The Flyers find themselves with a slight role reversal in the standings after 16 games, with more wins and fewer losses through roughly 20 per cent of the season compared to last year. A lot of that can be attributed to the fact Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar has, for the most part, been sensational. Or at least a heck of a lot better than what was primarily offered up in 2024-25. But so far, the Flyers under Rick Tocchet are showing some similar signs (we think) of what troubled Philadelphia under John Tortorella and Brad Shaw. Namely, they are having a difficult time generating or sustaining offense in 5-on-5 situations.
Naturally, some of that problem could be due to Tocchet and his staff implementing a new system with different concepts. It’s not that Tocchet is handing out “how to score” manuals to the 12 forwards and six blueliners. It’s just that he’s trying to establish some basic foundational systems it seems before trying to address what is becoming a bit more apparent with each passing game. Granted, some of the league’s better teams — as Edmonton did on Wednesday night — are going to take it to Philadelphia based on their depth and talent. That’s going to happen in the course of a season. As well, some nights (or afternoons) the Flyers are going to look like they hit the snooze button. But so far, there seems to be gaps in generating chances. Whether it’s simply hanging on for a period or half a game to find their footing and start proverbially punching back, or hitting a brick wall in the neutral zone and chasing the puck and the game, the Flyers aren’t a goal-generating juggernaut. The offense sometimes is offensive to viewers, fans, and probably the higher-ups.
So we’ll attempt to take a more in-depth look to see if the 2025-26 production, offensive statistics, and underlying metrics are better, on par or possibly worse than what John Tortorella’s crew was able to muster up through the same sample size. None of the stats are individual based, but an overall look at the team. What they are doing better, doing the same, or aren’t doing as well now. Note that the statistics are based primarily on rates per 60 minutes.
What hasn’t changed much
Through 16 games the goal total has not changed one iota. The Flyers scored 44 goals through that amount of time in 2024-25, and after the Edmonton game, they have exactly 44 goals also heading into St. Louis on Friday night. That’s an average of 2.75 goals per game. So while Tocchet’s crew has changed its personnel somewhat and added some talent in Trevor Zegras, so far there hasn’t been a dramatic increase or bump in goals. It’s no better, no worse. Philadelphia’s biggest goal output through the first 16 last year was against Minnesota where they scored seven (Sean Couturier’s hat trick and five-point game). They scored four or more goals on four different occasions. Meanwhile, the Flyers of 2025-26 have scored five goals three times. Five times they’ve scored four or more goals. The Flyers this year also have yet to be shutout, whereas last year it happened twice by now.
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