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The Rebuilding Flyers Deserve a Little Bit of Your Attention

Anthony SanFilippo

By Anthony SanFilippo

Published:

Oct 30, 2023; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Egor Zamula (5) and Carolina Hurricanes right wing Andrei Svechnikov (37) battle for the puck during the third period at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

Lost in the hysteria of a failed baseball postseason, another blistering start to the Eagles season, and all the James Harden trade drama, has been a pretty interesting start to the Flyers season.

Long off the radar of the Philadelphia sports landscape – and deservedly so – this group is giving those who dealt with the attrition and continue to watch them, something that they haven’t seen in quite some time, which is competitive hockey game in and game out.

Is it strange to choose today to write something positive about the Flyers after they dropped a game 3-2 to Carolina Monday night, have lost back-to-back games and four of their last five?

On the surface, yes.

But go further and you’ll see this is the right time to highlight it.

It’s easy to sit here and dwell on what went wrong Monday – like the fact that the power play was 0-for-5 and is clicking at an abysmal 12.5 percent this season, tied for 25th in the NHL.

It’s easy to sit here and point out how the Flyers really struggled in the faceoff circle, leading to negative puck possession metrics against a Carolina team that usually dominates in those areas of the game.


It also would be easy to highlight the turnovers that led to either goals by the Canes or golden opportunities that were turned aside by another fine Carter Hart performance in goal.


All of that is true. And if the expectation for the Flyers this season was to win as many games as possible, make the playoffs and compete for a Stanley Cup, well then yeah, those would be issues to magnify.

But here is the beauty of what the Flyers have done since promoting Danny Briere to GM and hiring Keith Jones as President – they have been honest and transparent with the fans that they are in the beginning of a rebuild, so the expectation bar has been lowered.

Instead of outcomes, the fans are cheering for development. They want to see young players who are going to be part of the Flyers organization for several years grow and become better players. Sure, they’ll take the positive outcomes. Effort will be applauded, so if there’s a reward for the effort, then that’s O.K. But more than anything, they want to see the players improve their games to the point that in a few years, the outcomes do matter.

Which is why, when the schedule came out and the first 10 games saw the Flyers have to face four teams who were considered among the top eight competing for a Stanley Cup this season, plus four others who are playoff-caliber franchises, many thought the opening of the season could be brutal.

It’s been anything but.

Let’s start with those four Cup contenders.

The Flyers went 1-2-1 in those four games, which, outcome-wise, is probably better than most people expected. But more than that, the Flyers were damn competitive in each one.

Yes, the win came against an Edmonton team that has gotten off to a terrible start, especially when they were many experts favorite to win the Western Conference. But the three losses were all one-goal games against very good teams – Dallas, Vegas, and Carolina.

In those four games the Flyers have scored the same amount of goals they’ve allowed – 12. And the fine line difference in the three losses, the thing that often separates the best teams from the rest of the pack, were little details and intangibles – things that top-end teams have committed to wrote muscle memory and slow heartbeats, while more inexperienced or developing teams are still trying to add that “it factor” to their arsenal.

But with everything else being equal, the Flyers are playing with these top teams.

Carter Hart has been a big reason for that. He’s been off to a great start for the Flyers with a 2.30 goals against average and a .921 save percentage through seven games. On Monday he kept the Flyers in the game with stops like this:


Travis Konecny is tied for second in the NHL in goals with eight so far. Sean Couturier and Cam Atkinson being back in the lineup and playing close to thee level they were at prior to their injuries, truly helps the team on the rush and in the forecheck. And the fourth line, which until Monday consisted of Nic Deslauriers, Ryan Poehling, and Garnet Hathaway (Poehling was a scratch against Carolina and Scott Laughton moved into his spot), has provided a lot of energy and quality checking line production.


It is because of these veterans that young players have had a chance to develop, even when they aren’t playing at their very best.

For example, Bobby Brink, who was the darling of training camp, and had a breakout performance against Minnesota, scoring the first two goals of his career, hasn’t looked nearly as good in the last two games. And that’s O.K.

Or take Tyson Foerster, who exploded onto the scene at the end of last season, but has had a tough time scoring this season – despite several high percentage chances – a few in Monday’s game alone – and that’s O.K. too.

Even young guys with experience, like Owen Tippett and Noah Cates, have played in fits and starts this season. While another guy that fits that description, Morgan Frost, just got out of the coach’s doghouse Monday after sitting for six straight games. Frost looked good on a couple shifts, but not so good on the others, which is becoming a patent of inconsistency for him for which the Flyers did not apply.


All of that, though, is what this season is about. Growth. Development. And finding out who can be a part of the roster when the Flyers are the team that another rebuilding team is getting ramped up to play in October like their season depends on it.

And yes, before it is suggested that the reason the Flyers are playing these teams well is they are getting up for the best teams because, that’s what you do – you try harder against them – the Flyers have also given really solid team efforts against two of the three “second tier” teams they’ve played, getting nice home wins against Vancouver and Minnesota and only losing a sloppy game in Ottawa on the opening weekend of the season.

The other three games were a win against a bad Columbus team, a loss to a bad Anaheim team and the 10th game – the first of two in a row against a good Buffalo squad, wraps up a four-game homestand Wednesday night.

The point is, there’s going to be more misfires than direct hits when it comes to outcomes. And that’s O.K.

But if the Flyers give this kind of effort and show this level of compete over the course of the next five months, they’ll be a lot closer to where they want to ultimately be as they look ahead to future seasons.

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Anthony SanFilippo
Anthony SanFilippo

Anthony SanFilippo writes about the Phillies and Flyers for Crossing Broad and hosts a pair of related podcasts (Crossed Up and Snow the Goalie). A part of the Philadelphia sports media for a quarter century, Anthony also dabbles in acting, directing, teaching, and strategic marketing, which is why he has no time to do anything, but does it anyway. Follow him on Twitter @AntSanPhilly.

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