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Flyers Quarter Season Grades: The Offense

By Nick Butler

Dec 5, 2022; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Flyers right wing Owen Tippett (74) celebrates his goal with teammates against the Colorado Avalanche during the third period at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 5, 2022; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Flyers right wing Owen Tippett (74) celebrates his goal with teammates against the Colorado Avalanche during the third period at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Flyers just recently played the 25th game of the season. The quarter mark of the season can mean a lot of different things for different teams. This season has been exactly what a lot of people thought it would be. A season with a team whose effort and will to outwork teams will make them competitive without the ability to score goals. Now losing your top 6 forwards for at least 6-7 games did not help this team but getting healthy will allow this coaching staff and front office to see what they have as personal.

This forward group has been better than the last few seasons for sure, but still has the lack of offensive zone time, pressure, goal scoring and number of plays being made. There just isn’t enough happening to make this Flyers team lethal. Maybe when Cam Atkinson returns, this could be a different story, but when Travis Konecny and Kevin Hayes are the only forwards consistently getting on the scoresheet, that’s an issue in talent.

This isn’t on the coaching staff. Coach Tortorella has been consistently saying in numerous post-game interviews that “we aren’t making enough plays”. This is telling me two things. Number one is that they lack the talent and difference makers to be effective. Number two, he wants his guys to do more and reach that next level, especially the younger guys who are the future of this team and franchise.

Understanding that Torts is doing his best in trying to bring the best out of these guys is no easy task. The frustration is starting to boil over and the media has begun seeing exactly what frustrated Torts looks like. The reality is this is not a good hockey team. Maybe at the deadline, some of these dead contracts will be moved. Maybe Fletcher will start calling up the difference makers from Lehigh Valley rather than the guys who are known commodities while the kids making a difference for Lehigh Valley stay there.

There are currently three forwards who I think are playing some of their best hockey currently and the three may not come as a surprise.

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