Photo Credit: Our very own Rob Windfelder
“I’m just going to watch him play, there is no particular thing,” John Tortorella on Jett Luchanko. “We do have that nine game situation, were very well aware of. We will watch him, and the whole process will unfold. I’m not going to predict anything, I’m just going to let him play.”
Luchanko blew the doors off training camp, Flyers’ General Manager Danny Briere said this past Tuesday. That is just one of the major storylines, now that the season is finally here. Matvei Michkov, also rightfully so, gets the other parts of the major headlines. Both will get their chances to impress, in nearly every facet that the game has to offer.
What are some of the major storylines that fans can expect this season? What to expect from Ivan Fedotov
With Samuel Ersson being tabbed as the number one netminder. Will he replicate his performance from 2023-24, asides from the last nine games, or will he continue to free fall like he did towards the latter parts of last season? The Goaltending situation never seems to fade in Philadelphia.
Ersson struggled early last season with momentum saves, when used as a backup netminder, that would eventually turn the page on the game in the Flyers favor. However, when he took over the helm as a number one netminder following the departure of Carter Hart, Ersson became a stone wall for the most part. Sure he struggled a bit down the stretch, in large part due to workload, however, he managed to still put forth a good season.
Flyers’ Head Coach John Tortorella noticed his increased workload down the stretch, and he managed to use him more effectively over the course of the past month of the season. Ersson was pretty impressive with his rebound control, and he made timely saves most notably against the Toronto Maple Leafs. He moves laterally from post to post well, and he also donned a new goalie mask in the same token.
For his efforts, Ersson had a good year last year. So much so, he owns the 19th best GAA in Flyers history with a 2.87. That’s actually better than Carter Hart’s career 2.94 GAA as a Flyer.
Fast forward to the 2024 pre-season, where he pitched a 36 save shutout in his pre-season debut, followed by a 30 save performance against the Boston Bruins. Ersson only allowed two goals, which was good enough for a .938 Save Percentage. He was spectacular for the Flyers just like he was last year at times. Ersson made timely saves after being peppered trying to keep his team in it early, and also key saves in big moments to keep the Flyers engines going.
With the Flyers looking gassed and tired, Ersson his best for the team to eventually prevail, “Two positives I get from this is our goaltending with Erss, and I think we found ourselves a little bit to stay in the game when we struggle in the first period. We don’t have the juice to compete right through it to sustain,” Flyers’ Head Coach John Tortorella said last night.
Ersson continues, “Nothing is going to be given to me. I have to earn everything. Every game I want to play, just keep pushing myself to get better.” This is great to hear that he takes nothing fur granted, as this is the NHL. A player could be a pick today, tomorrow not so much.
I’m really poised to see how Ersson fares this season as the number one netminder. He knows what to expect, and Ersson now had a full offseason to prepare for the rigors ahead.
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Ivan Fedotov
Fedotov relished the pre-season, while becoming very good friends with Matvei Michkov and Egor Zamula. He is playing really well, and he backstopped 25 shots on 27 shots faced against the Boston Bruins. Fedotov managed to finish the game with a .926 Save Percentage.
“I feel good. Overall, feel good. From last year more comfortable,” Fedotov said after the game. He doesn’t like to take anything for granted, and it appears that having a full off-season to train and prepare himself has done wonders. Maybe going to Colorado to clear his head with Michkov also helped.
A tall backup netminder in Fedotov moves just ok laterally in the crease well. Fedotov cuts off all the angles well, and just looks very composed. That is when a person can tell Fedotov is dialed in. Fedotov did finish second in the league in pre-season victories with two.
How will he fair is anyone’s guess, but it will be interesting to see if he can handle the rigors of the Regular Season. It will also be interesting to see how much patience the organization will have with him if he does indeed falter. Especially, with Alexei Kolosov waiting in the wings, looking to grab an NHL spot.
The Power Play
It’s no secret the Flyers Power Play has struggled mightily, so predictability should go out the window. The problem here in lies, just shoot the puck, keep it simple, get pucks down low. Better yet, just dump the puck in and chase it, since the Flyers are having problems with zone entries with the man advantage. It appears the orange and black are overthinking things a bit too much with the man advantage for the past few seasons. The Power Play is that bad that Lou Nolan (Address announcer) should no longer announce “And the Flyers are headed to the P-e-e-e-e-e-co Power Play.” Instead, Nolan should say “And the Flyers are headed to the P-e-e-e-e-e-co Power Outage.”
This is yet another article about the Power Play, as it is a key cog to finally getting back to the playoffs. They just fail to keep it simple with a net front presence, rather they try to be too cute and it backfires.
Just imagine if the Flyers had a functioning Power Play, they would have made the playoffs comfortably last season. There is little to deny that much. With that being said, if it doesn’t improve to around 21st or 22nd in the league, then they will miss the playoffs for a fifth consecutive season.
One major problem that the Flyers have with the man advantage is being able to get set up. They haven’t given the forecheck enough credit, thus they’re trying to take the puck up the gut and it’s not working. This has been one major problem for the Flyers for the past few seasons. The Flyers may not have the creativity to enter the zone cleanly, thus they should be relegated to a dump and chase system on the power play. Too many this season, the orange and black tried using a give and go system to enter the opponents zone with the man advantage. It’s not working, and it sheds 20 to 30 seconds off the power play time to try to re-enter the zone.
The Flyers cycle the puck well at times, but other times not so much. That is when the Power Play becomes predictable. Teams are sensing the extra pass, thus picking off the pass and clearing the puck out of the zone with no problem. The Flyers Power Play eas dead last in the NHL with a 12.2% success rate last year. This is simply not good enough, and it is an area of concern as this team hopefully endures an extended playoff run in the 2024-25 season. As the playoffs wear on it becomes tougher to score goals, so they have to take advantage of these Golden opportunities to score.
A healthy Jamie Drysdale goes a long way towards improving this special team stat, as does Michkov. But, they have to believe in themselves to right the ship.
Health
Sean Couturier had minor core surgery, while Jamie Drysdale had major core surgery this past offseason. Couturier, 31, has had trouble staying healthy for the past three or four so seasons. He has logged a lot of miles on his tires, but the Flyers desperately need him to stay healthy, asd the organization still does not have enough depth down the middle to withstand an injury from him. Jett Luchanko may not play more than nine games this season for the orange and black, so Coots has to stay healthy.
Jamie Drysdale says he feels good, and he wanted to have the core surgery to prevent recurring injuries. One can respect that, but will Drysdale finally be able bodied and healthy enough to finally withstand an 82 game season? Truth be told, he has the goods to be a very good player in the NHL, but he just has to stay healthy to prove it. This is a big season for him, to prove to his naysayers that he can stay healthy and find success. The man advantage craves, and ne3eds a healthy Jamie Drysdale.
Associate Coach Brad Shaw said that an area of Drysdale’s game that he needs to improve upon is his play away from the puck. He can’t improve upon this if he doesn’t stay healthy.
Predictions
With all things considered above, I believe the Flyers will finish with the eighth seed in the NHL. They will make the playoffs, as a second wild card team. They will finish with 88 or 89 points, with Morgan Frost, Travis Konecny, Owen Tippett, and Tyson Foerster leading the way amongst the team scoring leaders.
Believe it or not, I see Morgan Frost finishing the season with 65-70 points, and this will be elevated with starting on a line with Tippett and Foerster. Foerster will score 30 goals, while Tippett will finish with 32 goals. Konecny will also finish with 30+ goals for a third consecutive season. Here are the lines and pairings for the home opener tonight, Nick Seeler remains day to day:
Michkov – Couturier – Konecny
Tippett – Frost – Foerster
Farabee – Luchanko – Brink
Laughton – Poehling – Hathaway
York – Sanheim
Zamula – Drysdale
Johnson – Ristolainen
Ersson
Fedotov
Based off a 20 man roster. The Flyers are the second youngest team in the NHL, with an average age of 25.7 expected to be in the lineup for tonight’s season opener.
The Buffalo Sabres are the youngest, with an average age of 25.3.
In the end, let’s see what transpires, but this really is the “New Era of Orange”. It’s time to Buckle Up Flyers fans
