The All-Star Break is finally upon us, and it’s a good time to take a step back and look at the big picture for the Philadelphia Flyers. While they are riding a five-game losing streak — all losses being in regulation — they have a 25-19-6 record that gives them a four-point advantage in third place in the Metropolitan Division. The month of January has been one of the craziest in franchise history, and it has completely altered the future of the team. What does it look like now?
Revisiting the Drysdale Trade
It feels as though it was ages ago that the Cutter Gauthier for Jamie Drysdale trade went down, but, yes, that was in January. As expected, it’s been a mixed bag performance-wise for the defenseman, who has racked up a goal and two assists in eight games. He’s essentially been boom or bust, having some spectacular games and also some not-so-great ones. Thankfully, he is still just 21 and has lots of time to find his groove.
Since the trade occurred, nothing has really changed. Drysdale is still the same high-upside defender, but it’s starting to set in that the Flyers have themselves an elite skater. Again, this is something that was already known, but his effortlessness in skating is something the Flyers simply have not seen in a long, long time.
The right-handed defender has had some issues in his zone at times, but that’s a big part of the process. He’s had some tough minutes typically playing on the first pair, so it’s no surprise that this is happening. While many of the defenders on the team have had several months if not years to learn what the Flyers are all about, he’s only had a few weeks and is younger than anyone on the team. Since defensemen typically take a little longer to truly break out, there shouldn’t be many worries with him.
Drysdale has the potential to be the best defenseman in the Flyers’ system. For him to be playing in the NHL at his age is impressive, but the intangibles he possesses are what makes him so inspiring. Once he is finally able to settle down and learn how to play the system to the best of his abilities, that’s when he should start to flourish. It might take several seasons for him to reach a truly elite level, but when that time comes he could be one of the most electrifying defensemen in the league — his ceiling is very high.
Getting Drysdale leaves the Flyers with some decisions to make on draft day. Instead of having to draft a defenseman like it almost surely seemed like they’d be doing considering their previous lack of right-handed defense prospect-wise, they are now in a position where they have no excuses to not select the player they feel is the best available. More and more the 2024 class is looking like a stacked one. Wherever the Flyers will be selecting with both their own and their draft choice via the Florida Panthers in Round 1, they could really land big. They could trade up, or even trade down — it’ll be an exciting couple of days.
Some Big Extensions
Also in January, forwards Owen Tippett and Ryan Poehling received extensions from the Flyers. The former for eight seasons and the latter for two, they are both in their mid-20s and will be a part of the roster in 2024-25. Locking up both of them suggests the Flyers have a plan for their money in mind, getting the deals done so quickly.
Making $6.2 million on the cap hit through 2031-32, Tippett will be a fixture of the Flyers moving forward. They have a lot of good prospects around the same age, so it makes sense to pay him now — that number won’t seem like much in a few seasons, especially with several entry-level contracts on the roster.
As for Poehling, his contract isn’t all that interesting although it was nice to see him get a decent payday. His niche in the NHL is now as a solid penalty-killing bottom-six forward, and those aren’t particularly easy to come by. Players like him are valuable and worth extending, even if it does cost Philadelphia $1.9 million each season.
The Hart Situation; How Briere Can Manage
Considering Carter Hart’s situation and what we know, he may never play for the Flyers — or hockey — again. That said, it alters the Flyers’ plans quite a bit if that’s the case. While it hasn’t seemed like he was the goaltender of the future for a while with Alexei Kolosov, Yegor Zavragin, and Sam Ersson lighting it up, losing the potential to trade him negatively alters the rebuild.
Related: Flyers Don’t Need Carter Hart to Be Franchise Goalie
Instead of getting premier assets to ship him off at some point, that might be taken away. However, the Flyers are in a good spot in terms of draft capital and have used it well. The value they might have gotten in a trade can be made up for through smart asset management.
General manager (GM) Daniel Briere has had it really tough, first with the Gauthier situation and now this. He inherited both of these issues, he did not create them himself. He’s kept his head up high through adversity, and that makes him the perfect GM for the Flyers.
There may have been some doubts early on due to inexperience, but Briere has proven he is a genuinely intelligent hockey mind and has emotional intelligence, as well. His players know what the team is about and are well aware that they might be sold off. That’s the nature of the game, but he nor head coach John Tortorella have been shy about it.
Looking at the Prospects
At this point, the Flyers know what they have with a good chunk of their prospects. There’s obviously still time for development, but a lot of players more or less can be put into a tier for what they will become. Rankings can certainly be objective, but each of them can be put into tiers based on their potential: Superstar, star, valuable contributor, and depth piece. Here is that visualized:
| Tier 1: Superstar | Tier 2: Star | Tier 3: Valuable Contributor | Tier 4: Depth |
| F Matvei Michkov | D Oliver Bonk | F Denver Barkey | F Massimo Rizzo |
| F Samu Tuomaala | F Alex Ciernik | D Hunter McDonald | |
| D Emil Andrae | G Yegor Zavragin | F Owen McLaughlin | |
| G Alexei Kolosov | D Ethan Samson | F Devin Kaplan | |
| D Carter Sotheran | F Alex Bump |
Again, rankings can be objective and a lot of players can be moved up or down a tier, but the table above is essentially what the Flyers are working with. That’s a good core for the most part, and some have taken steps up while others have taken steps down. Someone like Michkov gives the Flyers someone to build around, while pieces like Bonk, Andrae, Tuomaala, Kolosov, and even Barkey and Ciernik could prove to be valuable. Time will tell, but the prospect pool is looking fairly decent. A few more high-end players will likely help out a lot.
What the Trade Deadline Could Entail
The trade deadline is getting closer by the day, officially arriving on March 8. The candidates for trades should pretty much know who they are — any veteran or player with an expiring contract is on the block. The two names that should receive the most calls will be defenders Sean Walker and Nick Seeler, with the former being 29 and the latter being 30. They have had great campaigns, but both of them could see themselves moved.
The Tampa Bay Lightning have reportedly had interest in Walker, and they’d be right to acquire him. He can play second-pairing minutes at an elite level, but that doesn’t mean he moves the needle for a team like the Flyers — he could for a team like the Lightning that has had a few struggles on defense, however.
The market for players like Seeler, Walker, and even someone like Scott Laughton, who became expendable after another center was extended in Poehling, should all be relatively high. Each of them could fetch around a second-round pick, and those could be huge for trading up in the draft. It’s all but a guarantee that one of those three is gone, and it might be all of them.
The current losing streak aside, the Flyers have had their cake and eaten it too this season. The prospects look good, the team is much better than expected, and they have a few players that should garner interest at the trade deadline. Making the playoffs would be the cherry on top, but there’s still a long way to go before that time comes. They’ve started to build a nice culture, but soon it might be time to focus on the future rather than the present.
