It is no secret that the Flyers are looking to turn the page from a pretty ugly 2021-22 season. They were without their star center, Sean Couturier, for a large chunk of the season. Their biggest trade acquisition, Ryan Ellis, played a handful of games before a mystery injury took him out for basically the entire season.
The team was in such a bad position that they were forced to say goodbye to captain and longtime Flyer Claude Giroux at the trade deadline. It was the first time he suited up in a jersey other than Philadelphia in the NHL. By the end of the season, or honestly even the middle, it was clear that getting the youth into the lineup was the key.
That saw the debuts of players likely Bobby Brink, Noah Cates, and Ronnie Attard. It gave players like Morgan Frost and Owen Tippett, acquired in the Giroux trade, bigger roles than they previously had. And it truly highlighted just how bad off this team was. They finished sixth in the league in goals allowed (294) and goals allowed per game (3.59). They had the seventh worst PK in the league (75.7%) while their power play was the worst (12.6%)
The Flyers finished eighth in the Metropolitan and were a whopping 39 points out from a wild card spot. They finished 29th in the league as only Seattle, Arizona, and Montreal had a worse record. There was hardly any positives to take from last season aside from some of the younger players getting the opportunities to show what they could provide. Carter Hart also had a bounce back year after a tough year prior.
So what can we expect to see this season?
2022-23 Flyers Season Preview
Well, things already aren’t off to a good start. To open training camp, we found out that Ryan Ellis is likely to miss the entire season as his career could be in jeopardy. We learned the exact issues that have been plaguing him which include his back, hips, and adductor regions.
We also learned that Sean Couturier would be missing some time as well. Days after declaring he was healthy and cleared to play, he suffered another back injury. At the time it was rumored, it was believed he could also miss the season. Right now he will not need surgery, but does remain week to week.
The good news came in the form of Joel Farabee recently as he looks to ramp things up from an off-season neck injury that made him just the third NHL player to have disc replacement surgery done. He recently met with doctors to determine if he is able to be medically cleared for contact.
But enough about the injuries as we could go on for a lot longer. The Flyers are less than a week out from the opening of the regular season after going 1-4-1 in the preseason. Records don’t always mean something during these games, but there is a slight cause for concern. Up until their 4-3 overtime loss to the Islanders, the Flyers had scored one goal or fewer in their four regulation losses. They scored two in their only victory.
John Tortorella certainly seems like he has his work cut out for him with this team, but one has to imagine he already knew that when he took the job.