Are the Flyers proving that last season wasn't a fluke?

Lest we forget, the Philadelphia Flyers spent much of the 2023-24 NHL season in a playoff spot until they were doomed by a late skid. Despite that, they still had a shot at the postseason heading into their final game of the regular season before falling just short. People were largely content with the season that they had, but it didn't stop everyone from picking them to finish closer to the league basement in 2024-25, thanks to a number of factors.

First, the Flyers entirely sat out free agency for a second consecutive year, declining to spend money to bring in any veterans to help the team in the immediate future. This made sense for the long-term, but it figured to hinder them this season. And there was also the big goaltending question, with the Carter Hart situation throwing the future of the Flyers' crease into turmoil. Other teams around the Flyers also spent and brought in reinforcements, suggesting that the Flyers would sag behind them this season. And the early returns for the Orange and Black this year suggested that the experts were right, and it was going to be a miserable season for Flyers Nation.

At the moment, however, the club is rebounding in a big way and looks like it might be actually building upon last year's surprising run.

Are the Philadelphia Flyers proving that last season's surprising success wasn't a fluke?

The main difference between last year's club and this year's version of the team has been the arrival of Matvei Michkov, who lends a dynamic offensive presence that the club honestly hasn't seen since the best days of Claude Giroux. Aside from the presence of the team's burgeoning 19-year-old star, however, other gains across the board of late are showing that the Flyers may just have needed some time to gel this season.

Look at Ivan Fedotov, who has rattled off three wins after an extremely poor start to his NHL tenure. He is looking confident in the net and utilizing his immense size to his full advantage. Sam Ersson has also looked mostly solid, but he will need a reliable tandem partner to avoid breaking down physically.

Aside from the team's penalty kill, which has been outstanding and ranks third in the league, a lot of the numbers still aren't very pretty thanks to the club's slow start that included four losses where they surrendered six goals, and a few other instances where opponents controlled play against them. But the tide looks to be turning in the right direction as the team ups its shot totals, gets better defensively, and most importantly is simply finding ways to win games.

To be clear, there is still much room for improvement, as the team has gotten disappointing production from players like Joel Farabee and Tyson Foerster so far, all things considered. Meanwhile, Morgan Frost has been an absolute no-show, Sean Couturier has no goals and four assists in 17 games when you take away his 5-point performance against Minnesota, and Jamie Drysdale's future remains a concern thanks to uneven play and yet another injury.

But the steady play of Rasmus Ristolainen and Nick Seeler on the blueline has stabilized the club to a degree, helping Travis Sanheim start to break out so much that John Tortorella is calling for Hockey Canada to take a hard look at him for the 4 Nations Face-Off roster. And despite overall concerns with the aforementioned offensive players as well as Owen Tippett, who has been unable to find consistency in his game, Travis Konecny can be accurately described as fantastic so far and has been earning every bit of his big contract. It's hard to say if the good outweighs the bad at this point of the season with the Flyers, but optimists (rare among Philly sports fans) would point out that there is realistic room for this team to grow into an actual playoff contender this year.

The Flyers have merely clawed their way back to "NHL .500" at 8-8-2, so it's not time to plan any parades yet. But much of the lineup is showing that they can be counted on, there are still promising prospects in the system, and the team is loaded up with draft picks for next year to weaponize as they see fit. The Flyers will also become players in free agency once again, thanks to dead cap hits and other retained money coming off the books this year and next.

Is the tide turning for the Flyers, finally? We have 64 more games to get an answer, but it's looking hopeful at the moment.