Hand up! I was completely wrong about the Philadelphia Flyers. In my Metro Division Preview, I stuffed them in a locker. I genuinely thought they’d be one of the worst teams in recent memory.
“It brings me great joy to inform you the Flyers are awful. Just a barren waste land of random, perfectly average players without much skill at any position other than goalie. Your guess is as good as mine as to what their identity is. If these rankings were reality TV/entertainment value focused, the Flyers might crack the top 3 with John Tortorella behind the bench. Who knows what will happen with an uncompetitive team and a bonafide lunatic at the helm.
At least they got rid of Tony DeAngelo, who made out like a bandit headed back to a Cup contender in Carolina. I expect a bunch of other Flyers to be on the move as well, as they sell off assets and figure out the direction of the franchise.
Kevin Hayes, their lone All-Star last season who somehow found himself riding the pine at times due to Torts’ ego, is headed to St. Louis in return for a 6th round draft pick. I sort of like GM Danny Briere, seems like a good hockey mind who will probably end up righting the ship eventually, but it absolutely won’t be this season and I have no idea why he’d trade Hayes for a bag of gummy bears.”
Woof. High and wide with the shot on that take.
Philly Is Flying High
As of this morning, the Flyers rank 4th in the Metro, ahead of the New York Islanders, New Jersey Devils and Pittsburgh Penguins. They’ve ripped off 5 wins in their last 6 games, while scoring 4 goals/game and only allowing 2.33 goals/game in that stretch. Their schedule hasn’t been a Mickey Mouse one either, with impressive wins over contending teams in Carolina, Los Angeles and Vegas. Also, it’s not their fault the Columbus Blue Jackets elect not to play defense.
The most off-base comment I made was probably the barren waste land of talent. It felt cool to say, but it’s far from the truth. They’ve got several impactful players that have really impressed to start the year.
Credit to Travis Sanheim for reminding everyone why the Flyers signed him to an 8-year/$50M contract in October of 2022. He currently leads the team in points as a defenseman with 15, and averages a whopping 26:03 minutes per game.
I’m gonna throw Travis Konecny, Joel Farabee and Owen Tippett in the same bucket. All of those guys play with an edge. One minute they deliver a bone crushing hit and the next minute they score a highlight reel goal. I’d kill for any of the three on the Rangers.
And then you have one of the league’s last true enforcers cruising around in Nicolas Deslauriers. He may not show up on the scoresheet often, but he’s going to make his presence felt.
Add Carter Hart’s stellar goaltending to the equation and you have a winning formula. It’s still very early, but his .915 SV % and 2.47 GAA are definitely respectable and better than his career averages.
Are The Flyers A Playoff Team?
The NHL playoff picture on Thanksgiving Day is one of the more interesting trends out there. Since the 2005-2006 season (excluding covid nonsense campaigns), there have been 240 teams in a playoff spot on Thanksgiving Day. Of all those teams, 184 ended up qualifying for the playoffs by the spring. That’s a 76.7% success rate! As it currently stands, the Flyers are tied for the 2nd wild card spot. (They’re tied with the Detroit Red Wings, who actually have a game in hand, but humor me.)
The Athletic does a nice job of forecasting out some probabilities based on Thanksgiving Day standings. Check it out:
Some are saying that stat doesn’t matter. Obviously, teams in the playoff picture are there for a reason and likely will still be around come April/May. Some teams may drop off, some may sneak in but that’s to be expected. I guess that’s fair too.
For the Flyers, it’s make or break time with a bunch of Metro division rivals on deck. By December 4th, they’ll have a great idea of where they stack up against the division.
They dropped a hard fought 3-2 game against the Islanders on Thanksgiving Eve and now face the division leading Rangers, in what should be a spirited contest this afternoon. It’ll be a rematch of the 2012 Winter Classic with a head coaching swap, this time Peter Laviolette behind the Rangers’ bench.
Déjà Vu
I’m kicking myself for burying the Flyers over the summer because I’ve seen this movie before. It’s more or less the same recipe as the 2012 New York Rangers. The formula is simple.
Fear for the trajectory of your career with John Tortorella as head coach. Play a nasty brand of hockey, while getting in on the forecheck and throwing everything towards the net. Low risk scoring chances are not only tolerated but welcomed, in hopes of a lucky bounce or juicy rebounds. Rely on elite goaltending and hope the sparse skill up front is just enough to win. Crowd the front of the net in both zones. If you’re not going to block shots, you you’re not going to play. Never take a night off and force the other team to pay a physical price for 2 points.
The only caveats I’ll make is Henrik Lundqvist is obviously superior to Carter Hart and the Flyers have much more skill up front than the 2012 Rangers did. It was Marián Gáborík, Brad Richards and a forgettable supporting cast. Michael Del Zotto was 5th on the team in points with 41, that should tell you just about everything you need to know.
I do think the Flyers will sneak into the playoffs this year as a wild card. Their compete level is way too high to miss out. What happens past that is anyone’s guess. Can’t imagine they make too much noise. If history repeats itself, the offense will dry up and they’ll lose in heartbreaking fashion in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Moral of the story? I was wrong, the Flyers are right and I’ll own it.
geryblogs 
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