The Flyers Optimism is Getting Contagious

One of the few good things that came out of the mess that was The Godfather Part III, was a line delivered by Al Pacino. You know the line. He is in his kitchen, ruminating on some of the recent events that have transpired against him. He laments and says, “Just when I thought I was out… they pull me back in.” As Flyers fans, heck…as Philly sports fans in general, we get this. Time after time, our teams have dashed our dreams and hopes; yet we keep coming back for more.

How many times before have we had our heart broken by what we thought would be our “one true love”? We are knocked senseless by the one our heart and mind were connected to only to have that girl stomp on our heart or that guy two-time us. We swear we are done with love and will never again try. And then, we meet someone who changes our minds, adjusts our stinking thinking, and we give it another shot.

So true it is for us Flyers fans. We’ve been through a lot. It’s been a few years, but at the time of Ed Snider’s death, the Flyers had won more games, been to more Stanley Cup finals, been to more Eastern Conference finals (or other derivative thereof), and been to more playoffs than any other franchise in the league. We’ve lost our way.

We’ve signed free agents and made big trades. Some haven’t panned out. Some got injured. Pandemic struck as the Flyers were tearing it up and then they had to cool off before “Bubble Hockey” started back. We’ve had more than our fair share of coaching changes.

Last year at this time, I was bragging about how we were going to be great. We traded for Ryan Ellis. The team looked like it was going to finally have a defense worthy of its goalie. We were going to be near the top of the division, and therefore the top of the conference. We were gonna do it!

And we did it….for like a week. Then everyone got sick or injured. Alain Vigneault was dropped as coach. The team went through two 10+ losing streaks. They traded away Claude Giroux. Things looked bleak. And then as the postseason happened, everyone else in the conference beefed up, except us.  It didn’t look like the 2022-23 season was going to be good….

And then….

You start hearing things….

Recent press conferences showcasing some of the Flyers star players show a different mode. Gone are the doom and gloom faces from last year. Nobody is sulking. There is a quiet confidence in them. Sean Couturier and Kevin Hayes say they are healthy. Both said they are excited about training camp and what it will bring.

Cam Atkinson is super excited about this offseason. Despite some comments about team culture, new coach John Tortorella has consistently talked about how excited he is to be in Philly. The players are talking about how they can’t wait to go to training camp.

And just like that, they suck me back in. This isn’t like being a Coyotes fan, “Yeah….we’ll have a great year….”. This is optimism, but not far out there, silly optimism. This isn’t something phony that they are selling the fans. These guys look confident. More than that, they look hungry. They look like they want to go out there and do battle and prove every who doubts them wrong. This is a Flyers team like we haven’t seen in years.

This optimism is infectious. It’s giving us hope. It’s giving me hope. Maybe….just maybe we have a chance.  Maybe there is a chance this team can do something special after all.