Flyers 25 Top Under 25 No.5: Owen Tippett

No.5 Owen Tippett, RW

2022-23 League/Team(s) : Philadelphia Flyers (NHL)

2022-23 Statistics : 77 GP, 27 G, 22 A, 49 PTS, 16 PIM, +/- -17

Age : 24

Acquired In : Trade with Florida, (2022)

How did Tippett’s 2022-23 season go? Is his stock trending up or down from where it was entering the year?

Owen Tippett came into the NHL with a high degree of expectations after being taken with the 10th overall pick in 2017; and in 2022, it looked as if he may have taken a major step towards being a true top-six forward.

In 2022, Tippett smashed his career highs in goals, assists, points, and games played, finally putting it all together in what was his first season when he showed a glimpse of the sky high potential he could reach. Tippett was given nearly 5 more minutes per game than he ever received in Florida, and blossomed into someone who looked like a legitimate threat.

His 27 goals ranked him second on the Flyers behind Travis Konecny, and his 49 points were good enough for third. Tippett really changed the way he was viewed as a prospect with last year, and while it was always pretty obvious that he was an NHL-quality player, he has never displayed this sort of talent over a long period of time.

In his 77 games with the Flyers last season he tallied 49 points, in his 94 career games with the Panthers, he only managed 33. His stock is rising once again.

What are we expecting from Tippett this season? What should we be looking for from him?

Tippett should once again see his role increase heading into 2023-24. He should be a mainstay on the Power Play and excel with his potent shot that he has shown throughout his time in Philadelphia, and with some veteran players leaving there are more spots for him to take on more responsibility.

Tippett will more than likely find himself among the Flyers most important forward options this coming season and will have every opportunity to take another step forward. The 30-goal mark should be in reach for him, and despite the lack of too many playmakers to get him the puck in dangerous areas, Tippett has shown that he can lead the rush by himself and finish well if given the space.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1645941124807245824 Tippett has shown himself to be capable of being more than just a guy with a heavy shot, and he\'s even shown flashes of some really promising playmaking ability as well. I think he should be aiming to become one of the top 3 scorers on the Flyers roster and nail down a full year of increased production.

How does Tippett fit in the Flyers’ rebuild? Is it likely he’s going to be a part of the next good Flyers team?

Tippett is one of the older players on this list, and this will be his last year eligible for it before he turns 25 next February. The Flyers rebuild will more than likely take another few years to truly start yielding competitive lineups, and by that point Tippett will be heading into the height of his prime years. He is also in the final year of a 2 year, 3 million dollar deal that he is definitely looking to get a hefty raise on for his next deal.

He is an RFA which means that the Flyers can take him to arbitration, but if he improves on the numbers he tallied a year ago, there is a very good chance he could be filing at anywhere from 5 to 6 million dollars over multiple years.

The Flyers will have other youngsters coming up who will need to be signed, and it remains unknown how GM Danny Briere feels about dishing out long-term contracts, especially for a player he did not trade for.

Nonetheless, keeping a 28-year old scoring forward with some experience to play alongside some younger pieces would definitely help, it\'s just a matter of how the front office views his potential future within the timeline. There is a chance Tippett leaves to find a long-term suitor who is willing to pay him a lot, but there is a decent chance that team is also the Flyers.

What do we think Tippett\'s ultimate NHL upside is, and how likely is it that he gets to something approaching that?

Tippett\'s peak upside could be a 40 goal scorer. It sounds like a bit of hyperbole to even say that, but with 27 in his first real season of consistent NHL action and playing time, it really isn\'t that far-fetched to say. He might end up just staying as a guy who sits in between the 25-30 mark, but even in that scenario his point tally should still rise as he starts to find chemistry groqing with some other young players like Joel Farabee, Noah Cates, and Morgan Frost who he has grown comfortable playing alongside.

It is still quite a stretch to project another massive leap from Tippett, but even without one he could still have a very long career as another type of guy in the Flyers organization who provides consistent depth scoring and can play on any of the top 3 lines. If he was younger, there would be a lot more excitement about the potential of Tippett, but some guys are truly late bloomers, and he is already knocking on the door of a very high level winger at the NHL level. It\'s just a matter of keeping up the level and seeing if there is another gear he can switch into.

Anything Else?

It\'s almost weird calling Owen Tippett a prospect still, given that he has been in the NHL for parts of four years, but realistically, he\'s yet to reach 200 games played, and there\'s a lot more there that just simply wasn\'t uncovered in Florida originally for whatever reason.

This year is crucial for his development, if he remains at the same level as a year prior, then you can still be relatively pleased with the progress, but is he can take another leap, he will make the Claude Giroux trade look a lot better than it did originally.

Talking Points