The Philadelphia Flyers have reached the “down the stretch” period of their surprising 2023-24 campaign, but they recently relinquished third place in the Metropolitan to the Washington Capitals.
It’s also worth noting a few teams remain six points or even closer to Philadelphia, so this season isn’t over yet. But regardless of what happens between now and the final game of their 82-game slate, we can confidently say this group exceeded expectations.
As underdogs all season, the Flyers will enter the NHL playoffs with a chip on their shoulders should they make it there, and that could carry them to an upset (or two) in what would turn into an unprecedented deep playoff run. But it won’t stop general manager Daniel Briere from continuing to tear this team down, something that started at the trade deadline last month.
Some notable Flyers players won’t return for 2024-25
Plenty of Flyers players entered the rumor mill during the start of the calendar year, and those rumors persisted until the deadline came and went. Morgan Frost was a youngster who may have heard his name mentioned a time or two, but unlike the three players listed in this slideshow, it’s hard to see him going anywhere now.
For a while, Frost looked like a disappointment, scoring just 16 points and five goals in 2021-22, albeit displaying a hitter’s mentality and breaking up plays. Last season, he showed more potential with 46 points and 19 goals in 81 games, and that upward trend productivity-wise has continued well into this season with 40 points and 12 goals.
At even strength, Frost has been on the ice 40 times when the Flyers have scored, which is just a shade below his 41.8 xGF and 10 more than the number of goals allowed with an xGA of 26.7. This gives him a possession quality of plus-15.1 at even strength, which is nearly 12 higher than what we saw last season.
That said, you should be surprised if Frost didn’t return because Briere traded him elsewhere, but that won’t be the case with the following three players.