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The Flyers’ Precocious Success is Exciting, but How Can They Continue to Add to it?
Thanks to Head Coach John Tortorella, the Flyers are once again an entertaining team to watch. If you look back all the way to the team’s inception into the NHL, the Philadelphia Flyers were always thought of as being one of the most challenging teams to line up against. From the Bullies’ brazen style of play that literally saw them beat their opponents into submission in the late ’60s all the way up to the ’80s to the highly talented teams of the ’90s and early ’00s led by the Legion of Doom Line. The Flyers were always considered to be a perennial playoff team. And, because of their many years of success, the Flyers still find themselves seventh all-time in wins to this day. That’s right, outside of the original six teams (who have over 2,600 more games played than them), the Flyers have won more games than any other expansion team.
But sadly, during the Giroux era, the Flyers seemed to lose their identity. They no longer played with the grit and tenacity that we all came to love and expect from this team. They slowly grew into a club that became less and less physical. They began not to finish their checks. They no longer stood up for one another when a dirty hit occurred. They lacked hustle and, over time, became lazy, choosing to dump and chase the puck instead of skating it into the zone and trying to set something up. Because of all this, the team lost its edge; its opponents no longer feared them, and their players appeared to become comfortable with losing.
That all changed when the Flyers chose to hire John Tortorella as their Head Coach. In just two seasons’ time (with the help of Keith Jones and Danny Briere this year), this former Jack Adams Award winner has been able to come in and revitalize this franchise. Through hard work in training camp and intense film study. John has been able to correct these players’ bad habits and rid the locker room of its bad apples, making sure to replace them with true professionals who play the game the right way.
With a decision to play the franchises youth, you can see on a nightly basis that this team is now outskating, outshooting, and, most nights, outscoring their opponents. They are no longer taking shifts off and are not willingly turning the puck over to make a change like Flyers teams of recent memory. They now play up on their skates and have the talent and speed to execute a run-and-gun offense, which has created so many more scoring chances for them.
So much so that the Flyers are now leading the league in shots and have become defensively responsible by choosing to leave their goalies no longer hung out to dry. In fact, it has become the complete opposite to the point where they now find themselves among the league leaders in killing penalties.
For fans, this has been refreshing, to say the least, but I assure you it is more than just Torts taking it back to basics in practice and now holding players accountable for the way they play the game that has willed this team to win. Credit should also go to management, who were able to bring in the right veteran players to act as both on and off-ice coaches to this team’s youthful core.
The unrestricted free agent signing of penalty-killing specialist Garnet Hathaway has obviously paid dividends this season. In addition to that, both defensemen Sean Walker and Marc Staal have clearly helped to sure up a once struggling defensive core.
But now that the Flyers are playing well and once again looking like a team that is destined to be in playoff contention, a question must be asked. Should Philadelphia change gears and now look to bring in players who can further help them complete their transformation from a lazy dump-and-chase team to one who plays a more lethal run-and-gun style?
Well, with the recent addition of the much-needed first-pairing right-hand shot defender, Jamie Drysdale from the Anaheim Ducks, the Flyers might have already begun to do just that. Overnight, this 21-year-old defender was able to come in and bring an all-but-deceased Flyer’s power play unit back to life. From his unreal skating ability to his incredible saucer-like passes, Drysdale seems like the missing cog that has unlocked this team’s offense. But sadly, regardless of how wide open this team’s offense has become, with them now leading the league in shots on goal, their ability to cash in on those chances hasn’t entirely caught up as they rank just 18th in the league in total goals scored.
That’s why I thought it wise to take a look at some other players, like potential impending free agents the Flyers could both possibly look to acquire for a playoff push or bring in this upcoming offseason who play a similar style to theirs. This roster, although it has already gone through some changes, is proving that it still has some transitioning left to do. Some players left over from the Ron Hextall and Chuck Fletcher eras still need to find the door, in my opinion, in order to complete this current coaching and administration staff’s vision for how they want this team to play moving forward.
And with players like Jamie Drysdale and a young Egor Zamula now solidifying their roles on the back end with the team, approaching free agent blue liners like 29-year-old defenseman Sean Walker and 30-year-old Nick Seeler should now be considered trade bait that could bring back some much-needed draft compensation after the lose of Cutter Gauthier.
In addition to those players, 37-year-old player/coach Marc Staal is due to come off the books as well after this season, thus creating the opportunity to bring multiple other players next season.
However, one player who could help the Flyers sooner rather than later for a potential playoff push (depending on the price) is Anthony Duclair. Now, hear me out. The Flyers desperately need a finisher. They are dead last in the league in terms of the power play for a reason. Duclair could be an affordable upgrade that could step in on day one and help to fix this problem. Let’s face it. A lot of time has passed since Torts and Duclair had it out in Columbus (some six seasons ago). Both are now older and wiser and don’t make all the same mistakes that they once did. So, this now 28-year-old winger who still possesses the same fantastic speed and finishing ability that he always did might just be willing to now listen to his former coach this time around for the chance to play for a contender. Duclair, who has struggled to find a home over the years, is currently playing for the Western Conference’s last-place team, the San Jose Sharks, and should be made available in the coming weeks since he is an impending free agent.
Furthermore, I don’t even think it would cost the Flyers a lot to acquire him, considering Anthony has never really appeared to have settled into San Jose, where he has been forced to play with a less-than-stellar supporting cast. To date, Duclair (who is making three million dollars this season) has scored just eight goals and eight assists for 16 points this year. These stats are a far cry from the season he had back in Florida a couple of years ago, where he was able to score 31 goals and 27 assists for 58 points. But here is the kicker. The only reason the Panthers did not bring him back was because he suffered a season-ending Achilles injury that required him to have surgery that included an extensive recovery time. But that’s behind him now; Duclair has proven post-injury that he still has the speed that would allow him to return to the 30-goal scorer he once was, especially if he got the chance to play here in Philly with guys like Konecny, Farabee, Tippett, Foerster, and Frost who all would be able to skate stride for stride with him on an odd-man rush.
Now, whether Torts would be willing to give this talented competitor another chance to play in his offense is yet to be seen. But it’s something the two of them would have time to work out if the team made a trade for him come the deadline. In my mind, it has the possibility of being a low-risk, high-reward type situation. And for that, I think the Flyers would be crazy not to try at least and acquire this former 30-goal scorer if they are still in the race come March 8th.
Another name that comes to mind as an impending free agent that may have the Flyers drooling after this season’s completion is Nashville’s Yakov Trenin. This 27-year-old feisty Russian forward, who stands at 6’2 and 201 pounds, has been invaluable to the Predators over the years. From his unrelenting hustle to his physical play and tenacious forecheck, this veteran forward appears as though he was all but born to play in a John Tortorella-style offense. And if those traits weren’t enough for Flyers fans to make him an instant fan favorite, if acquired, Trenin’s fearlessness is. Yakov is amongst the league leaders every year in hits, and he has shown a willingness to drop the gloves with anyone! This includes Zdeno Chara, who he almost brought to his knees a few years back, as you can see in the video provided below.
But the fist to cuffs is not all those hands are suitable for. Trenin is also known to be able to play up and down the lineup when needed, where he is able to use his speed to create fast breaks for himself as well as set up his awaiting teammates. Yakov has set a career-high of 17 goals for himself during his five-year tenure with the Predators and may now be looking for a slightly more significant role elsewhere this off-season. Currently, Trenin is making a very affordable $1.7 million this year, and if signed, he would prove to be a much-needed upgrade to the Flyers bottom six forward group next season.
Lastly, with the Flyers potentially losing all those blueliners (mentioned above) next season to free agency, I would suggest they then take a look at replacing them with a 6’6 225 pound 31-year-old defenseman in Jani Hakanpaa who currently plays for the Dallas Stars. This towering defenseman, who is making just $1.5 million this season, plays the game exactly how the Flyers thought Rasmus Ristolainen would when they traded for him a few seasons ago. Hakanpaa is a stay-at-home right-hand shot defender who would pair perfectly with a young, offensively driven Cam York.
Although not offensively minded, Hakanpaa still provides his employer with a lot for their money. In any given season, you can expect Jani to dish out somewhere around 225 hits, as well as tally up over 100 blocked shots. This behemoth has shown he is more capable of moving distractions out from in front of his goalie net, as well as being more than willing to drop the gloves when needed to come to the defense of a fellow teammate. Best of all, though, unlike Ristolainen, who is a career -180, Jani is a career-plus player.
Signing Hakanpaa to say a one-year deal for next season would give the team a better option for the present time and not stunt the progression of other defensemen who are currently progressing through the team’s system already, like Emil Andre, Helge Grans, and Oliver Bonk.
Combining these suggested moves along with management continuing to emphasize making intelligent decisions on draft day, this team just may return to the perennial playoff contender they were for decades at a time, a lot sooner than expected.
Why a Little Nepotism this Off Season may Help a Suddenly Struggling Eagles Franchise
Although the Eagles got off to a fantastic start this year, their struggles of late can be attributed to a multitude of issues. These issues include, but are not limited to, their head coach’s inability and or unwillingness to change his play calling this year (which is an article for another day) to a much more deep-rooted problem that has been going on now for decades of which I would like to discuss in this article.
For far too long, the Philadelphia Eagles have been known to draft from a position of WANT rather than from a position of NEED. This, of course, has been the case since the days when both Andy Reid and Jim Johnson were patrolling the Eagles sidelines. When all the team ever seemed to want to do back then was draft offensive and defensive linemen.
To date, little has changed. The line here in Philly is still a position of extreme depth, while other areas on the field continue to be exploited by the opposition year after year. In saying that, I do feel the Eagles’ current General Manager, Howie Roseman, has done a better job than his predecessors in the way of acquiring offensive weapons, especially when it comes to making trades to aid his still young and developing quarterback.
However, recently, all Howie seems to be enamored by in the draft is those darn Georgia Bulldogs. Who could blame him, though, right? This fascination, of course, started when Howie decided to select Georgia’s 6’6, 336-pound defensive lineman Jordan Davis with the team’s first-round pick in 2022—a player who seems to possess herculean-like strength. Roseman then followed it up by taking Georgia linebacker Nakobe Dean in the third round that same year, who had just won the NCAA’s Butkus Award for being the Nation’s best linebacker but who has struggled to stay healthy ever since.
With those two already in the nest, I guess it seemed almost like fate when Georgia’s defensive lineman Jalen Carter fell to them at ninth overall in 2023. Not to mention, fellow Bulldog Nolan Smith (the most athletic linebacker in the draft that year) somehow still being there at 30 when the team was due to make their second selection of the first round. But as if that wasn’t enough dogs to feed, Howie decided to go back to the pound again when he dialed that oh-so-familiar 706 area code in the fourth round when he took Georgia cornerback Kelee Ringo with the one hundred and fifth overall pick.
Now, I don’t know about you, but besides Jalen Carter being able to accumulate six sacks this year, no other Georgia Bulldog on the defensive side of the ball that the team has drafted has shown me anything besides a couple of flashes here and there to make me think they may be one day worth their inflated draft stock.
That’s why this off-season, I would urge Howie to choke down his impulses of drafting another player from Athens and instead focus on selecting players who could sure up some glaring holes on this team’s depth charts.
And to me, a large majority of those holes would be on the defensive side of the ball. As previously stated, the Eagles’ defensive line is one of the league’s best. Still, once you get beyond that, the only person in the Eagles’ secondary that remotely scares the opposition now is safety Reed Blankenship. Therefore, Philadelphia would be wise to try and go after a shutdown corner like Terrion Arnold from Alabama with their first-round selection. Terrion, who is 6’0 and 196 pounds, had 63 tackles, one sack, 12 pass deflections, five interceptions, and a forced fumble this season, would be welcomed attention to an ever-aging CB core that a 33-year-old Darius Slay and a 30-year-old James Bradberry are currently leading.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qI2BS_c79eA
In the second round, it could all come together, though. For far too long, the Eagles have devalued the linebacker position as a whole, which baffles me, considering they are often the players that accumulate the most tackles during any given season because they are the next line of defense after the D-line breaks down.
Think about it: in the NFC East alone during the last decade, the Eagles have had to face elite running backs like Alfred Morris, DeMarco Murray, Saquon Barkley, Ezekiel Elliott, and Adrian Peterson each lining up across from them multiple times a year where the outcome, unfortunately almost always ended up being that these running backs were able to amass a 100-yard game on the Eagles.
Now, as good as Hassan Reddick is, his job as a strong-side linebacker is to get in the backfield and go after the quarterback the majority of the time. But we need a player up the middle with that DOG in him. A guy who will be able to spot a running back about to burst through the line and drive him so hard into the ground that when he gets up, he looks dazed and confused and asks did anybody happen to see the plate number of that bus that just hit me?
And the last guy I think the Eagles had like that was Jeremiah Trotter who last played for Philadelphia some 15 years ago.
Lucky for the Eagles, though, they have a chance to draft The Axe Man’s protégé Jeremiah Trotter Jr. Yes, a true NFL legacy, who, like his dad, plays the MLB position. So well, in fact, that over the last three seasons for the Clemson Tigers Jr. has been credited with 202 tackles, 29.5 of which were for loss, 13 sacks, 13 pass breakups, three forced fumbles, and four interceptions (including two that were returned for touchdowns).
Now, if you watched these highlight videos provided above, you would have noticed a lot of similarities between both father and son’s games. But where Trotter 2.0’s game differs a bit from his old man’s is that he is a little more agile, which makes sense considering that he weighs in at around 230, whereas his dad played closer to 260 pounds.
I assure you, though this does not hinder Jr’s abilities, it only helps. Where his dad may have needed the extra weight, seeing he played back in a more ground-and-pound time, Jr. benefits from being a bit sleeker because teams have become more pass-happy as of late. So, being that he is lighter, Jr. has shown the ability to run step for step with slot receivers and tight ends at the colligate ranks.
That’s why if the Eagles general manager Howie Roseman is somehow able to resist the urge to draft more Bulldogs this off-season and instead allow for a bit of nepotism by drafting the offspring of an Eagles legend, I think he could help restore a lot of confidence next year to a very talented team that has somehow seemed to lose their way during the second half of this season.
Suddenly, the Gauthier Trade Doesn’t Seem That Bad, Eh?
Photo by Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images)
So, like most Flyers fans, this writer was shocked when the news came out that the Flyers’ top prospect, Cutter Gauthier, had been traded because he no longer wanted to play for Philadelphia. The reason why this news caught so many off guard is because, as most any player that has suited up here in the past will tell you, this town has arguably the most passionate and knowledgeable fans of any city that garners a professional sports franchise. And, if you’re a player who gives it your all and leaves nothing out on the ice, court, field, etc., your efforts will never be forgotten (to prove this, just look at Bernie Parent and the rest of the Broad Street Bullies). That’s why so many retired players never end up moving away from the area.
Now I get it. Cutter may have his reasons, but he should have at least shown respect enough for the organization that drafted him to share with them why he didn’t want to play for them anymore. I mean, the team did their homework. He was the best player available at the time, as my mock draft from that year confirmed. And, in pre-draft interviews, Gauthier did tell the Flyers Brass that “He was born to be a Flyer” blah blah blah. Now, what changed his mind from the time of the draft to a few months later, when he then told the team he no longer wished to play for them, we may never know. But for him to outright refuse to have a conversation with Stanley Cup winners John LeClair and Patrick Sharp when they traveled all the way up to Boston to meet with him on campus. Not to mention refusing to talk to the Flyers’ President of Hockey OPS, Keith Jones, and General Manager Danny Briere after they traveled all the way to Sweden to sit down with him at World Juniors to try and iron this all out. WOW!!! This kid has SOME BALLS!
Regardless, the team did the right thing and moved on by trading Gauthier when his value could not be any higher. Cutter had just won a Gold Medal for Team USA and took home the honor of being named the tournament’s MVP. And with him still declining to speak to the Flyers, he all but forced their hand.
The Return
Now, as we all may have heard, and probably was the reason we made a point to tune in to watch last night’s game against the Montreal Canadiens just to see him play. The Flyers were able to bring back a pretty special player in return for Gauthier. His name is Jamie Drysdale, a 21-year-old right-hand shot defenseman who the team acquired from the Anaheim Ducks along with a 2025 second-round pick.
Jamie, who played junior hockey for the Erie Otters of the Ontario Hockey League, was taken sixth overall in the first round of the 2020 Draft. As you saw last night, he is a very agile defender who uses his skating ability to help him not only make great outlet passes but excel in the offensive zone as well.
Although he is predominantly thought of as a setup man who can cycle the puck along the blue line effortlessly, Jamie will not turn down the chance to jump up into the play when the opportunity presents itself in order to create his own scoring opportunities.
That’s why, with so few players presently playing in the NHL that possess an innate skill set such as his, he was able to come in with only one practice under his belt with the Flyers and immediately be placed on the top pairing alongside Travis Sanheim as well, as being trusted enough by Tortorella to be thrown out there on the team’s top power-play unit (which has been struggling this year, to say the least) and somehow instantaneously willed himself to become an impact player for them. As he was when he was able to set up Frost last night for a goal during what was just his first man advantage as a Flyer.
Of course, there must be a reason why the Ducks would be willing to part with such a young, coveted right-hand shot defender who has already proven himself capable of playing top-pairing minutes in the NHL for the likes of a promising prospect like Gauthier who apparently has a bit of a complex right?
Well, in fact, there is. Although Jamie managed to impress many in Anaheim during his four seasons spent there, he only managed to play in 123 games during that time. This means that this 5’11, 185-pound blue liner has already managed to miss a combined 103 games due to him sustaining multiple injuries over the years.
Can he overcome this with a little more time spent with the Flyer’s strength and conditioning coach? Probably, but it is a bit concerning, nonetheless.
Still, given the unfortunate hand that the Flyers were dealt, I think the team’s newly appointed management was able to add a very impactful player to their already youthful core, who will now be able to continue to grow their game together in the coming years.
I mean, come on, I know losing a guy like Cutter hurts, but Drysdale could be that elusive top-pairing right-hand shot defender that the team has been trying to find for years now. He is still just 21 years of age and just signed a very team-friendly three-year deal that will pay him just $2.3 million annually until the end of the 2025-26 season. On top of that, Philadelphia also gained another second-round pick in the 2025 draft, which they could use to select one of many exciting players like Zachary Morin, Owen Griffith, Aiden Lane, or my personal favorite, Jordan Gavin, who all are currently predicted to still be on the board at that time.