The calendar year of 2023 is almost over, and wow, was it a busy one for the Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers may not have had the most successful year of any team in the NHL (although it certainly wasn’t the worst, either). However, few teams can match the sheer chaos and headlines generated by the Flyers over the last 12 months.
Since January 2023, the Flyers *deep breath* fired their general manager, made seven trades, drafted in the first round twice (including once in the top 10), changed their jerseys, completed one forgettable season and started a promising one, and that’s just scratching the surface. So, with New Year’s Day looming, we’ll revisit all of the bad, the ugly and the occasionally good things that happened to the Flyers in 2023. Given all that happened, we will break this up into two parts, starting with the year’s first half.
Flyers in January
This was when the 2022-23 Flyers peaked. Philadelphia began the month 5-1-0 with wins over bubble playoff teams like the Anaheim Ducks, Buffalo Sabres and Washington Capitals (twice). The Flyers cooled off a bit as January progressed but finished the month with a solid 8-4-2 record.
Whether or not that was a good thing is debatable. Remember where the Flyers were at this point. The word “rebuild” was still taboo, and most of the team’s top young talent remained in the minors or at least weren’t being used in prominent NHL roles, although that was slowly starting to change.
The most notable moment of the month was on Jan. 17, and not for good reasons. That was the Flyers’ annual Pride Night, which included specially designed warm-up jerseys. But when warm-ups began, someone was missing — defenseman Ivan Provorov, who boycotted warm-ups to avoid wearing the jersey.
“I respect everybody, and I respect everybody’s choices. My choice is to stay true to myself and my [Russian Orthodox] religion,” Provorov said after the game (from ‘Inside Ivan Provorov’s Pride Night snub and the Flyers’ organizational fallout’, The Athletic, Jan. 20, 2023).
Provorov’s decision not only created conflict amongst the fanbase but opened up a Pandora Box’s when it came to NHL specialty events. Several other players boycotted their teams’ Pride Nights, leading the league to decide to ban unique jerseys not just for Pride Nights but for all themed games, including the beloved Hockey Fights Cancer sweaters. The event also highlighted dysfunction within the Flyers organization, as not everyone was on the same page with Provorov’s plans and how to handle the situation.
A crossroads was nearing for the Flyers, but there was still plenty of time left in the season. With the team playing reasonably well, and on the faintest outskirts of playoff contention — they ended the month 21-21-9, six points out of a playoff spot but 13th in the Eastern Conference — those decisions could be kicked down the road. But only a little bit.
Flyers in February
It took less than a week for things to start to change. The day before the team returned from the All-Star break, the Flyers released a letter to their Inside Edge season ticket holders penned in the name of John Tortorella. It didn’t contain the word rebuild in it. But then again, neither did the letter the New York Rangers sent to their fans before the 2018 trade deadline, even though both signaled a similar future-focused pivot.
“The development of our young players is absolutely crucial for our future… I’m not going to lie to you — and I want to be clear about this — we’re not there yet. This year was the first step in building the future of the Flyers and restoring our reputation as one of the most respected teams in hockey,” the letter said.
Philadelphia’s defensive game completely cratered as February progressed. Over their last six games of the month, they allowed four or more goals five times, including six-plus on three occasions. A nightmare 1-3-0 trip through western Canada and Seattle, where they were outscored 19-7, ended any short-term optimism. If that didn’t do it, being shelled 7-0 in the final game of the month by the New Jersey Devils certainly did.
The long-term future of two players, in particular, started to be called into question: Travis Sanheim and Joel Farabee. The former was a healthy scratch for a game against his hometown Calgary Flames, the culmination of growing frustration from Tortorella. The latter was included in Frank Seravalli’s top trade targets after rumors that Farabee was displeased with his role amid a disappointing season leaked, leading to contentious comments from Tortorella directed at Farabee’s agent.
It was clear the Flyers were shifting away from any hopes of succeeding in the short-term. With the trade deadline looming on March 3, the only question was how different the team would look in a month.
Flyers in March
The trade deadline turned into a dud for the Flyers. Not only did management not make the big splash fans were hoping for, holding onto Farabee, Sanheim, Travis Konecny, and other big names, general manager Chuck Fletcher received tons of flack for not being able to trade the expiring contract of James van Riemsdyk. The only moves the Flyers made were dealing Patrick Brown to the Ottawa Senators for a 6th-round pick and Zack MacEwen to the Los Angeles Kings for a 5th-round pick and Brendan Lemieux, who would have a forgettable 18-game Flyers career unfold over the final six weeks of the season.
Not being able to move van Riemsdyk led to the collapse of any remaining faith in Fletcher — not just from the fans but from ownership as well. Exactly one week after the deadline, Fletcher was fired from his post as GM and president of hockey operations. His tenure got off to an excellent start, as he trimmed the fat from the disappointing 2018-19 team and made big changes that led to the team’s first playoff series win in eight years the following season. Over his last three years, though, the Flyers finished 19th, 29th and 26th.
Fletcher’s tenure confirmed the failure of numerous once highly-touted prospects added during Ron Hextall’s run as Fletcher’s predecessor. It also saw the end of the careers of franchise faces such as Wayne Simmonds, Shayne Gostisbehere, Jakub Voracek, and, most notably, Claude Giroux. Except for Giroux’s early years, none of those players ever came close to winning a Stanley Cup with the Flyers.
In Fletcher’s place came Danny Brière, who earned the promotion to interim GM after a year as special assistant to the GM. More organizational changes would come later in the month, as Comcast Spectacor chairman and Flyers governor Dave Scott announced his retirement on March 27, with Philadelphia local Dan Hilferty taking his place. Scott had been with Comcast Spectacor since 2013, dating back to Paul Holmgren’s tenure as GM.
On and off the ice, the shift toward a rebuild — yes, the team was willing to admit it now — was well underway. The 24-year-olds Owen Tippett and Morgan Frost were tied for the team’s scoring lead in March. Tippett was second on the team in ice time in March with Noah Cates, Farabee, and Frost right behind him among forwards. The 2020 1st-rounder Tyson Foerster received his first NHL call-up, notching seven points in eight games. Veterans such as Scott Laughton and Kevin Hayes played lesser roles to make way for the next generation of Flyers.
Flyers in April
For the third consecutive season, April came and went without playoff hockey in the Wells Fargo Center. The Flyers finished 31-38-13, a marginal improvement from their 25-46-11 mark in 2021-22. That record put the Flyers in line for the seventh-overall pick, although they would have to wait until May 8 for the Draft Lottery to confirm their exact pick.
Each of the team’s top-five scorers in their eight games this month was 24 years old or younger. Defenseman Adam Ginning, a 2017 2nd-round pick, also made his NHL debut after a strong season with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Ginning wasn’t the defenseman most in the spotlight, though, as Tony DeAngelo made news after being healthy scratched for the final five games of the season.
The rebuild was beginning, and with it, so was the accompanying de-build. Philadelphia’s final game of the season, a 5-4 overtime win over the Chicago Blackhawks on April 13, would be the final game for Provorov, Hayes, DeAngelo, and others as a Flyer. It wasn’t all negative, though, as Konecny scored twice in the finale to reach 30 goals for the first time in a season. But it was a good thing to see the 2022-23 season set to bed — partially to get away from the ugly moments that plagued it and partially to move closer to the brighter future the Flyers are hoping for.
Flyers in May
Typically, May is a quiet month for teams who aren’t in the playoffs. Usually, it’s a month for lurking in the shadows to put together a plan to execute at the draft and in free agency.
The Flyers didn’t get that memo. On May 8, the ping pong balls locked them into the No. 7 selection, no higher or lower than they were slated to be based on their regular-season finish. That was ordinary enough. But the seismic headlines came just two days later when the Flyers announced Keith Jones as their new president of hockey operations.
The Jones hiring was the main thing to come during May, but it gave plenty for fans to talk about. Those against the move saw it as another example of the old Flyers doing the same old Flyers things, hiring another former player to their front office to join Brière… another former player (Brière had the interim tag removed in conjunction with the Jones hiring as well). But Jones brings plenty of valuable tools and experience to the table, and he spoke similarly to Brière, assuring that the Flyers wouldn’t rush things and build the team back into a contender the right way.
Flyers in June
June brought about the first big moves of the Brière-Jones era. For the first time since 2017, the Flyers traded for a 1st-round pick. To gain that, along with a bundle of other assets, the Flyers said goodbye to Provorov, the No. 7 pick of the 2015 Draft. Provorov was immensely successful in his first few years with the Flyers but plateaued in the early 2020s, and by all accounts, he wasn’t exactly beloved within the locker room.
Brière’s first trade as an NHL GM certainly wasn’t a simple one. There’s nothing like a three-team, eight-player deal to make your opening splash running a team. The Columbus Blue Jackets were interested in Provorov, but his $6.75 million cap hit was too rich for their blood. So, Brière got the Los Angeles Kings to retain 30% of Provorov’s contract. It required him to take on the bad contract of Cal Petersen and the perceived bad contract of Sean Walker. But now that the Flyers were in a full-fledged rebuild, that made perfect sense. The Kings also included an intriguing prospect in Helge Grans and a 2024 2nd-round pick in the deal, while Columbus also parted ways with a 2nd-rounder themselves.
So far, the deal looks excellent for the Flyers. Brière used the 1st-rounder to take Oliver Bonk, No. 22 overall in the 2023 Draft, who looks like a fixture of Philadelphia’s future top-four. Walker hasn’t just bounced back but is thriving with the team. He should net at least a 2nd-round pick if the Flyers decide to trade him at this year’s deadline. Provorov has been good with Columbus but is hardly the fringe Norris contender he peaked at in Philadelphia, and the Blue Jackets look nowhere close to returning to contention, which bodes well for the status of that future 2nd-round pick the Flyers will get from them.
Brière’s second trade of the month was a smaller one, although it still included a big name. Hayes may have been an All-Star and delivered his second-highest-scoring season, but it had been clear for a while that Tortorella didn’t see him as a fit. The Flyers were also close to making a blockbuster trade with the St. Louis Blues that would have shipped Sanheim out days before his no-trade-clause and eight-year, $50 million extension kicked in. But Torey Krug wouldn’t waive his no-movement clause, leading to the Flyers dumping Hayes (at 50% salary retained) to the Blues for just a 6th-round pick. Hayes is scoring at a solid rate in St. Louis, but his defensive concerns remain. Six months later, the Flyers are still probably fine with this trade.
Days before the draft, the Flyers made another big change, although this one was purely cosmetic. The team switched up its home and away jerseys for the first time in over a decade, returning to the classic burnt orange shade of the 1990s, along with other minor tweaks.
But perhaps the most important day of the Flyers’ 2023 year, if not their overall rebuild, was the draft. Bonk at No. 22 was a solid pick. The Flyers took a couple of intriguing goalies shortly after in Carson Bjarnsson (No. 51) and Egor Zavagrin (No. 87). Denver Barkey (No. 95) and Alex Ciernik (No. 120) look like potential steals.
However, there is no player in the organization more important to the team’s long-term success than Matvei Michkov. The star Russian forward fell to No. 7 due in large part to concerns about Russia’s geopolitical situation and how quickly Michkov will be able to come over. But the Flyers took the big swing they needed to, and Michkov is living up to the hype in his draft-plus-one season, scoring at a historic 0.87 points-per-game rate (from ‘Matvei Michkov: A look at the Flyers’ top prospect from inside the KHL locker room,’ PHLY Sports, Dec. 27, 2023). If/when Michkov turns pro, he has the chance to be one of the best Flyers ever and carry the team to Stanley Cup contention.
Flyers Year in Review: First Half
Considering the Flyers entered 2023 holding out hope against hope that what they had was fine, the fact that they accepted and implemented some of the changes they needed to is a sweeping success. The organization is younger and more talented than it was before. That’s exactly what should be happening during a rebuild, and that’s the case right now in Philadelphia.
Related: 5 Blueprints for Navigating a Successful NHL Rebuild
Tortorella was always coaching the Flyers like a team that needed time to be a winner. The implementation of the Brière-Jones management duo, with Hilferty overseeing the operation, brings a level of cohesion necessary for the plan to have a chance at succeeding. There are no guarantees, of course — plenty of teams have struggled to build into a winner, and a poorly executed rebuild could set the Flyers back even further. Yet, as we’ll see in the second half of the 2023 recap, good things may just be starting to happen for the Flyers after all.
