The Flyers’ power play is totally lost

Despite Matvei Michkov providing surprising reinforcements from overseas, Travis Konecny having the most productive season of his career, and Jamie Drysdale giving the coaching staff another option to try as a power play quarterback, the Flyers continue to lack any semblance of improvement to their lackluster power play.

If it seems like somebody writes this article every season, that’s because it is warranted. Look at a list of the 10 worst power play percentage seasons in Flyers history, and you’ll see the last four seasons all displayed prominently:

2021-22 - 2nd Worst in team history (12.6%)

2022-23 - 7th Worst in team history (15.6%)

2023-24 - Worst in team history (12.2%)

2024-25 - 9th Worst in team history (15.9%)

There is clearly a systemic problem that has infected the Flyers power play strategy over the past half-decade plus, and while it is true that the team’s talent during this time hasn’t been unbelievable, the power play is usually where terrible teams make up ground. For example, this year’s Chicago Blackhawks, who sit second-last in the league and field a roster full of prospects and has-beens, currently have their power play clicking at a 23.7% pace, good for 9th in the league.

So how can the power play be this bad, for this long?

That 2021-22 team who could only manage a horrific 12.6% conversion rate still had Claude Giroux for most of the season, along with names like Cam Atkinson, James Van Riemsdyk, Kevin Hayes, and the rotting corpse of Keith Yandle. It was a much different batch of players making up the units then than the Flyers have now, and yet, the results were largely the same.

And the question is, why is it always this bad?

Well there are a few reasons why, some to do with setup, some with coaching, and some with personnel, but to be clear, there is no one simple fix.

Breakouts and Zone Entries

Looking at the top power play units around the league, there is a trend that emerges. Whether it be Winnipeg with Kyle Connor, New Jersey with Jack Hughes, or Vegas with Jack Eichel.

These teams all have one or two elite players who are comfortable with carrying the puck into the offensive zone with possession. Most teams use a variation on the “slingshot” concept where a player, usually the team’s best or fastest forward, loops deep into their own zone before picking up a drop pass in the neutral zone at full speed, ideally catching the short-handed defenders flat-footed.

The key here is that you need a player who is both great at maneuvering at speed, as well as someone who can survey the play in front of them quickly and efficiently and find the open man. Nikita Kucherov and Connor McDavid come to mind as players who excel at this the most.

This isn’t going to come as a surprise, but the Flyers don’t have any players that quite fit this mold. Owen Tippett can fly, but his playmaking vision just isn’t up to snuff. Morgan Frost has some vision at speed, but he isn’t necessarily the fastest, and against great teams he can have trouble with turnovers. Travis Konecny has upped his game this year to the point where he is probably best fit to take on this role, but it still isn’t an ideal fit, and Matvei Michkov just turned 20.

Simply put, the Flyers do not have that one guy who is capable of consistently and effectively breaking into the zone, and that limits the amount of time they are able to actually set up and try to create offense.

What are we trying to get to, and who is getting us there?

So we’ve addressed some of the problems that the Flyers have entering the zone, but once they get there they have to be a little better, right?

Not exactly.

The Flyers’ man advantage is a total free-for-all once they actually get situated in the offensive zone. When you watch the Capitals, they try to feed the puck to Alex Ovechkin, and use his gravity to open up different options for the players around him. The Maple Leafs focus on the sometimes telepathic connection between Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews, with John Taveras (when healthy), cleaning up rebounds in front. And the Oilers utilize McDavid’s all-time playmaking ability, with Evan Bouchard howitzers from the point, and Leon Draisatl’s trademark blasts from improbable angles, to keep teams scrambling.

What do the even Flyers try to do? One game it is a steady diet of Rasmus Ristolainen point shots. The next? Morgan Frost or Matvei Michkov circling around the half-wall, looking to force a low percentage pass cross-ice. They at times play a style of offense that more closely resembles their even strength strategies of puck battles and cycle game.

There is no “preferred play” that the Flyers are consistently trying to setup; and while some of the lethal combinations mentioned previously include some of the best players in the NHL, it is even more crucial that the Flyers, who currently lack some of those high-end horses that basically create on their own, adhere to a structure that can allow them to create opportunities consistently.

Take this recent Bobby Brink PP tally from the January 27th win versus the Devils as an example

Brink with the clapper on the powerplay 🚀 pic.twitter.com/ZWuTLfsmc3

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) January 28, 2025

Great shot off the draw from Brink, and a good job from Ristolainen to fan out off the draw and force the forechecker to make a decision, but that’s the only sort of goal that the Flyers seem to score. Spur of the moment, flashes of high-level talent that helps create a goal off a shot from about halfway between the face-off dot and the blueline, with zero traffic at all in front of Jake Allen.

That isn’t sustainable, and the Flyers seemingly don’t have a plan A on the power play.

But for that to matter, you need to actually start getting shots .

Just a lack of chances

What you’re looking at is a data visualization of the best power play in the league, that being the Winnipeg Jets. Currently ranked as the number one ranked power play percentage in the NHL with a scorching 33%. Basically, the orange spots on the ice mean that the team is generating an above league average number of shots from that area, and the blue means the opposite. For the Jets, you can see that they really like to work around the right face-off dot, where world-destroyer Kyle Connor sets up and lets one-timers fly. As well, that orange spot back door is where Gabe Vilardi sits to tap in back-door feeds and feast on rebounds, which he does to the tune of 11 power play goals. (The folks at Winnipeg Sports Talk did a great breakdown on what makes the Jets so good if you’re interested).

Now, let’s look at the Flyers:

The Flyers don’t get shots from anywhere. They are far below league average at generating shots in nearly all of the high danger areas, save for the one oasis just below the right hash. Even the slight orange spots along the goal line aren’t a good sign, because obviously the rest of the league isn’t shooting from there… Why would you even be shooting from there?

They simply don\'t generate nearly enough shots to make their man advantage consistently dangerous. All they can do is hope that they luck into grade-A chances with the few shots they do get, because the units aren\'t efficient enough to create more. They are forced into valuing quality over quantity when ideally a good power play has a bit of both.

It\'s additionally hard to decipher because their personnel changes constantly. One week Travis Sanheim is the quarterback, the next Jamie Drysdale is back there, and then suddenly, BAM Rasmus Ristolainen kicks the door down like Stone Cold Steve Austin. And the forwards are no better, once the Brink-Cates-Foerster line got hot in December, they basically became the number one power play unit out of nowhere. That later changed and that trio is now spread across the two units, and now somehow, Anthony Richard has found his way onto the second power play unit after being called up five days ago.

Owen Tippett, who has one of the better shots on the team and is one of the fastest skaters in hockey, has somehow managed to not tally a power play goal this season, even though he has played over 117 minutes with the man advantage.

From coaching, to deployment, to the players on the ice not knowing their roles or most effective ways to score, there isn’t really anything positive to take from watching the Flyers power play. They have enough decent players to where they should be able to cobble together at least one decent unit, but it simply hasn\'t worked. This is an endemic issue that has to be traced back to an organization who has seemed unable to create an effective 5-on-4 unit since Joe Mullen left the team in 2016-17.

They are simply grasping at straws right now, and while Rocky Thompson hasn’t done a good job running the power play, the problem is much bigger than him.

Talking Points