Photo Credit: NHL.com
The Flyers have surpassed all expectations early in the season. While we have been saying for months, that the team would be in the mix for a wildcard position this year, we didn’t necessarily expect them to play this well early on. Sean Couturier and Cam Atkinson, while not 100% back into form, have come in and been more productive than anticipated after missing significant time. Typically a player who misses a full season or more will not get fully comfortable until 50% through the season. While that is still the case and we expect them both to get better as the season rolls on, they have both played very big roles in the early stretch. Throw into the mix Travis Sanheim’s evolution as a player, entering the elite defenseman conversation and the veterans have had a large impact so far.
However, it hasn’t only been the veterans playing well. We can go up and down the lineup to point out players who have done, not only what was expected of them, but have exceeded expectations on both ends of the ice. Joel Farabee is showing that he still has potential to be a point per game player. Owen Tippett has turned up the scoring, showing he is the player from the second half of the season. Yegor Zamula is an impressive +11 for a rookie defenseman. Bobby Brink is one of the rookie scoring leaders in the NHL and has consistently come up with big offensive plays when the team needed them. We could go on and on about this team and the players who have had an impact on this team’s success early on. Even Carter Hart, who is still in the early stage of his NHL potential, continues to look like the budding superstar that came into the league at 20 years old.
However, even with all the success, there is a portion of the Flyers fanbase who is unhappy with the winning record as they were told that they would see a ‘rebuild’ this season. We would argue that their definition of a rebuild is only surface level and believe that it primarily consists of trading NHL players for picks. While this is a part of the process for adding talent to an organization, it actually comes with changing a teams internal process and standards that manifest to success on the ice. This is how the league’s best, Boston Bruins, are continuing their President Trophy race for a second year in a row after losing their two top centers in Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci. The Bruins have an organizational standard and foundation that brings out the best in the players in their organization. They have seen many years of turnover, but always able to keep the team highly competitive. That is where a rebuild starts and ends. So while people are asking for more top picks, this isn’t the actual goal of a rebuild, that’s a consequence of being a bad team. Even if the Flyers do not get a top 10 pick in this years draft, they still have generational talent Matvei Michkov and budding superstar Cutter Gauthier coming in the very near future. Both of which are enough to project this team to another level when they are read
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On this episode of Gettin’ Gritty Wit It, Yariv and Vasili go through the Flyers early success in the NHL season and the team’s placement in the standings. We get into the nitty gritty of how a strong season will affect the team moving forward and what the true purpose of a rebuild is. Don’t miss this one before their next game, as the Flyers look to win their sixth game in a row versus their division rivals, the New York Islanders.
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