When the Philadelphia Flyers return to action Saturday afternoon against the formidable Edmonton Oilers, there are a few key points to consider regarding their remaining 25 games.
- Will Matvei Michkov become the first player in Flyers history to win the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s rookie of the year?
- Could this season mark the end of veteran coach John Tortorella’s tenure?
Tortorella’s team is currently near the bottom of the Eastern Conference. With a record of 24-26-7, the Flyers sit six points behind the last wild-card spot, but they would need to surpass seven other teams to get there.
This makes playoff contention unlikely.
As a result, the Flyers are likely to miss the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season – the first time this has happened since a franchise-record five-year drought from 1989-90 to 1993-94.
Tortorella has been at the helm for the past three years, including last season’s late-season collapse. He reached his 1,600th regular-season NHL game milestone in January.
Currently, the Flyers are only six points ahead of the last-place team in the conference, the struggling Buffalo Sabres, who have three games in hand. Their playoff chances are slim.
While missing the playoffs isn’t Tortorella’s biggest issue, the lack of development among the young players is.
Limited Player Development Tortorella hasn’t been able to unlock the potential of Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee, which led the Flyers to trade the former first-round picks.
Overall, the team’s young players haven’t made much progress, which could prompt GM Daniel Briere to search for a new coach to lead the rebuild.
Tortorella, 66, is in the final year of a four-year, $16-million contract, initially signed by former GM Chuck Fletcher.
The Boston native recently stated that the Flyers need to be “dead-on” if they want to play meaningful games in the latter part of the season.
“We have to push as hard as we can to stay competitive,” Tortorella said on Jan. 27. “We don’t have game-breakers. We have to play under a system, and we have to push.”
Injuries have complicated this push due to the team’s lack of depth, and the absence of goaltender Carter Hart has further highlighted the Flyers’ struggles.
With a plethora of early-round draft picks this year – three in the first round and four in the second – it seems unlikely that Tortorella will be the one to guide these new prospects to the NHL.
Under his coaching, Michkov has had a solid but inconsistent rookie season, typical for first-year players. The relationship between Tortorella and Michkov has had some tension, especially when the coach benched the rookie during a game against the Islanders last month. Tortorella gave Michkov a stern talking-to on the bench, clearly upset with his defensive play.
This tough love approach could ultimately help Michkov, whose minus-15 rating is the worst among Flyers forwards, become a better player in the long run.
Rookie of the Year Candidate
Michkov currently ranks second among NHL rookies in goals (16) and third in points (36), showing great promise for the future.
However, it’s not Tortorella’s management of Michkov that has raised the most concerns. The biggest issue is the lack of development from young players such as Morgan Frost, Joel Farabee, Jamie Drysdale, and, to a lesser extent, Cam York. Tortorella’s .491 points percentage over his three seasons is the lowest of any full-time Flyers coach since Terry Simpson, who had a .476 points percentage in 1993-94.
On the positive side, Tortorella has succeeded in getting the team to play with effort and intensity, helping to foster a competitive culture.
Tortorella, who won a Stanley Cup with Tampa Bay in 2004, has generally struggled to guide teams to long playoff runs. He missed the playoffs in 10 out of his 22 seasons (assuming the Flyers don’t make it this year), and seven of his teams were eliminated in the first round. This means that 17 of his teams didn’t win a single playoff series.
As for the Flyers, they’ve won just one playoff series in the last 13 years, if you count the 2024-25 season.
In other words, the team’s struggles began long before Tortorella arrived in Philadelphia – poor draft picks, inconsistent goaltending, and bad trades have all played a role.
That being said, Tortorella’s presence hasn’t significantly altered the franchise’s trajectory. A coach with a proven track record of developing young talent might be what the Flyers need to move forward.