Why the Flyers playing competitive hockey is good for the rebuild

The Philadelphia Flyers might actually be good? They\'ve picked up points in 12 of their last 15 games with a 10-3-2 record since November 11th.

The overtime loss against the Predators was a disappointing way to end an otherwise very successful road trip for the Orange and Black. The Flyers won in Arizona and Colorado before battling back from a 2-0 deficit to earn a point in Nashville.

The Flyers are now riding a six-game point streak (4-0-2) as they return to Philadelphia for a two-game homestand.

Despite low expectations coming into the year, the Flyers have been in the mix for a playoff spot for seemingly the entire season thus far -- at least over the past month. That wasn\'t exactly the plan, though, as the Flyers entered their New Era of Orange this season with Daniel Briere as general manager and Keith Jones as president of hockey operations.

While the rebuild is the focus and the main goal, the Flyers playing competitive hockey has some fans wondering -- and worrying -- if they\'d be better off selling their top assets and hoping for another top draft pick.

It makes sense. The Flyers have been burned over the past decade-plus in various ways. They were stuck in a rut and couldn\'t get out of it no matter the direction. Ron Hextall\'s long-term plan failed and Chuck Fletcher\'s tenure in Philadelphia set the organization back a few years.

This time, though, it looks like the Flyers are in good hands and playing competitive hockey should be celebrated, not discouraged or outright frowned upon as it is by some sections of the fanbase.

This isn\'t the same Flyers front office as in years past. They aren\'t going to veer from their plan just because of a few strong months.

\"We’re going to do the right thing for the future of this organization. I think we’re still in that stage,\" Briere told ALL PHLY\'s Charlie O\'Connor . \"We have a lot of young players. We have a chance to build something special. I want to make sure that we get out of that thing, the last probably 10 years, where we’re always on the cusp. One year, we make the playoffs barely. The following year, we miss the playoffs barely. We’ve got to get out of that area.\"

Hextall had a plan that ultimately failed, but it was also unnecessarily sped up and he was ousted before he could see it through. It ended up being the right decision based on what came out about Hextall\'s managing style after the fact, plus he barely lasted one season in Pittsburgh as well.

Briere, on the other hand, has already shown a knack for making some shrewd moves in less than a year on the job.

Trading away Ivan Provorov has been addition by subtraction for the club. On top of the future assets they received for Provorov, Briere also plucked Sean Walker from the Kings in the three-way trade. Walker has been one of the Flyers\' most consistent defensemen this season and he\'s bringing up Nick Seeler\'s play alongside him.

Another savvy move by Briere was signing Ryan Poehling to a one-year, $1.4 million contract. That may have barely registered for most Flyers fans, especially casual ones, in the offseason, but Poehling has been a stalwart on the fourth line while helping out the penalty kill as well.

Briere and Jones are working hand in hand, along with Tortorella and others, to build this Flyers team and organization the right way. If that means the team is competitive at times throughout the rebuild, why not enjoy the ride?

After all, the Flyers are a fun team to watch this season. Tortorella has his group ready to play night in and night out no matter the competition, and the competition knows it. The Flyers have become an actual hard team to play against after that mantra was thrown around rather freely in previous years.

There\'s something to be said about being able to develop players in a competitive environment. We\'ve seen flashes of some players in recent years while the Flyers were out of contention and those short stints haven\'t always carried over.

Take Morgan Frost for example. He was one of the Flyers\' best players for the bulk of last season. However -- Tortorella\'s mind-boggling usage aside --, Frost has gone ice cold this season with the Flyers playing competitive hockey.

Of course, that\'s just one very specific case, but it\'s fresh in everyone\'s minds and worth mentioning as an example.

Creating a competitive environment for players to develop in is crucial for a rebuild. The Flyers are seeing young rookies and holdovers from Hextall\'s attempted rebuild both thrive this season.

Travis Konecny is a player that many people, myself included, thought would be best to trade to stockpile assets for the rebuild. But Konecny is on pace for a career year this season with 23 points (16 goals) in 27 games. He\'s more than halfway to last year\'s career-high of 31 goals just one-third into this season.

Travis Sanheim is another guy who could have very well been traded this offseason had it not been for Torey Krug reportedly exercising his no-trade clause to throw a wrench into the Flyers\' plans. Instead of sulking with resentment, Sanheim has emerged as a top-pair defenseman playing well over 25 minutes a night with youngster Cam York.

Speaking of York, he\'s more than held his own on that top pair with Sanheim. He\'s had his questionable turnovers and defensive-zone coverage, but he\'s also shown off his offensive flair while holding down the fort defensively.

The 23-year-old York is among a group of players that could be the next core of the team to support top prospects Cutter Gauthier and Matvei Michkov in the coming years.

Joel Farabee is still just 23 years old as well and he\'s enjoying a bounceback season after his neck injury hampered him last year. Owen Tippett (24) is turning into a top-six option and he\'s one of the few players that Chuck Fletcher may have lucked into.

Then there are 22-year-old rookies Bobby Brink and Tyson Foerster. They worked hard in training camp to earn a spot on the roster and played well enough early on to thwart the plan of rotating them in and out of the lineup. Tortorella speaks glowingly of Foerster\'s work along the boards and the rookie\'s shot, which is his real weapon, is starting to come around.

Even just those players named above are a solid group of nearly two full forward lines and a top defensive pairing that is proving itself in big minutes.

Briere knows how important having a strong foundation is for a team, especially during a rebuild.

\"We’ve seen so many teams over the years, they deplete the team, and then it’s just hard because the culture is to lose games, and it’s really hard to get out of that,\" he told O\'Connor . \"We didn’t want to do that. But I give credit to our coaching staff and our players for how well they’ve played this year.\"

The Flyers have been able to outperform expectations thus far, and the exciting thing is that these results appear to be sustainable.

Heading into Tuesday night\'s game in Nashville, the Flyers were one of the best teams in the league when you look at the underlying numbers.

2022-23 Rank 2023-24 Rank xGF/60 2.43 22nd 2.58 14th xGA/60 2.68 19th 2.27 6th xGF% 47.56% 24th 53.54% 4th Flyers at 5-on-5 via MoneyPuck as of 12/1 3

They\'re generating slightly more offense at 5-on-5 but the big improvement has been on the defensive side of things. That\'s resulted in one of the best xGF% in the league with only three pretty good teams -- Edmonton, Los Angeles, and Florida -- ahead of them.

This isn\'t fool\'s gold like the Flyers had at the start of last season before falling off a cliff. This team is playing sustainable hockey and they\'re fully bought into Tortorella\'s system in his second year behind the bench.

Finally, the worry about the Flyers not having high enough draft picks to select top-end talent is a valid one. If your team isn\'t going to be a Stanley Cup contender, you want to build one.

However, they\'re not going to be as bad as some teams like the Sharks, Blackhawks, Ducks, and Blue Jackets, so they\'re unlikely to get another top-five (or possibly even top-10) pick. The Flyers already had a few top-10 picks in the last two drafts and they have the draft capital to potentially move up if needed.

In this year\'s draft, the Flyers have their own first-round pick along with the Panthers\' (top-10 protected). They have a compensatory pick (51st overall) in the second round along with a conditional pick -- the Blue Jackets have the option of deferring the pick to 2025. If Columbus keeps up this pace, it\'d be one of the top picks in the second round so they may want to defer it.

On top of those three (or four) picks in the top 51, the Flyers have a few trade pieces that could fetch at least a first- or second-round pick.

Walker is already in a bunch of trade rumors and TSN\'s Darren Dreger reported that the Flyers could command a first-round pick for him. He\'s a right-handed defenseman that any playoff team should covet.

They could also trade Seeler, Walker\'s defensive partner, along with him. Both defensemen are pending free agents and packaging them together could return a better package than trying to get a mid-round pick for Seeler alone.

Remaining competitive and in the playoff hunt will also give Briere and the Flyers more leverage when the trade deadline rolls around. Not only will teams have to bid against each other, but -- besides for a select few pending free agents -- Briere could very easily elect to keep his trade chips.

That allows Briere to stick firm to his asking price, which is an important thing for a rebuilding team. If an opposing general manager is trying to trade with a losing rebuilding team, the buyer knows the seller is more desperate to get a deal done.

All in all, the Flyers are finally playing some good, fun hockey. They\'re in the mix and you have to be in it to win it. As long as Briere & Co. have the rebuild front of mind -- which it appears they do --, the Flyers being competitive while allowing their young players to develop should be a great thing for the rebuild.

Talking Points