Photo Credit: The Flyers
Danny Briere and the Philadelphia Flyers front office just made their first move as a unit, and it seems like the Flyers may finally have some competent people in charge. They managed to receive an impressive haul for an underperforming Ivan Provorov who was rumored to be having some issues within the Flyers locker room. This has opened up a variety of questions that have Flyers fans everywhere wondering what could be next. Are they going to trade away everyone with value and commit to a full rebuild? Is Carter Hart next? One thing for certain is that Danny Briere is wasting no time trying to change the trajectory of the Flyers future.
The Philadelphia Flyers finished the 2022-2023 regular season with a record of 31-38-13. Despite being among the bottom seven teams in the league, they showed some hope for the future. This was a very inexperienced team that battled injury throughout the entirety of the season, management change, and adjustments under a new head coach in John Tortorella. Many people had them being one of the bottom two or three teams in the entire league. Although finishing 26th in the league is nothing to brag about, they did finish 15 points or higher than the teams they were being compared to before the season started. With all this being said, what is next for the Philadelphia Flyers?
Danny Briere and the Philadelphia Flyers front office still have a long off-season ahead of them and a lot of decisions to make. How will Briere trade Kevin Hayes and/or Tony DeAngelo if decided to move on from? Will Briere resign James van Riemsdyk or Brendan Lemieux? A ton of questions remain for this upcoming offseason. There are not as many big-name free agents as last year available but still some great players who can make an impact. There are big-name players reaching the end of their careers such as Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Patrice Bergeron, Ryan O’Reilly, and Vladimir Tarasenko available. Proven NHL defensemen such as John Klingberg, Matthew Dumba, and Dmitry Orlov. There are also some players in their prime that could benefit from starting somewhere fresh like Tyler Bertuzzi, Max Domi, Michael Bunting, and JT Compher. What will the starting lineup look like come next Fall? A lot can happen between now and then, but one thing Flyers fans everywhere will be looking for is some much-needed change to the roster.
Take a look at the two teams in the Stanley Cup right now. Both teams have a solid defensive core that plays physically and moves the puck well. They each have some very talented forwards, but the rest of their lines are filled out with players who play with an in-your-face attitude. Their relentless pursuit of the puck and physicality has propelled both of their teams to the Stanley Cup Final. The Flyers, under second-year head coach John Tortorella, have already started to adapt this new style of play as their identity but lacked the depth and experience to do so consistently for an entire season. What can they do to ensure this identity moving forward? They should look to move on from Kevin Hayes, Tony DeAngelo, and JVR. These players have done a lot of good over their careers, but their style of play does not fit the direction the Flyers are moving. With that being said, the Flyers are not good enough to add one or two big-name players and compete for the Stanley Cup. One must ask though, how close are they? The answer to this question will determine how the Flyers go about their offseason. At this time there are too many holes to fill, and it would not be possible to solve them all in one summer. Instead, the Flyers should look to add 4-5 new pieces and see if they can get themselves to a middle-of-the-pack NHL team this upcoming season. Being a bubble team for the 2024 NHL playoffs will allow John Tortorella to really test his players and the shortcomings of the team will be highlighted dramatically during a late-season playoff push. This will allow management to pinpoint the exact issues that need to be addressed for the following season and 3rd year under coach Tortorella. If done correctly, this Flyers team could reach some serious success as early as the 2024-25 season.
This offseason is very important and some of the players the Flyers should look towards signing include those who skate fast, work hard, and fit the mold of a John Tortorella-led Philadelphia Flyers. The potential lines listed below are ones that could have great success and put the Philadelphia Flyers into the middle third of the league for the upcoming season.
Forward Line 1
Joel Farabee Sean Couturier Travis Konecny
Forward Line 2
Scott Laughton Morgan Frost Owen Tippett
Forward Line 3
Conor Sheary JT Compher Tyson Foerster
Forward Line 4
Nicolas Deslauriers Noah Cates Cam Atkinson
Defensive Pairing 1
Travis Sanheim/Rasmus Ristolainen
Defensive Pairing 2
Cam York/Sean Walker
Defensive Pairing 3
Ryan Graves/Radko Gudas
Goaltenders
Carter Hart
Cal Petersen
Scratches
Bobby Brink
Tomas Nosek
Wade Allison
Nick Seeler
Forward line 1 could be the much-needed dominant scoring line the Flyers have yet to find for an entire season, especially if Sean Couturier comes back healthy and close to his old self. Despite injury, Travis Konecny blossomed under John Tortorella and could be in for a huge upcoming season. Joel Farabee will have a full summer of training and could return to his normal form before last year’s surgery. The second forward line is very intriguing because each player is primed for a big jump in year two under Tortorella. They have played together before and Scott Laughton’s speed, Morgan Frost’s skill, and Owen Tippett’s shot could bode well together. Forward line 3 has two new faces and a second-year player in Tyson Foerster. Conor Sheary’s experience, tenacity, and speed will set up a ton of opportunities for two goal-scorers in JT Compher and Tyson Foerster. JT Compher can also play physically and provide a ferocious forecheck. The 4th forward line is something you see on a lot of very successful NHL teams. Experience, defensive-mindedness, and tight checking are all qualities needed on a successful 4th line. Nicolas Deslauriers, Noah Cates, and Cam Atkinson would cause all sorts of problems for other teams’ top lines and can put the puck in the net themselves too. The departure of Ivan Provorov most likely means Travis Sanheim and Rasmus Ristolainen will take over as the #1 pairing. Although they both struggled at times, they showed some signs of improvement towards the end of the year. The 2nd pairing would be Cam York and Sean Walker which is nothing to be too excited about but hopefully the change of scenery for Walker and a full season for York will lead to some success between the two. The Flyers potential 3rd line pairing is one that is very intriguing due to the combo of Radko Gudas’s strength and power with Ryan Graves’s puck-moving and shutdown capabilities when at his best. The scratches in Bobby Brink, Tomas Nosek, Wade Allison, and Nick Seeler provide Tortorella flexibility when constructing his daily lines as all four players will compete for playing time and could earn themselves permanent roles. When it comes to goaltending, the big question remains will Carter Hart be here next season? As of now, he will be their starting goalie, and only if the return is right should they move on from the franchise goaltender with so much of his career left. Moving on from such a promising young talent does not make a whole lot of sense unless the return includes a first-round draft pick, a proven player or highly touted prospect, and other valuable assets.
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This team would be very capable of winning close to 40 games and if everything went well with injuries and coming together as a team, could even make a playoff push. The Flyers could then possibly be joined by Cutter Gauthier, Emil Andrea, Elliot Desnoyers, and their first-round pick from the 2023 draft for the 2024-2025 season. Mix in a big-name free agent or two in the 2024 Summer and this could be a very good Flyers team and something to be very optimistic about going forward. Only time will tell what Danny Briere and the Philadelphia Flyers front office will do moving forward but make sure to keep an eye out for multiple moves this upcoming offseason.
Atkinson on the 4th line? That’s ridiculous.
I’ve been a Flyer fan from the very beginning so I think I know what we need as well as the front office. 1st we need a sniper. Someone who can score 40-45 goals a year. We haven’t had one since 08-09. Jeff Carter. All the best teams have one. We don’t! I say trade Hayes and Hart and get one. If we have to throw in someone else so be it. We have a goalie his name is Ersson. Also dump Sanstrom since we picked up Peterson. These moves will make our team better quickly. I and all the other fans can’t keep taking the beating year in and year out. You want us to hang in there for things to materialize. What do you think we’ve been doing for the last 13 years. Come on boys make these moves and get our respect back!