After a few years of aggressively retooling – whatever that means – the Flyers have finally admitted that they need to rebuild. Daniel Briere has taken over as the Interim General Manager, with all signs pointing to him losing the interim tag this summer, after another disappointing trade deadline by Chuck Fletcher.
The Flyers were in the thick of the race in the Battle For Bedard when Fletcher was fired. They still have a chance and likely would’ve never been as bad as the likes of the Ducks, Blue Jackets, and Blackhawks anyway.
On March 9th, the Flyers were tied with Vancouver for the sixth-fewest points in the league at 59. The bottom four teams in Columbus (47 points), Chicago (49), San Jose (50), and Anaheim (51) were out of reach. However, they had just three more points than Arizona (56) and one more point than Montreal (58).
Since then, the Flyers have earned points in seven of 12 games. They are 5-5-2 in that span for 12 points in 12 games.
Meanwhile, the Coyotes have picked up just 11 points for a season total of 67 through 78 games and the Canadiens have turned the tank up a notch with eight points – and no goals in their last two games.
Now, the Flyers seem firmly in position as the seventh-worst record in the league. With five games remaining, they are four points ahead of Arizona with a game in hand and four points back of the Canucks. (That would be former Flyer Rick Tocchet’s Vancouver team that went on a 10-2-0 run before dropping four straight (0-2-2) over the past week.)
Given the Canucks’ path and organizational dysfunction – which is eerily similar to the Flyers’ – it’s been a pleasant surprise for both Vancouver and Philadelphia that they found some success. On the Canucks’ side they’ve been happy to see some growth on the fly while the Flyers have seen their lottery chances increase, if only slightly.
Now, with a week left in the season, it looks like the Canucks are the only team that the Flyers can realistically catch in the standings. It’s also highly unlikely that Arizona would make up four points in four games, but crazier things have happened.
The Canucks’ final stretch begins with their final two home games of the season. They host the Blackhawks on Thursday night before a fight with the Flames on Saturday. Vancouver then goes to Los Angeles, Anaheim, and Arizona to close it out.
You should be able to realistically pencil in several – let’s say six – points for the Canucks in the final week of the season which would get them up to 81. The Flyers would need to win out against the Stars, Islanders, Bruins, Blue Jackets, and Blackhawks to finish with 81 points.
That’s a fairly tough schedule for the Flyers but they have winnable games at the end. We should put all hope of the Canadiens catching the Flyers to rest as they play the Capitals, Maple Leafs, Islanders, and Bruins to finish out the season.
Essentially, the Flyers are locked in as the seventh-worst team in the league this season, which means the seventh-best odds for Connor Bedard! It would also guarantee them no later than the ninth pick in the draft.
Luckily for the Flyers – I know, it doesn’t seem like much is going our way recently, er, for the past 45 years – this year’s draft class is regarded as one of the deepest in a while. Not only that but the consensus seems to be that there is a top seven or eight in this year’s draft class that have top-of-the-lineup potential or better.
If the Flyers do finish with the seventh-worst record, here is how their draft lottery odds would look:
- 7th (44.4%)
- 8th (36.5%)
- 1st (6.5%)
- 2nd (6.9%)
- 9th (5.6)
For as much as was made about the Flyers picking up these extra points to hurt the tank – which I admittedly hated – the chances for the first- and second-overall picks only go up one percentage point from seven up to four. Every ping-pong ball matters, though.
The NHL Draft Lottery will take place on Monday, May 8 at 7 p.m. We’ll find out then where the Flyers will be drafting and who will have the honor of drafting Connor Bedard on Wednesday, June 28.
