There really wasn’t much to report this offseason, asides from the draft and of course the key addition of Matvei Michkov. The Flyers did partake in some in-house cleaning, from re-signing Travis Konecny to an eight-year extension, to include re-signing some restricted free agents in Egor Zamula and Bobby Brink. One probably forgets that the club inked a Center Anthony Richard to a contract, thus providing depth down the middle in case of injury. They also added Rodrigo Abols down the middle, and Oskar Eklind on the wing. Eklind is a Power Play specialist, so he could get a call-up if someone gets injured.
What we do know for certain is that Rookie Camp will begin on September 12th and Training Camp will start on September 18th, with the first on-ice session slated for September 19th.
There are a handful of things the orange and black can do to improve next season. The first being fixing the horrid Power Play. They had the worst Power Play percentage last season with a 12.2% success rate. This is just unacceptable year after year, and this was the main reason the team failed to make the playoffs once again.
Another key improvement is consistent goaltending down the stretch. Samuel Ersson just completely ran out of gas during the latter part of the 2023-24 season. Ersson stood tall like a soldier, and did not offer any excuses for his play towards the latter part of the season. To his credit, Ersson was placed into this situation, due to Carter Hart being removed for a sexual assault case, involving other members of the 2018 Team Canada World Junior Hockey Team. Ivan Fedotov will be a key cog as a backup to Ersson, and he could be vital down the stretch of the 2024-25 season.
Lastly, a healthy Jamie Drysdale and Sean Couturier could become vital factors for an extended season. Both Couturier and Drysdale had sports hernia procedures in different facets this past offseason, but if both can remain healthy all year long, then maybe the Flyers could return to the playoffs.
First things first, let’s see how the team performs at training camp and the pre-season, to see if that will be a precursor of good things to come. It should be a fun season, especially with the addition of Michkov. Finally, the Flyers fanbase can get a glimpse of a potential generational talent in Michkov, which would be the first of its kind since Eric Lindros.
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