The Philadelphia Flyers went from rebuilder to playoff dark horse… or so they thought, and now the team and its loyal but increasingly impatient fans are paying the price.
The Flyers, in the midst of a five-game losing streak (0-4-1), still very much look like a young, directionless team that has some future pieces, but a far cry from a finished product.
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Having now fallen out of a playoff spot in what is shaping up to be yet another midseason collapse, the Flyers have also allowed no fewer than five goals in each of their last four losses, all in regulation.
Backup goalie Sam Ersson, after falling well behind Dan Vladar in the eyes of Rick Tocchet and Co., has descended into unplayable territory and owns an unfathomably bad .853 save percentage on the season.
Continuing to put Ersson in the line of fire when he very clearly has no confidence is harmful to both the player and his teammates, and the Flyers need to move on and move forward for the benefit of both parties.
That puts the Flyers back at what can be considered square one relative to the past few seasons; one goalie who can steal a few games, and another goalie behind him who is a complete enigma.
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Time will tell if Aleksei Kolosov’s resurgence is legitimate and can be relied upon, or if the Flyers again gravely miscalculated their situation.
The Discourse Around Matvei Michkov Makes No Sense
Since signing a five-year, $25.75 million ($5.15 million AAV) contract extension with the Flyers on Jan. 5, veteran center Christian Dvorak has been out-shot 75-60 at 5-on-5, according to Natural Stat Trick, while being out-scored 5-2.
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Linemates Trevor Zegras and Travis Konecny, who have gone equally cold, have struggled in lockstep, though Zegras, who earns favorable deployment when the team trails, has out-shot opponents 80-65 in the same timeframe.
By re-signing Dvorak, in addition to retaining other grey hairs like Nick Seeler, Konecny, Rasmus Ristolainen, and Garnet Hathaway, the Flyers have called it quits on a rebuild and have no intentions on racing with other cellar dwellers to the bottom.
But, if the Flyers are all-in on being a competitive team looking to reach the playoffs–they’ve already lost their playoff spot–they cannot be bad and boring. They are both.
The San Jose Sharks, who are still an objectively bad team hindered most by their island of misfit toys defense core, have given Macklin Celebrini the keys to the car, and it’s made them one of the NHL’s most entertaining teams.
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Celebrini, still just 19, has 24 goals and 71 points in 47 games this season after recording 25 goals and 63 points in 70 games last season.
He also has his Sharks in a playoff spot.
Flyers starlet Matvei Michkov, as you’ll recall, finished his rookie campaign with more goals than Celebrini did, more games played notwithstanding.
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That same Michkov has seen his average ice time drop two full minutes from 16:41 to 14:41 under Tocchet, who has demanded the Russian sensation adapt his style to the system and not vice versa.
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Everyone knew when Michkov was drafted seventh overall in 2023 that he was not a plus skater but was an exceptional proprietor of offense attacking angles from his favored right wing and creating plays out of thin air.
The difference now is that the 21-year-old is playing left wing, right wing, with bit-part bottom-sixers, with top-sixers, on the top power play unit, or on no power play unit at all.
He’s being thrown around and utilized with extreme indifference, but for some, it is a big shock and concern that Michkov has just 24 points in 45 games because of that.
But, hey, when you don’t score, maybe you can contribute in other ways, right?
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How about Michkov dropping the gloves and fighting Blake Lizotte on behalf of Denver Barkey, someone he’s known for maybe a few weeks, in that 6-3 blowout loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night.
In the last week, Michkov and Nikita Grebenkin, who have a combined 166 NHL games between them, got into fights standing up for and trying to inspire their teammates. But where are the leaders?
Hathaway, Seeler, Konecny, and Sean Couturier have seen this movie–the midseason collapse–before, and it is happening again.
The young guns are showing as much fight as possible in their limited opportunities, while the details, fight, and overall basic fundamentals for much of the rest of the team have completely fallen to the wayside.
NHL Trade Rumors: Should the Flyers Pursue Dougie Hamilton?
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Just play a 1-1-3 neutral zone and keep three to four bodies above the puck like the Tampa Bay Lightning did on Monday night and the Flyers have been completely stifled offensively.
The Flyers are not fun to watch, not hard to play against, and not disciplined. They are not committed to making the playoffs or rebuilding, and they are not bad enough to secure a top draft pick as they had last season.
Instead, the Flyers are very much a team adrift, going through the motions until the 2026 Winter Olympics come along.
Only the team can dig itself out of this relentless cycle of greyness and mediocrity, but if they fail to do so, there would be enough sample size to deduce that the heart of the team, the core, as currently constructed, is simply incapable without further changes.
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The Flyers’ next opponents–the New York Rangers–just openly penned a letter to their fans admitting they have been terrible all season and will make a bunch of trades in order to try and course-correct, and that same Rangers team still has more regulation and overtime wins (18) than the Flyers do (17) this season.
If the Flyers can’t take down New York in their own building on Saturday afternoon, the organization will be forced to double back and reconsider their blueprint for success for this season, the offseason, and beyond.
