Despite a disappointing season, the Flyers insist they’re not too ‘far away’ from returning to the playoffs

The Flyers think they’re close.

Despite finishing last in the Metropolitan Division and fourth from the bottom of the NHL, the veterans in the dressing room believe the group can make the playoffs in 2026.

“Next year, depending on what happens this summer, is a very realistic opportunity at making the playoffs,” forward Travis Konecny said during Friday’s exit interviews. “Then it’s a hard question, because once you get in, you never know what happens. Anything can happen, but I would say being a consistent contender? Two years. We’ve still got a young team. We still have guys developing, but I think with all the pieces we have right now, we are capable.”

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The Flyers have two obvious needs heading into the offseason — adding a top-six center and a goalie.

General manager Danny Brière acknowledged in February that a top-six center is a “glaring need,” but those players are hard to find. Unless the Flyers win the lottery and draft Saginaw’s Michael Misa, their top pick in June’s draft is unlikely to make his NHL debut in 2025-26. But prospects such as James Hagens, Anton Frondell, and Caleb Desnoyers could develop into the top-six center the Flyers have been searching for.

Brière and president Keith Jones are also on the lookout for more immediate help down the middle. Vancouver Canucks and former 100-point center Elias Pettersson may be available on the trade block this summer, and the Flyers could also attempt to offer sheet someone like Minnesota’s Marco Rossi, or make a run at a veteran free agent like Sam Bennett, Mikael Granlund, or Brock Nelson.

That leaves the goaltending. Sam Ersson took a step back this season with a 3.14 goals-against average and a .883 save percentage, while neither Ivan Fedotov or Aleksei Kolosov established themselves as solid NHL goaltenders. Overall, the Flyers’ .879 save percentage ranked last in the league, while their GAA (3.45) was fifth-worst.

Konecny was excited about the prospect of adding new faces to the room this summer, instead of losing them, as the team has done repeatedly at the trade deadline over the last several seasons, most notably with Scott Laughton and Claude Giroux.

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One thing the Flyers’ veterans repeatedly insisted? This group is “coachable.” With the team heading into an offseason where it will hire a new coach, captain Sean Couturier said that the group will adapt no matter what style they’re asked to play.

“I’m not too worried about the guys that we have,” Couturier said. “Everyone’s bought in. We have a great group of guys that stick up for one another, stick together, and are tight. As much as this year’s been tough, the one thing that I’m proud of — or I can say that’s good about this group — is no one’s pointed fingers. Guys still played hard for each other and wanted the best out of each other.”

Taking the next step as a team requires the Flyers’ young players to take steps individually. After the trade deadline, the Flyers were the NHL’s third-youngest team, and some of those players popped this season.

Noah Cates, Tyson Foerster, and Bobby Brink’s line was a revelation for most of the year, propelling all three players to career-best seasons. Cates said he felt Foerster’s shot and defensive mind and Brink’s offensive skill complemented his two-way play — “things that they provided for our line that maybe I lacked, and things that I helped them with.”

Interim coach Brad Shaw pointed to that line and Matvei Michkov as things Flyers fans should be excited about heading into next year.

“How do you get the guys that are in place, how do you get a guy like Cates to keep driving and keep improving?” Shaw said. “It’s been exceptional. Can he get better at faceoffs? Can he be a top-10 faceoff guy? Then what’s he like? Now you’re talking about an exceptional hockey player. That’s the exciting growth.”

Cates also emerged as one of the team’s new leaders, becoming one of the most trusted two-way centers after he was benched for opening night.

“What [Cates] went through, it just advanced him even more,” veteran winger Garnet Hathaway said. “He had to find a way to fight through it and learn from it, which is a microcosm for our season. You’ve got a group of guys that believe in that effort and see it with that perspective, you’re going to find losing streaks stop at two.”

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The Flyers hired John Tortorella in 2022 to establish a strong foundation for the culture they wanted in the organization. He ended his tenure with the team with rocky relationships with several players, including Couturier and defenseman Cam York, but the Flyers veterans and Shaw still believe they’ve built a strong culture in the dressing room.

“The mindset of everybody, even the guys that came here for half a season, made it clear that when you come here, you work,” winger Nick Deslauriers said. “I think that was part of the culture that we built, and I think that’s going to stick with us.”

Brière said after firing Tortorella that he hoped this season was “rock bottom” for the Flyers’ rebuild. Whoever the new coach will be, he will be tasked with guiding the Flyers from the bottom of the Metropolitan to the playoffs.

During exit interviews, Shaw sat down with defenseman Travis Sanheim to discuss how close the team was to taking that next step. Shaw said the team needs to improve “in every aspect,” but ultimately isn’t as far away as they may have seemed based on the standings.

“[Sanheim] goes, ‘At one point, it feels like you’re a long way off,’” Shaw said. “... Then you start going through the process of, ‘I remember that game we blew.’ You remember those two points we felt like we gave away, and I don’t think you’re far away.”