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The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, a Flyers Season-End Review
With only one game left in this arduous Philadelphia Flyers season, I thought it wise to do a season’s end review that will look at all aspects of the players and the team as a whole in something we’ll call the good, the bad, and the ugly.
So, to start, why don’t we begin with something positive?
The Good
Given that this team is in the midst of a full-on rebuild, it may be hard for most fans to see many positives in a team destined to be picking from the lottery once again. But believe me; there are a few.
Owen Tippett
Tippett, who is still only 24 years of age, was previously buried in the Panthers system after being drafted back in 2017 from the Mississauga Steelheads of the Ontario Hockey League and, therefore, never really got a fair shot in sunny Florida. This is why the return for Giroux was at the time viewed to be a bit underwhelming, but this trade may prove to be one of the few former Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher may have gotten right. In just his first full season in Philadelphia after being acquired from the Florida Panthers last year at the trade deadline (a move that sent the long time Flyers captain Claude Giroux packing), Owen has managed to set new career highs this year in goals with 29, assists with 24, and in total points scored with 47. Why the sudden success, you might asking? Well, Tippett is just the kind of sniper the Flyers have seemed to lack since Jeff Carter last donned a Flyers jersey. Owen is a pure shooter who has never met a shot he hasn’t wanted to take, so he not only led the Flyers this year in shots with 229 but finished the season with a team-high eight power-play goals. With such success coming this season from a young player who has not yet hit his prime, there’s no doubt in this writer’s mind that the Flyers view him as a key piece moving forward in their quest to return to a perennial playoff contender.
Travis Konecny
Another bright spot for the Flyers this season has been the resurgence of Travis Konecny. Konecny, or TK as most fans in Philadelphia call him, led the team in goals this year with 29—those totals best his previous career high of 24 by five goals. What’s more impressive or depressing, depending on how you look at it, is that Travis achieved that feat while only playing in 59 games this season. Under Tortorella’s tutelage this year, Travis (who is still only 26 years old and signed for two more years at only $5.5 million) has shown that he should not only be considered a building block for this team’s future but maybe the cornerstone of its franchise for the time being. That is, until one of their promising prospects can take that title away from him.
Scott Laughton
Scott Laughton is the last player on the current Flyers roster, whose efforts this season exceeded expectations. This now 10-year NHL veteran is viewed by head coach John Tortorella as one of the club’s few true leaders. Year in and year out, Scott simply gets the job done. He may not be flashy, but he can be depended on because he has shown the wiliness to do whatever is asked of him. This means he is often forced to play some tough minutes against the other team’s best players on the penalty kill and even strength situations. Laughton has earned those minutes over the years, honestly, by finishing all of his hits, being the first in on the forecheck, and by being defensively responsible enough to always be involved in the backcheck. This season Scott set new career highs in goals with 18 when his previous career high was only 12, assists with 25 when his last was 19, and in points with 43 this year when his previous best was only 32. Despite having planned over a decade in the NHL already, Laughton is still just 28 years old, and he is signed for three more years at a very affordable $3 million. Therefore, Scott has shown a commitment to playing in Philadelphia, and he can be counted on in the trying years to come to show the up-and-coming players within the Flyers system how to play the game the right way.
Tyson Foerster
Tyson Foerster, the Flyers’ 2020 first-round pick, is one of those aforementioned up-and-coming players. He is only 21 years of age and was afforded the opportunity to play a short stint with the Flyers a few weeks ago after excelling at the AHL level this season. A year in which he was able to achieve 20 goals, and 26 assists for 46 points while playing for the Phantoms. Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, Tyson decided to show out during his late-season curtain call with the Flyers, where he gave fans something to look forward to next season, scoring three goals and four assists for seven points in just eight games played. Like Tippett, Foerster’s success with the Flyers is primarily due to his elite-level shot and his willingness to let it fly. After he gets some much-needed playoff experience with the Phantoms this year, look for Tyson to join the Flyers next season. His offensive prowess will be a welcome addition to a team destined to finish this season 29th in the league in goals scored.
The Bad
Now that we hit the high points of this year let us come back to reality and look at just how bad this team really is.
James van Riemsdyk
Thank goodness JVR’s contract is up after just one more game. After the type of season this impending unrestricted free agent, who is now 33 years old, just had, I think it is safe to say he will not be returning. Although it is the Flyers, so let’s just say at least not for the $7 million he received for the past five years of service. This season van Riemsdyk recorded a career-low 12 goals. A feat he was even able to surpass back in the 2015-2016 season when he scored 14 goals after only playing in 40 games due to injury. JVR should no longer be in the Flyers’ plans seeing that his best years are behind him, especially since far better and younger prospects like Tyson Foerster and Cutter Gauthier are waiting in the wings for their chance to prove themselves.
Carter Hart
Beloved by this franchise for no other reason than because they haven’t been given much else to believe in, Carter has been placed on a pedestal since his arrival. The only thing is, his play to this point hasn’t warranted the acclaim. Now, before you guys start in with the excuses to defend him, let me share some numbers with you. This season Hart has 22 wins which ranks him 21st in the NHL. He ranks 28th in goals against average, giving up 2.94 goals a game on average. To go with that, Carter only managed to rank 22nd in save percentage by stopping .907% of his shots faced, and he’s given up the ninth most goals of any goaltender in the NHL this year with a total of 155 that have gotten behind him. We all know that the team has been bad this year, the defense is lacking, and they simply are not scoring, but when will we start putting some of the blame on Hart for failing to stop the puck? Hart was the first goalie taken back in 2016, and since then, he has played in parts of the last five seasons for the Flyers. To date, he has played in over 200 games where he has only managed to win 41% of his starts. He’s let in an average of 2.96 goals a game and stopped only .906% of the shots he faced. Now, I think even his biggest fans can admit those numbers are not elite. Hell, they are below average! So much so that I have seen goalies of Flyers past with far better numbers get traded, sent down to the AHL, or outright waived. So why has Hart yet to receive a similar fate? I get that he is only 24 years of age and that most goaltenders do not develop fully into they are 26 or 27, but we’re not talking about most goalies here. Carter is not some fifth or sixth-round pick; he was a highly decorated goalie who previously excelled at every level he played at but has yet to reach his true potential. I’ll agree with you the Flyers have not made it easy on him, but in a year’s time, when Hart’s contract is up, and he’s looking for not only a raise but a new deal with some tenure behind it, should they still be affording him these same excuses simply because they have no one better? Or should Philadelphia’s Interim GM Danny Briere try and trade him this off-season while Hart still might have some other teams ’GMs fooled in an attempt to try and expedite the Flyers’ rebuild?
The Ugly
Now the Ugly. The Flyers are the sixth-worst team in the league this year. They were too bad to fight for a Wild Card spot and too good for any real shot at drafting Connor Bedard, who is thought to be the irrefutable first-overall pick this summer. The Flyers put themselves in this position by finishing the season 29th in scoring and 10th in goals allowed. Combined, their goaltenders allowed, on average, 3.36 goals per game and stopped only .894% of the shots they faced. And to add insult to injury, the Flyers will again finish the season with the league’s worst power play, with them only managing to capitalize on the man advantage 15.2% of the time this season.
They have no cap space. Weighted down by albatross-like contracts that were either handed out or acquired by Chuck Fletcher, the chances of this team being able to sign someone of any value in free agency this summer should be viewed as nothing but a farce. And we haven’t even talked about the players on IR yet. Ryan Ellis is considered to have sustained a career-ending injury but refuses to retire. So the Flyers will be forced to pay him $6.25 a year for the next four years to sit in the rafter and watch games. Sean Couturier was made the highest-paid player on the team by Flecther, just to miss most of the last three seasons with injury. And let us not forget the Flyers being on the hook for two more years of Cam Atkinson at $5.875 million after he had to undergo a surgery to repair a potential career-crippling neck injury this season. When you add all that up, it means the Flyers were made to hand out roughly a quarter of their allotted salary cap ($19.8 million) to three players that did not even dress for a single game this year.
And what’s worse is that despite management knowing that they would not have a lot of cap space to better themselves next season, they chose not to follow my advice of trying to improve their depth charts by signing some undrafted free agents this year from the NCAA.
I guess that’s why the Flyers will keep chasing their dreams and not filling them like the playoff-caliber teams that decided to take advantage of this NCAA talent. Teams like the Colorado Avalanche, who signed Western Michigan’s Jason Polin, who tied Hobey Baker Award Winner Adam Fantilli for the most goals scored this year in the NCAA with 30—the Nashville Predators, who signed Minnesota States’ lockdown defenseman Jake Livingstone. The Hurricanes who signed Quinnipiac’s National Championship-winning goaltender Yaniv Perets. Or the Florida Panthers, who signed Western Michigan’s exceptional freshman Ryan McAllister. Any one of these players could have helped the struggling Flyers, and it would not have cost them a single draft pick or roster player to add them just a simple entry-level contract. These are the kind of gross oversights that keep this franchise from bettering itself.
So, overall, the Philadelphia Flyers may have taken a step in the right direction this season by firing Chuck Fletcher and having Dave Scott graciously be given the option to retire. However, they are still a long way away from contention. This rebuild will likely take three to five years before we, the fans, start to see the real benefits of tearing it all down just to build it back up. But if done right, it should be worth it.
Prospect Watch: The Quest for the CHL’s Memorial Cup is on.
With the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) playoffs now underway, I thought it would be wise to give you all a look into how the road to the Memorial Cup is going. Since the CHL (a parent organization that oversees all three of Canada’s major junior hockey leagues) was founded in 1975, it has always been thought to be a world-renowned prospect hotbed, that cultivates talent the likes of teams can build a franchise around.
This is a belief that still holds true today. No matter if teams decide to look to the Western Hockey League (WHL), the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), or the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) to find future NHL talent, they have always been able to rely on the fact that every year there is at least a couple players from within the CHL that have the ability to become the next face of their franchise.
WHL
Connor Bedard- Regina Pats
Take the WHL, for instance. As I’m sure you have all heard by now, the consensus number-one overall pick in this upcoming draft, Connor Bedard, has been taking the hockey world by storm this season while playing for the Regina Pats. So much so that he finished the regular season with an incredible 71 goals and 72 assists for a total of 143 points in only 57 games played! Folks, if you do the math, that means Connor worked the rest of the WHL for an average of 2.69 points a game during the regular season.
So why would we expect anything less from him in the playoffs? Through just three games played in the playoffs, where his Pats have been taking on the Saskatoon Blades, Connor has scored six goals and five assists for 11 points. Talk about taking it to another level once the regular season is over. Guys, with those numbers, that means Bedard is not only averaging two goals a game right now, but he’s accumulating an unheard-of 3.67 points per game in the postseason. With that kind of production, it would surprise me if this young phenom is not leading his NHL club next season in pretty much all statical categories.
Dylan Ernst- Kamloops Blazers
Another prospect whose play this season has most likely gained him some exposure is goaltender Dylan Ernst of the Kamloops Blazers. During the regular season for the Blazers, Ernst was relied upon to be a workhorse. Playing in 53 games this year, Dylan was able to not only maintain a 2.69 goals against average and a 0.906 save percentage, but he was able to record a league-leading 38 wins as well.
And with Ernst used to carrying the Blazers on his back for most of the year, he saw no need to stop once they reached the postseason. Through three games played thus far against the Vancouver Giants, Dylan has won two by way of a shutout. Meaning through three games (where he has faced a combined 58 shots), he has only managed to let in one goal! This leaves him with a minuscule 0.33 goals against average right now, which he currently pairs with a 0.983 save percentage. WOW! Now, I don’t know how long his dominance will last, seeing that the Blazers are one of four undefeated teams right now who lead their opponents 3-0 in their respective series, but it should be entertaining to find out nonetheless.
OHL
Brandt Clarke- Barrie Colts
As exciting as the WHL has been to watch this year, we now turn our focus to the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). Where it, too, currently has four different clubs asserting their dominance over their first-round opponents. Yes, the Kitchener Rangers, the Sarnia Sting, the London Knights, and the Peterborough Petes all look destined to advance to the next round of the J. Ross Robinson Cup (OHL Championship). However, one player from the Barrie Colts, a team that is presently tied 2-2 right now in their series against last year’s champs, the Hamilton Bulldogs, has managed to stand out above anyone else playing in the OHL right now.
That player is none other than Brandt Clarke, an L.A. Kings first-round selection from back in 2021. Clarke is a highly coveted right-shot defender who is currently proving to be just as effective in the offensive zone as he is in the defensive. To prove that, you might be interested to know that Brandt is leading all playoff-caliber prospects in the OHL this postseason in assists with eight and total points with eleven (one of those points even being from him pulling off a successful Michigan goal). Not to mention that defensively Clarke is leading the league in plus-minus as well, with him being able to maintain a +8 average to this point.
Brandt, who is 20 years old, has already spent time this season playing in both the National Hockey League and the American Hockey League levels before being sent back down to Barrie. So, one would think with his age and the way he is playing currently, he will no doubt be turning pro next year. The only question is will it be with the Kings or their AHL affiliate, the Regin?
QMJHL
Alexis Gendron- Gatineau Olympiques
Last but certainly not least, we have the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), where three teams currently sit with a dominant 3-0 lead in their respective series. But, if you watch these matchups, you’ll notice one particular player that stands out above all the rest. His name is Alexis Gendron, a Philadelphia Flyers prospect who, believe it or not, was not taken until the seventh round last summer. What sparked his unexpected vault into becoming one of the elites of his league this season has left me confuddled, especially since he was nothing more than average the previous year. Still, I’m sure the fans of both the Olympiques and the Flyers right now aren’t questioning it too much, anyway. Scoring an astonishing 55 goals this season, as well as 35 more points than he did the season before, Gendron has undoubtedly made everyone involved sit up and take notice.
But Alexis is showing that he is not letting his newfound success go to his head as he leads all players in the QMJHL playoffs right now with five goals scored in just three games. Now, that is impressive, but what’s more amazing is that he has only had 14 shots on goal in those three games, so if you do the math, that means his shooting percentage right now is over 35%.
If Gendron keeps this kind of production up throughout the rest of the playoffs, there is no doubt in this writers’ mind that the Flyers’ new interim general manager Danny Briere will be waiting for him in his team’s locker room the minute they get off the ice for the final time this season with an entry-level contract in hand.
I know it’s still early in teams’ quest for the CHL’s Memorial Cup, but by reading this, I hope that I have sparked your interest in watching some of the great games going on right now throughout Canada’s major providences. For within every one of these playoff-caliber teams, you’ll find one, if not multiple, players that will soon be suiting up for an NHL franchise near you. So, why not get acquainted with them now?
The Philadelphia Flyers have been Officially Eliminated from the Playoffs; What Happens Now?
With the Philadelphia Flyers recently being officially eliminated from any chance of playoff contention this season, their fans have been left to wonder, what happens now?
Who Stays and Who Goes?
Well, first, management must figure out who stays and who goes. This is something that I think the team’s newly appointed interim general manager, Danny Briere, and head coach John Tortorella may have already been collaborating on. Think about it. During one of the Flyers ‘ recent games, Torts recently took a break from his position behind the bench to join Danny in his box. I bet they weren’t up there just shooting the breeze. If this proves true, it can mean nothing but good things for this club, being that the current administration and coaching staff would now be working together to create a vision moving forward instead of the two working against one another as they have in the past. But, even with the two now working together, it will be no easy feat because prior management has left them in quite a hole, loaded down with many injury-prone players with contracts with no end date in sight. Briere and Tortorella will have to get creative. Sure, impending free agents like the Flyers’ 33-year-old James van Riemsdyk and 36-year-old defenseman Justin Braun will be easy choices not to resign, but what do you do with a UFA like their recent acquisition Brendan Lemieux? Since joining the Flyers, Brendan has managed to maintain a spot in Philadelphia’s nightly lineup, scoring six points in eleven games while maintaining a plus-five average. But I guess the question is, do you dare spend a portion of what limited funds the team has available this off-season to bring back this 27-year-old bottom-six tough guy who made $1.35 million this year? Or do you try and sign someone a little less expensive to do the same job next season?
If your answer were to re-sign him, I would urge you to remember the Flyers have multiple restricted free agents to re-sign guys like defensemen Cameron York, Egor Zamula, and Ronnie Attard. Then on offense, you have names like Morgan Frost, Noah Cates, and Kieffer Bellows to consider. Sure, Bellows, who has only scored three goals in close to 30 games played with the Flyers, may prove no significant loss after the team picked him off waivers this season from the Islanders. Still, York, Frost, and Cates have all played key roles in the Flyers’ limited amount of success this season. York has shown the potential to be a top-pairing defenseman. Frost (although I believe he is still to be over-hyped) has managed to improve his game this season thanks to the extra ice time he received because of Sean Couturiers’ extended injury. And, speaking of Coots, Noah Cates has proved this season that he, too, is more than capable of sliding over into the faceoff dots and shutting down some of the best players his opponents have to offer. Therefore, they will most likely be asking for a substantial raise from their current expiring entry-level contracts.
Bringing up Ready Prospects and Signing Others
Lucky for the Flyers, once they have shown some of their no longer needed or wanted players the door after this season, Philadelphia will then have the roster space required to bring up some ready prospects that are already signed. One such player may be the Flyers’ 2020 1st round pick, Tyson Foerster. After being named to the American Hockey Leagues All-Star game this season, he was recently brought up in a short showcase stint with the big club, where he managed to score three goals and four assists for seven points in just eight games played with the Flyers before being sent back down to Lehigh to gear up for a playoff push.
Foerster, who has been blessed with a rocket of a shot dating back to his days with the Barrie Colts of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), will undoubtedly be a welcomed addition to the Flyers roster next season—given all the injury concerns still surrounding guys like fellow right winger Cam Atkinson, who was shut down this year due to a neck injury (that required surgery) which he received back in training camp.
And with the team potentially bringing up prospects like Foerster and the previously mentioned Egor Zamula to the NHL next year, it creates holes/opportunities for others at the AHL level. The team can then look to sign or bring up other promising prospects they’ve already drafted. This is much like Briere did recently when he decided to ink their 2020 2nd-round pick defenseman Emil Andre who was playing up to that point in the SHL (Sweden’s top professional league).
A couple of those unsigned prospects (or ones that are signed but have yet to play in the professional ranks) who, in my opinion, have played well enough this year to deserve a shot at turning pro next season are the Flyers’ 2022 seventh-round pick forward Alexis Gendron and the teams 2021 sixth round pick defenseman Ethan Samson.
Alexis is a 19-year-old forward whose season was split between playing for the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada and the Gatineau Olympiques of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). Despite having to learn the tendencies of his new teammates, Gendron finished the season second in the league in goals with a combined total of 55. He was also able to net 26 assists for a total of 81 points over just 63 games played. That means he averaged a very respectable 1.29 points per game.
Now, some of you may not be too keen on the fact that Alexis is a diminutive young prospect (that stands at only 5’9), to which I would quickly point out that Gendron is able to combat his lack of size with not only deceptiveness but an innate ability to observe swiftly what the goalie is giving him and react by putting the puck where he is not before the opposition has time to stop him from doing so. These traits are what I believe will help Alexis not only advance his game to the next level but be able to avoid the thrashing other less nimble players receive on a nightly basis at both the AHL and the NHL levels.
Ethan Samson is in a different position entirely. This 19-year-old right-hand-shot defenseman who stands at 6’1 and 181 pounds is already signed but has yet to turn pro. This stems from that lovely rule forcing players from the Canadian junior leagues to return to the CHL if they do not make an NHL roster. Falling victim to this rule, Ethan was required to return to the Prince George Cougars of the Western Hockey League (WHL) this season. Once there, Samson scored 18 goals and 42 assists for 60 points in 60 games played. And with all the struggles the Flyers have had on defense the past couple of years (especially on the right side), you can bet gm Danny Briere and coach Tortorella will give Samson a nice long look in camp next season.
These are just a couple of affordable modifications to the roster that the Flyers should look to make happen this off-season to ensure they can put out a much better product on the ice next season. Because if we, the fans, are going to be forced to suffer through a possible lengthy rebuild, then we would rather see the team focus on letting the youth of tomorrow gain the experience they will need today! Rather than the team continuing to follow the teachings of their previous management, who often opted to fill the roster with veterans who used to be good.