they started last season. Maybe one or two guys take a step back from last year, but I think there are going to be way more guys on this team who take their game to a new level this season. 2nd place in the Metro and at least taking a 2nd round series in the playoffs to a game 6 or 7. That's a realistic standard I can be happy with for this team.