Date Published: 10-13-2022
After a largely disappointing 2021-2022 season, the Flyers endured an underwhelming offseason, to which there was not an aggressive rebuild as the Flyers top brass promised to Flyers fans at exit interviews. The Flyers top fish/hire was John Tortorella, coupled with his coaching staff of Brad Shaw and Rocky Thompson.
“It’s the f..kin Philadelphia Flyers.” – John Tortorella
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I mean the quote above should give Flyers fans reason for hope, but not so fast. On paper the Flyers have a lack of star power, especially with the loss of Sean Couturier. There are tons of question marks facing this club, for example, who is going to put the puck in the net? How can this team skate with other teams? Here is the opening night lineup below:
Laughton-Hayes-Konecny
JvR-Frost-Allison
Farbaee-Cates-Tippett
Deslauriers-Laczynski-Hodgson
Provorov-DeAngelo
Sanheim-Ristolainen
Zamula-Braun
Hart
Now looking at the teams opening night lineup, one can understand the frustrations of Flyers fans. It’s great to see some young kids littered throughout the lineup, but they just aren’t good enough to make the playoffs. This team will be much more competitive under the direction of Tortorella, but that’s about it. Do not expect the Flyers to make the playoffs this season, that’s just an unlikely goal. The Metropolitan Division is stacked with star power, I just don’t envision the Flyers competing for a playoff spot in this tough division, especially if Coots is out long-term. Cam Atkinson will miss the opener unfortunately, and yet again the Flyers are decimated with injuries before the season even begins, to very important players. The season really has a feeling of “It’s all over” and it has yet to begin.
However, looking to move forward and put last season in the rear view mirror. Flyers’ General Manager Chuck Fletcher and his staff believe the Flyers are better than last season, “This is a year we got to find out who’s part of the solution going forward, and hopefully a lot of these players grab that opportunity,” Fletcher said yesterday. “We’re going to get better. I think we are an exciting young team. We’re going to be fast, we’re going to be aggressive. Right now, we’re working hard to come together as a group.”
Overall, as long as Hart can play better than last season the Flyers will be much improved even if no other players on the team return to their previous form after sub par seasons. In most cases teams with the worst goaltending stats in the league do not fare very well in regards to winning games, so if Hart improves to even a .900 % save percentage on the season it will be a big upgrade in goaltending performance for the Flyers. Mark my words, goal tanning was not the biggest problem for the Flyers last season, there’s just a lot of pressure on this young 24-year-old netminder.
The good thing for Hart is the back end appears to be more stabilized than it has in the past, at least to start the season. Provorov and DeAngelo should compliment each other well, as Tony D is more of an offensive defenseman, while Provorov just has to keep his head on right mentally. Provorov puts a lot of pressure on himself, in the organization has done that to him. He just has to stay calm and produce.
Travis Sanheim was arguably the Flyers best defenseman last season, and I don’t expect anything less this season as he enters a contract year. Rasmus Ristolainen knows what’s expected of him, he just has to take care of the puck more or he will find himself in the dog house under Tortorella. I feel good story out of training camp was Egor Zamula making the club out right, “I was want to have a good year,” Zamula said yesterday. The good thing for zamolas is he will be paired with a veteran who knows the game well in Justin Braun. Braun is more than capable of teaching the youth how to play the game the right way.
As a result of the off-season additions made by General Manager Chuck Fletcher, it’s safe to say that the Flyers will be a much tough and competitive team within the NHL and Metropolitan Division. Despite this, there is still underlying skepticism surrounding how these new additions will mesh, and if the team can form chemistry with one another. The overall key to the season is playing better in front of Carter Hart, most notably, the main objective is to lower his goals against average. Who knows what will happen, but the puck will drop tonight in the home opener at 7:00 p.m.
