The Philadelphia Flyers were a pleasant surprise despite not making the playoffs last year. They went into the year expecting to be one of the worst teams in the league.
They were far from that. They held a playoff spot in the Metropolitan Division for a long time, but lost it in the final weeks of the season. Nevertheless, they had reason to be proud.
All this success was to be expected and they didn’t even have Matvei Michkov in attendance. For a minute, things looked pretty good.
However, since the turn of the year 2024, some things have happened that make the situation seem even bleaker than it did at the end of 2023.
The Flyers were forced to trade one of their top talents, Cutter Gauthier. He no longer wanted to be a part of the Flyers organization, so they sent him away.
Gauthier was sent to the Anaheim Ducks as part of a deal that brought Jamie Drysdale to Philly. Drysdale is a nice young offensive defenseman, but losing Gauthier is tough. He was incredible for Boston College in 2023-24 and has a bright NHL future ahead of him.
In addition, the Flyers made a huge mistake in the 2024 NHL Draft. They traded up a spot and the Minnesota Wild selected Zeev Buium from Denver. He is an incredible young defenseman who will be a star once he gets to the NHL.
One pick later, the Flyers took Jett Luchanko, who is not considered as promising a talent as Buium. There were actually a few other good players who would have been more exciting than Luchanko.
In the summer, they didn’t trade Travis Konecny, but signed him to a long-term contract. They also gave him a lot of money, which is a risky move. At the end of the deal, it could look terrible on their books.
The situation surrounding Carter Hart was out of control. They now have to figure out what they are going to do to get a goalie of the future like they expected Hart to be.
The Ryan Johansen trade was a mistake. The situation there is going to be messy before it gets sorted out. They were right, but he didn’t want to go there and has issues with the way they do business.
Let’s not forget that Nolan Patrick never became a player for them despite being selected second in the 2017 NHL Draft. These losing streaks/bad decisions are slowly piling up.
The Flyers have the foundation for something good, but because of these mistakes/unfortunate moments, it may take a while for them to take the next step. If they hadn’t selected Matvei Michkov seventh overall in the 2023 NHL Draft, they would be in even worse shape.
They have to take their future into their own hands again and work towards something good for themselves. This requires good development and attitude within the company. It won’t be easy, but it is doable.
