2026 Elimination Eval: Philadelphia Flyers

It’s been a rough road for the Philadelphia Flyers ever since they lost to the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2010 Stanley Cup Final, with only three playoff series wins in the 16 years since, making the playoffs in just six of those seasons with one of those times coming during the infamous COVID Cup playoffs of 2020. Flyers fans have waited a long time to have a year they can look back on and feel good about, but this season finally brought that. You never want to see your team lose in the playoffs, let alone get swept, but their efforts in comparison to last season are a massive step in the right direction.

Expectations

The Flyers were the worst team in the Eastern Conference last season, so to say they were expected to finish top three in the Metropolitan Division would be a very warm take, to say the least. However, the plan was for the Flyers to take the next steps in their rebuild and start showing positive signs of a competitive future. Their first order of business in accomplishing that came at the end of last season when they let John Tortorella go and hired Rick Tocchet to be their head coach. 

Over the summer, the Flyers really didn’t make any major free agent signings that indicated such progress. They added veteran defenseman Noah Juulsen, who stuck around throughout the season, gave Christian Dvorak a significant one-year deal with a high AAV, and brought on Dan Vladar to be a part of their goaltending tandem. Dvorak’s game in recent years has been impacted by injury and, up to this point, Vladar had only really served in a backup role with the Calgary Flames. Both signings had a bit of a roll-of-the-dice quality to them, but both paid out incredibly well. 

On the trade front, the Flyers weren’t confidently in a playoff spot at the deadline, so the decisions they made weren’t indicators that they were aggressively buying or selling. They sent Nic Deslauriers to Carolina for a seventh round pick and traded Bobby Brink to Minnesota for David Jirieck, but their most impactful piece of business came over the summer when they acquired Trevor Zegras for Ryan Poehling and a pair of draft picks. Outside of that, they made some minor swaps including Samu Tuomaala for defenseman Chrsitian Kyrou, and Yegor Zamula for Philip Tomasino. 

Perhaps the most underrated move of the off-season was sending Ryan Ellis' contract to the San Jose Sharks in a cap dump move that brought them Carl Grundstrom, who played an important role for them throughout the season.

Series Recap

The Flyers opened the playoffs against the Pittsburgh Penguins in what was one of the most exciting on-paper match-ups in the first round. Prior to this year, the last time the “Battle of Pennsylvania” took place in the form of a playoff series was in 2018 when the Penguins came out on top four games to two in a series that sounded much closer than it was. The tables would turn significantly eight years later as the Flyers came out of the series by the same result after threatening to sweep after three games. 

Right off the bat, one of the difference makers in these playoffs for the Flyers was the youth movement. That became evident in game one as Porter Martone, who just signed with the team after the NCAA season came to an end, would score the game winning goal in a 3-2 win in Pittsburgh. Picking up right where he left off in game two, Martone opened the scoring in what went on to be a 3-0 Flyers win thanks to a 27 save shutout by Dan Vladar. 

For what it’s worth, this is what I had to say about Porter Martone ahead of his draft year: 

One of the more sizable players in this draft, Porter Martone screams Philadelphia Flyer. At 6-3 and 208 pounds, he’s tenacious, always hungry on pucks, tough to defend, and balances skill and physicality the way all 32 general managers want from their players. He has all the makings of a 16-game player, but can also be counted on to be a consistent point producer.

Game 3 and Game 6 of this series are neck-and-neck for the high moment of the series for Philly. Both wins came on home ice: one clinched the series officially, while the other felt like a statement win, with three unanswered goals from the Flyers in a six minute span in the second period after Evgeni Malkin scored early, that helped them regain control of the series. After the Flyers pulled off that comeback in Game 3 by a score of 5-2, they dropped the next two games, but secured the series on home ice in a 1-0 overtime win thanks to a goal from Cam York. It was another shutout for Vladar who stopped all of Pittsburgh’s 42 shots on goal. 

Then came the Carolina Hurricanes. For as much as the Hurricanes are known to play their insufferable, defensive, possession-heavy style, the Flyers shared similarities with the Ottawa Senators in the sense that they could potentially make for a difficult match-up. It only took Logan Stankoven—who has to be a frontrunner for the Conn Smythe Trophy right now—91 seconds to give Carolina a lead in the series. He picked up his second of the game late in the middle period after Jackson Blake gave the team some insurance to secure a 3-0 win in Game 1. 

Game 2 was the game changing moment of the series. The Flyers scored a pair of goals within the first five minutes of the opening period—the first came by way of a Jamie Drysdale power play goal, and the latter Sean Couturier's first of the playoffs—to establish a 2-0 lead. Had they been able to build or hold onto that lead, the series could still be going on today. Instead, Nikolaj Ehlers converted on a power play six minutes later and Seth Jarvis tied the game midway through the third. The game would be decided in overtime, and it was Taylor Hall who played the hero for Carolina, putting the Flyers down two games to none.

Game 3 was the low point of the series, and for the Flyers postseason as a whole. Jordan Staal picked up his first of the playoffs on a power play late in the first but Trevor Zegras tied it early in the second. Philly couldn't figure anything out in this one after that, as Jalen Chatfield regained Carolina's lead, and goals from Ehlers and Andrei Svechnikov put things out of reach.

Game 4 was another one decided in overtime, but once again the game belonged to Carolina. Tyson Foerster gave the Flyers an encouraging start and Alex Bump tied it back up for them in the third period. But that line of Stankoven-Blake-Hall remained superier as they had a hand in all three goals, including Blake's second of the night to win it five and a half minutes into overtime.

Prediction

As mentioned in the Penguins evaluation, we pretty much had all expected the Flyers to lose in round one of the playoffs. Once they drew the Hurricanes as their second round opponent, it was pretty obvious this would be the end of the road for them. But, even still, a second round exit in their return to the postseason is respectable. They shouldn't hang their heads too much as the Hurricanes look absolutely lethal right now and have a really good chance of going on to at least make it to the Cup Final, if they don't go on to win the whole thing.  

Was the Season a Success?

Without question, yes. The last decade and a half haven’t all been sunshine and rainbows, but to go from last in the conference to third in the division and making it to the second round is definitely a huge improvement. And, as a result, it was a successful season. You could even argue that making the playoffs would be a slight overachievement for this group considering how rough last season was. Flyers fans should be quite optimistic about their team’s future.

UFAs/RFAs

The Flyers have lots of business to tend to with UFAs as well as RFAs. Both Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale are pending RFAs in need of new contracts. Those two deals could be costly but are necessary for Philly moving forward. Beyond them, there’s defenseman Emil Andrae who will be due for a raise, backup goaltender Samuel Ersson, and depth forward Nikita Grebenkin. I expect all five of these players to get their qualifying offers and an extension sooner rather than later. 

On the UFA front, the Flyers have Carl Grundstrom, Luke Glendening, Rodrigo Abols, Garrett Wilson, and Noah Juulsen. I imagine all of them will hitthe open market, but wouldn’t be shocked if one or two of them re-up in Philly. For the right price, Grundstrom would be worth keeping around. While I don't think he'll be back with the Flyers, I do want to give Garret Wilson his flowers. It may have only been three games, but what a story clawing his way back to the NHL at the age of 35 after spending the last six years in the AHL.

Biggest Question Moving Forward

The Flyers biggest question right now might also help them answer some of their biggest question marks moving forward.

The future of Matvei Michkov is a big uncertainty. If Daniel Briere can find a way to pull off a trade that can bring the Flyers a young center with potential or perhaps another defenseman or goaltender, that would be huge for them. Michkov not panning out for them and spending several nights in the press box is not an ideal situation in the slightest. At the same time, this team is pretty set on the wings, so if they can swap him out for someone who fills a positional need, it’d be making the best of a bad situation. Whether it’s a change of scenery for a Kent Johnson or a Mason MacTavish, or another trade to add to their blueline or in the blue paint, there is a world in which “running Michkov out of town” could help them better shape out their lineup. 

Center depth and goaltending are two areas of concern for me. I like Dan Vladar, but you do have to wonder how confident you are moving forward with him as your starter. They still have both Samuel Ersson and Alexei Kolosov as pending RFAs, and some combination of those three moving forward could be solid enough. But if there’s a world in which they can improve at the position, you have to explore that option. The same goes for Christian Dvorak. He’s been a great fit in Philly, but is a one-two punch of him and Zegras enough to really build the team around, especially when you factor in all the injuries Dvorak has dealt with?

Lastly, a simple enough question for the Flyers moving forward is the one that asks if they are indeed for real. Based on what we’ve seen from them in these playoffs, they have what it takes to remain competitive moving forward. The question is, do they really have what it takes, or was this just a lucky run for them? 

Projected Lineup 

Foerster - Dvorak - Konecny
Tippett - Zegras* - Martone
Barkey - Cates - Michkov
Bump - Couturier - Hathaway?

Sanheim - Ristolainen
York - Drysdale*
Seeler - Andrae*
?

Vladar - Ersson* 

Next in line:

• Forwards: Jett Luchanko, Jack Nesbitt, Matthew Gard
• Defenseman:  Hunter McDonald, David Jirieck, Oliver Bonk, Christian Kyrou
• Goalies: Carson Bjarnason

(*-RFAs) (^-UFAs)

Final Thoughts

To be completely honest, the Flyers might be on their way to becoming a problem in the Eastern Conference.

If Zegras and Drysdale can help lead this team alongside Konecny, Sanheim, and Porter Martone, they’re going to have a really strong core who can help this team remain competitive moving forward. There are valid concerns about a 30-year-old Christian Dvorak—who just signed a five-year extension—being one of their top centers, not to mention the injury history of their captain, Sean Couturier. But if Trevor Zegras can remain a center in their top six and they can pick up at least one more promising young center—or get that from Denver Barkey—they’ll be in great shape moving forward.

The amount of young players who factored in or debuted in the playoffs (Martone, Barkey, Michkov, Alex Bump, Oliver Bonk, Jett Luchenko) shows just how set up they are for the future.