The Philadelphia Flyers are a team that did a lot of their winning last season by committee. But which players could lead them in major individual categories during 2024-25, helping the most as they attempt to clinch the postseason?
Goals: Owen Tippett
If we adjust for ice time, Owen Tippett would have actually tied Travis Konecny in goals last season with 33. The former ultimately finished with 28, but he seems poised to overtake his fellow winger in 2024-25. Though he’s not exactly young at 25 years of age, it feels like a breakout is on the horizon.
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Tippett shot the puck more than any Flyer last season but struggled with his accuracy. While that’s something to work on, he often forced some looks because nothing else was there. The addition of Matvei Michkov to the Flyers’ offense could help spread the talent wealth and thus make it less of a burden on Tippett to try and make something out of nothing.
Tippett is a very talented player, so a 40-goal showing isn’t impossible. He’ll have to play a bit more but the potential is definitely not lacking with him.
Assists: Jamie Drysdale
Now, this one is out there a bit. However, I do believe in the potential of defenseman Jamie Drysdale, whose biggest concern throughout his young career has been one thing: health. He played through a sports hernia when he joined the Flyers in January of last season, which was clearly never going to allow him to perform at his fullest. Couple that with the adjustment period it takes to go to another team and the age factor (he turned 22 in April), we really haven’t seen his true form in Philadelphia yet. But that’s about to change.
Drysdale was very good in terms of power play impact, he just had ghastly finishing from his linemates. An added layer of talent with Michkov should bring more fruitful results on that front, but being healthy this time around should create an even more dramatic effect. From an offensive standpoint, Drysdale is one of the more talented defensemen in the league—betting on him isn’t that outlandish.
Drysdale is a smart player whose athleticism should take him far at both ends of the ice, but particularly on offense. His career-best in terms of assists was 28 back in 2021-22, which would have already been near the top of the Flyers’ list in 2023-24 (35 was the highest). Philadelphia doesn’t have a true playmaking forward on the team who will notch far more assists than goals—that will be Drysdale’s path. If he can hit around 40, that could most definitely be enough to put him on top.
Points: Travis Konecny
I have a few players in the running for points (Tippett and Michkov) but this one goes to Konecny. He’s led the Flyers in points in four of their last five seasons and has, by far, been head coach John Tortorella‘s favorite player since he took over back in 2022-23. Although we can expect back-to-back campaigns hovering around the 20-minute mark of per-game ice time to decrease a bit with the arrival of someone like Michkov, Konecny has been so usage-heavy that it’s a failing bet to go for anyone but the 27-year-old.
Throughout his career, Konecny has tended to be hot over the first few months of the season points-wise but tails off once the late stages arrive. His durability in this fashion and his ability to stay on the ice (he has not played a full slate since 2018-19) will be important to monitor. If he can be a more consistent player throughout his campaign and hold up in the months of March and April, Konecny could run away with the points title. If not, there’s a chance he’s dethroned—I personally don’t think that’ll be the case.
Plus-Minus: Morgan Frost
Plus-minus is a tough stat to predict, but I’ll do it here anyway and say center Morgan Frost comes out on top. Since the Flyers are a committee team of sorts and don’t get all of their output from one place, I don’t expect anyone to dominate the competition here.
Frost seems like a fair bet due to being tied for fourth on the team in 2023-24 with a plus-4 rating, but also assuming those around him regress. Nick Seeler was the only player ahead of Frost (plus-9 rating) who is still on the roster but seems likely to play a majority of his minutes with Drysdale—that will be a real process. As for Konecny, the only player tied, he was minus-2 at even strength but his unprecedented six shorthanded tallies helped him boost the rating by a few notches. We should expect some solid shorthanded scoring again, but he was on the ice for eight goals on the penalty kill—that was tied for second in the NHL.
If Frost can increase his even-strength ice time from a meager eighth among Flyer forwards, his plus-minus could see an increase. At the same time, not being used for empty-net situations will work in his favor—Konecny had nearly double the ice time when the Orange and Black pulled their goaltender at the end of the game and, as a result, was minus-6 to Frost’s minus-1 in that scenario. These are somewhat minor things, but there are reasons to believe the centerman can lead the team.
Hits: Garnet Hathaway
Even with enforcer Nicolas Deslauriers playing 60 games last season, a mark I don’t believe he’ll reach in 2024-25, Garnet Hathaway was the team’s leader in hits by a whopping 138. Unless there is a long-term injury of some kind, the hits category seems like the biggest guarantee. One man owns it, and he got a two-year, $2.4 million average cap-hit extension partially as a result.
Hathaway isn’t skilled or flashy but he is excellent defensively and spent most of his time in the offensive zone. This helps because it’s easier to register hits as a winger in the offensive zone than in the defensive zone, due to the fact that one side wants to forecheck while the other is focused on helping get the puck out of harm’s way. Hathaway should continue to be the same effective bottom-six forward he was for the Orange and Black heading into 2024-25.
Blocks: Nick Seeler
For those who were paying attention last season, it might surprise you that Cam York wasn’t too far off from Seeler’s block total. Even with 652 fewer minutes of ice time, the latter was still superior—the tough-as-nails defender blocked 205 shots.
Seeler has been excellent over the past two seasons for the Orange and Black, which is a fascinating revelation as he’s not the most talented player around and only played in 12 NHL contests from 2019-20 through 2020-21. He has emerged as a vital defensive piece in Philadelphia, possessing grit and brilliant chance-prevention skills. Blocked shots are a huge part of his game, so expect that to continue even if he blocks himself into an injury like he did in 2023-24.
Goaltending Leader: Sam Ersson
Instead of predicting individual stats for goaltenders, I’ll just put everything in one category. We can expect 24-year-old Sam Ersson to start a bit more than 50 games if health permits it and lead the way between the pipes in almost all major statistics. Backup Ivan Fedotov is an interesting wildcard, but it’s Ersson’s net—he showed some promise in 2023-24.
When Ersson got a cooled but consistent role with the Orange and Black last season, he was terrific. It’s only when he was playing too little or far too much that the wheels fell off. That first part won’t be an issue, while Fedotov seems to be the solution for that second dilemma (even if he sees some struggles). There’s a lot of potential with the 24-year-old entering his sophomore campaign.
The Flyers enter a 2024-25 season full of excitement and possibility. They might not contend for the Stanley Cup but playoff hockey could be in their future if the right things click.
Stats courtesy of Natural Stat Trick
