Heading into a new Philadelphia Flyers season we tend to lean into the optimism. No games have been played yet so we can imagine anything. Training camp hasn’t even started yet so we can imagine a young up-and-coming player grabbing an opportunity with both hands and winning over the coaching staff, so that we have something even more new and more exciting on the roster. Anything is possible.
We’ll cover a whole lot of that in the coming weeks, but let’s dive down into the muck of negativity. Pouncing into the pool of pessimism. Jumping to the conclusion that we will not be jolly or joyful. All that stuff.
What are some of the worst things that could possibly happen to the Flyers next season? Something that you can think of that could possibly drag the entire team down and ruin several months of hard work and lose the season just because of a couple little things didn’t go to plan.
We’ve thought of a couple.
A goaltending injury bug
Instantly, this would be the worst scenario and would honestly be an instant killshot to any hopes and dreams we have for this Flyers team.
As it would for really any other team in the NHL, a major goaltending injury could derail the campaigns of even the best teams in the world. But for the Flyers specifically, it could be detrimental.
We just saw how heavily the Flyers leaned on Dan Vladar to get them to the playoffs and it was his consistency and reliability that caused them to be able to have that late-season surge, even if he was just doing the exact same thing but it was the skaters in front of him finally actually scoring some goals. They can live with him missing a couple games here and there, since they did just last season, but if there is some sort of lengthy absence, then they could be doomed.
Joseph Woll is a perfect acquisition for this Flyers team and he has really solidified this tandem as one of the best in the league if they’re at the top of their game. But for the former Leaf, consistency has been an issue and especially when he has to start a whole lot of games in a row. That’s why him in more of a backup role in Philadelphia is perfect for him. If he were to be forced to be the No. 1 starter for over a month, and then the Flyers would have to call up the likes of Aleksei Kolosov as the backup, that is a tandem that would strike some fear into the hearts of Flyers fans.
Even if it was Woll that was to miss a large amount of time, Kolosov as Vladar’s backup is just another Sam Ersson situation and for every 1 in 5 games, we would be absolutely terrified. Vladar would probably then be run into the ground, increasing the likelihood of him getting injured, and we’re a little tweak away from having Kolosov and just whatever depth goalie Danny Briere could trade a sixth-round pick for, being the Flyers tandem in a very important season. Bad!
Matvei Michkov continues to disappoint
We had to do it. While it isn’t as detrimental as a major injury to Dan Vladar would be to the Flyers season, Matvei Michkov not taking a step away from his disappointing sophomore season and still having the same issues would be something nightmarish.
If Michkov doesn’t score more, while also not skating as well as he can, and just not doing all the little things that coach Rick Tocchet wants him to do to warrant a bigger opportunity, then we would have to be having uncomfortable conversations. For it to happen two seasons in a row — Michkov to be this 50-point winger who has been solid (his defensive metrics improved last season) but just doesn’t have enough going on to play above the likes of Travis Konecny or Owen Tippett or Tyson Foerster or fellow youngster Porter Martone, then maybe there is just a limited ceiling.
Even just having the same sort of season, where we can squint and see that he’s doing more things the “right way”, but something has kept him from showing off his creativity and playmaking at the same rate as his rookie season, would be a disappointment. Giving us a larger sample of him being a solid middle-six scorer than a young hotshot who could score on any shift, would just lower our expectations for the player and therefore the future of this team.
That’s enough of that though. We need to shake off that depressing thought. Michkov is going to score 80 points and look like an All-Star.
Veterans underperform by a whole lot
Hey, what about more players being bad?
The Flyers do have a lot of young talent who could eventually lead this team through the season, but right now, it’s the veterans who have powered this whole thing. Namely, Travis Sanheim and Travis Konecny. The defenseman is continuing to raise his stock in the hockey world and should now be widely considered as a true top-pairing defenseman on any team, and the spunky winger led the Flyers in scoring, again, while being the true emotional heart of this team.
It would be a tragedy if both Konecny and Sanheim were to have down seasons. Even if we throw other situations like Christian Dvorak reverting back to his bottom-six center self after a career season, or Sean Couturier looking more like he did with a back injury than a superpowered fourth-liner, or newcomer Noel Acciari looking like a mistake, or Rasmus Ristolainen and Nick Seeler looking unplayable — it’s all terrible.
While other young teams, such as the Montreal Canadiens, have their core as their young talent, the Flyers are more reliant on the older folks. If Sanheim isn’t his usual self, then what is this blue line? Is Konecny going to sink even further if he has a down season and make that contract look dreadful? It would just create nasty conversations even more detrimental to this team than anything else.
There is the possibility of the Flyers having an overnight change of the guard. If the likes of Trevor Zegras, Matvei Michkov, Tyson Foerster, Porter Martone, Jamie Drysdale, and Cam York all take a collective step forward and put themselves on the same level (or beyond, if they are already there) as those veterans, then sure, the Flyers could handle a slight step back from the two Travis’s. But that would still raise questions about what it means for the future of this team and if further roster management is needed.
That’s maybe the possible scenario where it is livable, but as the roster stands right now and with how we understand the current talents of the young players on this team, Sanheim and Konecny (especially the former) are a necessity to this team if the Flyers want to achieve anything next season.
