For some reason, the Philadelphia Flyers are still playing the sport of hockey and have not finished the painful 2022-23 regular season yet. This team has sapped a whole lot of joy out of some people that either like to watch a winning team or watch a team race towards the bottom of the league to draft a generational talent – there has been neither for the Flyers this season. The middle is death and we are slowly expiring.
Grim analogies aside, the Flyers have a handful of games remaining for the season and instead of just completely ignoring the team (because as fans we simply cannot do that) we are going to keep watching. So, to make things a little bit easier, let’s think of some reasons to actually keep paying attention and track some neat markers as this miserable mediocrity comes to a painful pause.
The young guys
The most obvious answer to this problem is watching players that could actually still be around when the Flyers are good again. It is the thing that has hooked every fan of bad teams into still thinking about them – the promise of something better.
But, with the Flyers right now it is actually on the ice in the NHL and not overseas playing the final playoff round in Sweden, or whatever. Owen Tippett, Joel Farabee, Noah Cates, Cam York – most of these dudes could be still in Philadelphia by the time we want to actually win some games and not think about the draft lottery odds. And they’re all playing for the Flyers right now, imagine that!
We don’t have to wait around to see what the potential lineup could be when this team has more talent, because most of the complementary (or potential very good) players are already here. We’re still riding high on potential and I will not come down just because we want to be sad about this team. These guys are doing cool stuff and we can watch it for a few more games.
Last games of some players
On the other side of the coin, we have players that will definitely not be part of the Flyers in the near future. In a sad way, this can apply to over half the roster as the new front office wants to tear down the lineup and if anyone was born before 1999, they’re getting kicked out for players that have a later birthday.
We are already hearing trade rumors about Kevin Hayes, Ivan Provorov, Travis Konecny, Travis Sanheim, and even some outliers like Tony DeAngelo and Scott Laughton could be on their way out because they don’t match what this team wants to do – lose a lot of hockey games – next season.
This could be the last chance to see a lot of these guys play as a member of the Flyers, and we can at least be a little nostalgic of what them joining the team originally was supposed to mean.
Konecny is making his return back from injury and we have witnessed his ascension into being a very good little pest throughout his Flyers career. And now, he’s suddenly become this team’s best player. For Hayes, him joining the past core of Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek meant potential glory once again; and even for the other homegrown defensemen, it could be an emotional departure as players that were supposed to solidify that blue line for decades.
As right as the decision to let go is, it is not without some connection being cut and these few games might be the last time we get to see Konecny’s little rat smile skate around the ice.
Nic Deslauriers fighting for the top
It’s nothing new that no Flyers player is going to walk away from this regular season holding an individual award and being named the best at something compared to the other dudes around the NHL. But, one might just get an unofficial title that no doubt means something (to him).
Nic Deslauriers is currently the league leader in fighting majors with 13 tussles and we have enjoyed a heck of a lot of them. But he is not lonely at the top of the top division of the hockey fighting world. Senators’ Austin Watson (12), and the Lightning’s Tanner Jeannot (11) and Patrick Maroon (10), are the only other players in the league that have double-digit fights and they are closing in on Deslauriers’s title as the top boxer this season.
This might be the only race the Flyers are involved in throughout these final days of the season, so if you’re really looking for some nail-biting action, cross your fingers for Deslauriers to drop the gloves and punch more dudes in the face than his fellow combatants.
A stretch of tank games
Okay, that’s enough positivity and trying to polish the orange and black turds. We’re here for the real business and that is trying to improve the Flyers’ draft picks this year.
Because even if they don’t win the lottery, with every loss they can move up a spot in every single round – it’s not just that first-rounder we care about. Losing more games means you could have the 126th overall pick instead of the 131st, and less of a chance for this scouting staff to lose out on Their Guy.
With that in mind, there are a couple really important games down the stretch to solidify the lowest position possible. They face the St. Louis Blues, who if given the points could help the Flyers stay in the bottom-eight; and even after that, they’re facing some good teams in the Dallas Stars and Boston Bruins. So even if it doesn’t affect their position relative to other teams, they are playing some damn good teams in the final couple weeks.
And of course, while it isn’t as close as we originally wanted, they finish this terrible season with games against the two worst teams in the entire NHL: The Columbus Blue Jackets and Chicago Blackhawks. If we wrote about this a couple months ago, we would be full of hope that finishing with zero points earned in those two matches would mean the highest odds at drafting Connor Bedard, but the Flyers are too far gone and have earned too many points to have those games matter more than any other potential loss.
Still, there is enough room in the standings for us to cheer for Philadelphia finishing in the bottom-five.
You know you’ll miss it
This hockey season might have been hard for Philadelphians, but we just know that there is going to be a point in the next couple months when the shine has dulled on the Phillies and the Eagles season has not started yet, where you will want nothing else but to sit down and watch this stupid thing. We’re hooked on it and sometimes the summer is just too long.
During this last stretch of games we should just take a moment to pause and reflect on the feeling that is watching live hockey on our screens. Absorb that feeling. Let it sink in and digest it so that you can revisit it during those bad weeks of the August heat and sports have hit their dull period. Hold it close so you can know that feeling once again, or you can watch KHL pre-season like I have found myself doing sometimes in times of wanting hockey so bad it’s shameful.
This team might suck but it’s still that familiar and comforting feeling we will want before it returns.
