If you check the amount of actual ink, virtual ink, and bandwidth the last few months concerning the Flyers, you would see a ton on Matvei Michkov. Then there’s whether Sam Ersson will make a strong impression as a number one starter, or if Ivan Fedotov was worth bringing over. Or if Jamie Drysdale is going to be healthy. That’s not even mentioning the whole weeks-long soap opera entitled The Young and the Kolosov-less that seems to have happily ended. Nor whether Sean Couturier returns to form after a very up and down 2023-24 season. Nor questions around the team’s leading point getter last season Travis Konecny and if the extension he signed is going to be fruitful. And no I didn’t forget about Rasmus Ristolainen and health (trade?) status.
But the one name which isn’t really on the radar all that much is a second-year player, one trying to avoid the dreaded sophomore slump but still in terms of media focus or spotlight is not even in the ballpark’s parking lot. And that might be a great thing. A simple online news search for Tyson Foerster today generated 10 news items in the past month (one of them BSH’s Top 25 under 25 article on Foerster). So in short, he’s coming into an important season with very little attention on him as it relates to the team’s success and possible playoff (sorry people wanting a top-five pick) hunt deep in the season.
Tyson Foerster also entered last season with not much attention given to him but he delivered and surprised, ending up in the talk for a Calder Trophy nomination and seen in various offensive categories for top rookies in the league. Hitting the 20-goal mark in his first year was great. Foerster was tied for third in goals for rookies with Logan Cooley, a goal behind Marco Rossi and two behind wonderkid Connor Bedard (granted Bedard missed 14 games to Foerster’s five). He also cracked the top 10 in total points with 33. And, perhaps most impressively, he tied Bedard for second in rookie power play goals with four alongside Anaheim’s Leo Carlsson and New Jersey’s Luke Hughes and two behind leading power-play goal getter Dmitri Voronkov with Columbus. Four goals on possibly one of the worst power plays you will see in your life makes it all the more remarkable.
But what happens if Foerster looks lost on the West Coast, a slump builds and he’s still looking for his first goal (or point) in late October or early November? If he’s squeezing his stick, hitting posts or just nothing seems to be going right well then what? Well, the great thing about the circus that is the Flyers is that this possible disappointing start will most likely get very little attention compared to the bigger stories that surround the team. It’s doubtful Foerster will become this year’s version of Morgan Frost or Sean Couturier and end up in John Tortorella’s doghouse. Rarely was he the subject of criticism in 2023-24 as he routinely (along with Noah Cates) seemed to be doing the little things in his own end and away from the puck that Tortorella demanded and often saw.
What is known is the last few months the Flyers and their fanbase have been all about Michkov, from whether he’s coming over to when is he coming over to now who he will be playing with. And this recent rookie camp and the current training camp has done next to nothing to dampen that spotlight on “the Mad Russian.” If he proves himself to be a quality rookie and produces, this means there’s a hell of a lot less glare and focus on Foerster whether he’s better in year two, maintains the same production pace or regresses a wee bit. Perhaps the only way this season could be a disaster for Foerster (barring injuries of course) is that his play declines so badly he ends up being sent down to Lehigh Valley to regain his confidence. That or demands a trade to the KHL.
Using basic stats doesn’t really provide much details when comparing how some current top six or top nine Flyer forwards fared over their first season and their second. There are a number of reasons some players didn’t play two full seasons their first two years. For some like Sean Couturier there was a lockout in his sophomore season. For Joel Farabee and Frost, the pandemic curtailed a few seasons and resulted in far fewer than the regular 82 games. The magic number or sweet spot in terms of total points (and a positive step in development) however seems to be 46 or 47. In 2022-23, Morgan Frost’s sophomore season saw him score 19 goals with 27 assists for 46 points in 81 games. In 2017-18, Travis Konecny’s second season had him at 24 goals and 23 assists for 47 points in 81 games.
If you go back further with the Flyers, Claude Giroux’s sophomore season also saw him with 16 goals and 31 assists for, you guessed it, 47 points in a full season. James van Riemsdyk’s 2009-10 rookie season saw him with 35 points (15 goals, 20 assists) in 78 games. The second year was a modest uptick, getting 40 points (21 goals, 19 points) in 75 games. So if Tyson Foerster managed to stay healthy and end up in that 43 to 45 point ballpark (assuming he has some playing time on a power play that isn’t nearly as putrid as last year’s percentage), it should be considered a sophomore season success. Anything north of that number should be considered a raging success.
With so little attention being put on Foerster, he’s gone about his business this training camp ready to go. Hopefully he has a great start and hits the ground running. But if he doesn’t it will probably be some time before he’s called out either by his coach or the beat reporters covering the Flyers. Add to that the fact the team, which surprised a lot of experts with their play in the first half, still isn’t expected to be anywhere near a Cup contender, and it’s a great time to be Tyson Foerster. The only pressure he probably has is what he puts on himself. If it works out for him in 2024-25 that’s great. If it doesn’t it’s going to be seemingly secondary compared to some of the other storylines surrounding the Flyers this season.
