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Philadelphia Flyers hockey is right around the corner. With that comes the many predictions of where teams in the NHL could finish in the standings.
Last season, the Flyers were projected by most pundits league wide to finish as a bottom five team in the NHL. Despite this line of thinking Philadelphia was battling for a playoff spot until the final game of the regular season.
Keeping that in mind, we’ll find out the thoughts of national and local media in relation to the Flyers outlook for the 2024-25 season shortly.
Preliminarily, I’ve seen certain outlets underestimating Philadelphia heading into this season. These projections essentially paint the Flyers in the light that they are destined to be a bottom feeder in the Metropolitan Division.
The notion is certainly plausible and could very well become the reality soon enough. Nonetheless, there’s another scenario where the Flyers remain a competitive team that is on the playoff bubble once again.
From my perspective the latter seems like a more realistic outcome considering the steps taken by many of the Flyers younger players.
Last season players like Owen Tippett, Joel Farabee, Cam York, Sam Ersson, Morgan Frost, Tyson Foerster and Egor Zamula all progressed and improved in specific facets of their games.
With these aforementioned Flyers all within the 22-25 age range, the possibility of them improving even further as they reach the prime years of their careers cannot be ruled out.
Even if all of these players have slight increases in point production, it will still make the Flyers as a whole a more competitive team this season.
Another factor to consider is the arrival of Matvei Michkov and what he can bring to the table offensively, in transition and on the power-play. If Michkov can have an impactful rookie season that adds to the likelihood of the Flyers being competitive in 2024-25.
The last two aspects that will affect Philadelphia’s chances of being in the playoff mix this season is their goaltending and special teams.
At the very least the Flyers will need league average goaltending from Ersson and Fedotov throughout this season. The duo is inexperienced in terms of NHL games played but there’s still an avenue for them to be an effective tandem.
Ersson showed flashes of brilliance at times last season while at other moments he struggled.
The Flyers have to hope the trials and tribulations of being thrust into a starting netminder role last season is something Ersson’s learned from.
If such experiences were used to improve his technique, anticipation, and how he prepares himself to be a starting goaltender in the NHL, then we should see a confident goaltender come training camp.
Fedotov is also likely to play in his fair share of games. Having a more reliable netminder to share the crease with as compared to Cal Petersen or Felix Sandstrom should act as a better support system for Ersson moving ahead.
Lastly, special teams is something that could make or break how competitive the Philadelphia Flyers are this season. In 2023-24 the Flyers penalty-kill improved drastically and was one of the top units in the NHL. With their personnel not changing all that much it should allow the team to carry over an adequate penalty-killing unit at the very least.
The power-play is really where improvements need to be made for Philadelphia to compete on a nightly basis and separate themselves from opponents during specific in-game situations.
Not only can the power-play be a positive momentum changer but it can impact a team negatively if they are unable to capitalize on the power-play repeatedly.
There were several circumstances last season when the Flyers power-play took momentum away from the team instead of creating or maintaining it. One crucial factor to the Flyers remaining in the playoff mix this season will be their ability to create sustainable offense through their power-play.
Ultimately, there’s a variety of elements that could enable Philadelphia to be a competitive team and contend for a playoff spot in 2024-25.
Time will tell if the Flyers can perform at the level needed for these components to fall in the necessary manner that allows them to compete nightly.
