Flyers could soon be staring at NHL’s longest active playoff drought

Things don’t seem as dour for the Philadelphia Flyers as they did one month ago. The long pause for the Olympics looks like it has served them well, as they’ve won three out of four games since the NHL restarted, pushing themselves at least back to the cusp of the playoff conversation.

In the bigger picture, however, it doesn’t look good. Even with their recent improved play, the Flyers are still looking up at three teams above them who they’d need to leapfrog just to capture the last wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. Fans can hope, but with just 22 games left, it’s very much a long shot that the Orange and Black return to the postseason for the first time since the ‘bubble’ playoffs in 2020.

If this happens, the Flyers will set a new franchise mark for futility by missing the playoffs for a sixth consecutive season. Beyond that, extending this skid could make them look even worse on a leaguewide stage when it comes to the longest playoff droughts around the NHL.

Despite improved play since the Olympics, the Flyers could still be contending for the longest playoff drought in the NHL.

The Buffalo Sabres currently hold that title, with 14 straight misses on their record. They haven’t made the playoffs since 2011 when they lost to the Flyers in the first round and immediately gave Ville Leino a disastrous contract after he scored the overtime winner in Game 6 and a proverbial ‘dagger’ goal in Game 7 of that series against them. It was the kind of signing that only usually happens to the Flyers, and the Sabres have seemingly been paying for it ever since. Things are different this year, however, as the Sabres look to be safely ensconced in a playoff spot. They almost assuredly will finally put this thing to bed, and the ‘longest drought’ label would move down a rung to…

The Detroit Red Wings. At this point, it’s almost hard to remember how much winning this franchise did in the 1990s and 2000s, but it’s been a lean decade in the Motor City. The Wings haven’t made the postseason dance since 2016, and yet here they are high up in the standings as well. It certainly looks like Detroit will be playing its first ever playoff games at Little Caesars Arena (which opened in 2017) this spring, so scratch them off the list as well.

We then move to the Anaheim Ducks, who have undergone a slow rebuild since their last postseason appearance in 2018. This year, they started off hot, hit a wall, but have surged since mid-January to vault themselves not only into a playoff position but with a real chance to win their extremely underwhelming division. With Cutter Gauthier leading the team in scoring (ugh), the Ducks are sitting pretty with just over 20 games to go. They look like they’ll remove themselves from this list in short order.

The torch then passes to the San Jose Sharks, who have bottomed out since their last trip to the playoffs in 2019. All that losing has netted them a fantastic young core, however, led by MVP candidate Macklin Celebrini. The Sharks are currently on the outside of the Western Conference playoff picture, but they have games in hand on the teams above them, so this could come down to the wire. If they do just barely miss the cut this season, they are still a team who looks primed to make the jump in 2027 and then stick around as a formidable contender for years. Even if they have to wear the mantle of ‘longest drought’ for a year, they’ll take it, because the future certainly looks bright in San Jose.

Finally, we arrive at the Flyers, and at least they have company here. Since last making the playoffs in 2020, as we’re all painfully aware, the Flyers have only ever come close one time since. That was the 2023-24 campaign where they overachieved for most of the year, then endured an 0-6-2 skid down the stretch. They somehow still had a chance on the last day of the regular season, but it wasn’t meant to be.

Aside from portions of that year, it’s been spinning wheels for half a decade in Philadelphia. Meanwhile, the other teams who last made the playoffs in 2020 — Chicago, Columbus, and Arizona/Utah — all have their own stories to tell.

For the Blackhawks, it’ll be another miss this year, but at least they have Connor Bedard in tow and can build around him. The Blue Jackets are right there with the Flyers in the standings, but they also seem pretty rudderless. Chances are they’ll miss again this year and extend their misery along with the Flyers and Blackhawks. But the Mammoth are looking strong and are better than a 50/50 bet to make the playoff field this year. The NHL is very weird about the whole Mammoth/Coyotes thing and technically considers Utah an expansion team, but they did inherit Arizona’s players so it only seems fair to consider them a continuation of the Coyotes’ playoff drought. It looks like that discussion will end this year, though.

We are left with this: The Flyers are very likely to come much closer to having the longest playoff drought in the league by the end of this regular season. They won’t be alone at the top, and it’s likely that there will be at least one team that is still ahead of them outright. But we could be looking at a situation as soon as next year where the Flyers are the last team left standing that hasn’t made the postseason since the 2020 bubble.

There are pieces in place and others on the way that will aid the team in their quest to avoid such ignominity, but it wouldn’t be a good look for a franchise so big on pointing to a tradition of winning by playing ‘the Flyer way’. Some will decry the Flyers’ reluctance to fully tank so that they can climb as high as possible in the draft, but the team has set a course that depends on getting to the playoffs soon.

Let’s hope it happens, and that the Flyers aren’t an "easy out" once they finally get back there. That’s not likely this season, but recent developments could bode well for the immediate future. We’ve seen this before, however, so it’s valid to wonder when it will finally stick. For now, the Flyers will avoid the ‘longest drought’ tag, but it’s coming soon if things don’t improve.