Matvei Michkov has arrived, but did the Flyers do enough elsewhere to snap their playoff drought?
This week we’re focusing on the Penguins’ opposition within the Metropolitan Division. How did their summers go, how are we feeling? Who left? Who stayed? Who is new? Where are they trying to go in the next year? We’ll look into that and more.
Metro Moves: New York Rangers
Metro Moves: Carolina Hurricanes
Metro Moves: New York Islanders
Metro Moves: Washington Capitals
For most of the 2023-24 season, the Philadelphia Flyers appeared to be ahead of schedule on its franchise rebuild, exceeding just about every lackluster preseason prediction set for them, and were sitting in a playoff spot, looking to be a near lock to return to the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Then the calendar hit March and the wheels fully came off for the Flyers.
From March 1st until the end of the season, the Flyers went 7-11-4 over its final 22 games, including an eight game losing streak. This skid sent them plummeting down the standings, finishing sixth in the Metropolitan division and missing the playoffs for the fourth straight season.
By all measures, the season was still a success for the Flyers despite narrowly missing out on the playoffs. The team improved by seven wins and twelve points from a season prior, but the end of season collapse left a bad taste in the mouth’s of the fan base.
If the Flyers were to be in the playoff mix once again in 2024-25, there wasn’t too much work to be done, but the point of a rebuild is to make yourself a Stanley Cup contender, not just a bubble team and the jury is still out on if the Flyers did enough to become among the NHL elites.
Far and away the most significant move of the Flyers offseason was getting 2023 first round pick Matvei Michkov signed and over to the States where he will be among the Calder Trophy favorites this coming season.
When the Flyers drafted Michkov 7th overall in 2023, it was known that they were going to have to wait for his services while he continued his career in the KHL, but getting him signed after just a season was a huge victory for the Flyers front office.
Michkov is expected to slot right into the Flyers lineup, likely on the top line and be an impact player right from the drop of the puck. He was a projected Top 4 pick in his draft class but slid to the Flyers at No. 7 because of the KHL issues.
With Michkov signed, sealed, and delivered, the next order of business was free agency, where the Flyers made barely a ripple. They brought back veteran defenseman Erik Johnson on a one-year deal and resigned restricted free agents Bobby Brink and Egor Zamula.
Johnson and Zamula will battle it out for a spot on the blue line amongst a crowded group of defenders while Brink projects as a bottom-six forward this season.
Prior to free agency, the Flyers resigned Garnet Hathaway to a new two-year contract and used a buy out on winger Cam Atkinson.
Once the rush of the NHL offseason started to cool down, the Flyers got back to business and tied up another in-house loose end by extending leading scorer Travis Konecny with an eight-year deal that runs through the 2032-33 season and carries an AAV of $8.75 million against the salary cap.
Other than bringing in Michkov and saying goodbye to a few depth players, the Flyers lineup will look very similar to what they put on the ice last season.
Per Daily Faceoff, the Flyers lineup should look something like this:
Tyson Foerster-Sean Couturier-Matvei Michkov
Owen Tippett-Morgan Frost-Travis Konecny
Joel Farabee-Scott Laughton-Bobby Brink
Noah Cates-Ryan Poehling-Garnet HathawayCam York-Travis Sanheim
Nick Seeler-Jamie Drysdale
Egor Zamula-Rasmus RistolainenSamuel Ersson
Ivan Fedotov
Whether or not this slightly retooled roster is enough to push the Flyers back in the playoffs remains to be seen. They are already pushing against the ceiling of the salary cap, an issue which will become much more prevalent next offseason when Konecny’s new deal kicks in, but in the meantime, it’s a manageable situation.
Getting Michkov to North America is a major boost to the Flyers rebuild and he should be in the running for top rookie this season. Penguins fans better get used to the name because he’s going to a thorn in the side for years to come.
Other than that, the Flyers feel like a bubble team once again, and if they can avoid another late season collapse, maybe they break that playoff drought in 2024-25.