Owen Tippett is One Good Takeaway From an Awful Flyers Season

The Flyers wrapped up their home opener Tuesday night at the Wells Fargo Center with an exciting finish. Owen Tippett scored his second goal of the night in overtime to send fans off for the last time this season. Ivan Provorov skated through the neutral zone, found Tippett, and Tippett skated towards the net with a nifty backhand forehand move. It was a very impressive game-winner! 

The purpose of this is less about the Flyers as a team and the win. As we all know, this year was a DISASTER. The questions really are: Who is Owen Tippett? What is his ceiling? Is he a true piece to the future core during this rebuild? 

It’s pretty remarkable what he was able to blossom into this year under John Tortorella. 

Tippett was drafted in the first round, 10th overall, by the Florida Panthers in 2017. His first taste of NHL hockey, he played seven games and only recorded one goal. 

Combined between two seasons after that, he played a total of 87 games with 13 goals. 

When Claude Giroux realized his time was over in Philly, he cornered Chuck Fletcher a bit at the trade deadline. Giroux forced himself to Florida. This led to less teams picking up the phone and made Fletcher’s job harder to maximize a return. 

Enter 24-year-old Owen Tippett. A 6’1 forward with speed. A player who knows how to use his body for leverage. Most importantly, he has a FANTASTIC shot. He can snipe goalies' short side, pick corners far side, protect the puck well, and can generate great looks for his teammates due to the threat of shooting. 

Tippett just wasn’t able to showcase that in Florida. 

It’s amazing how much confidence can do. He flies on the forecheck making it difficult for the opponent's defensemen to break out of their zone and when carrying the puck, enters the offensive zone with a purpose. His skill set can be beneficial to powerplay time, too. (Even though the team didn’t have much success in that department, it’ll be an area to watch him grow) 

In 76 games for the Flyers, Tippett scored 26 goals with one game to go. Plus, he recorded 21 assists. 

I’m not here to sell you Tippett being a superstar, but he is a completely different player than what everyone saw in Florida. He has the ability to be a piece that fixes the franchise we all love. I truly believe he can be a 30-goal scorer. 

See what Andrew Salciunas found in The Audio Vault today. Every day Andrew dives into the Audio Vault to pull out clips and highlights relevant to the day. And today, with it being the last Flyers home game of the year, the whole Anthony Gargano Show was dedicated to the Flyers. It is a low point for the Flyers. Multiple years of losing hockey. And there is not a ton of hope down the road. But Anthony wanted to remind people that they used to be fun. So he called for a Town Hall to take our Flyers back.

Part of that town Hall was the Audio Vault. And instead of focusing on the horrible times we are currently in with the Flyers, they looked back at the good memories. The times when we actually had fun watching them. Even if those moments did not always result in wins, they were at least fun to watch at the time. So Andrew pulled 9 moments of when the Flyers actually gave us joy.

The Broad Street Bullies era. The run to the Stanley Cup in 2010. Eric Lindros battling without a stick. And so much more. Hockey in Philly used to be a good time. They haven't won it all since the '70s. But even between then and now we at least had times when they were exciting. So in hopes of getting back to at least those times, let's revisit the times when we had fun watching hockey in this city.

In 1974, the Flyers won their first Stanley Cup. Affectionately nicknamed The Broad Street Bullies for their aggressive style of play, the Flyers from the 70s gave the organization their two and only Stanely Cups. Led by guys like Bill Barber, Bernie Parent, Dave Schulz, and Bobby Clarke. Most Flyers fans are not old enough to remember them. But even for those too young to have seen them play, they serve as a reminder that this franchise used to win.

Two championships in a row. The only Philly franchise to accomplish that feat, unless you count Eagles Championships or the Philadelphia Athletics. Quite a feat. though with all that said, guys like Bobby Clarke and Bill Barber have had a large hand in getting the Flyers to this low point. Still, we can appreciate what they did as players and also acknowledge they need to stop having any say in the future direction of the franchise.

It would be hard to argue with anyone who said Eric Lindros was the most skilled player to ever wear a Flyers Jersey. And that was on full display in the 1997 playoffs. Lindros lost his stick in a game vs the Penguins. That would usually take players out of a shift. Not Lindros. He held onto the puck, and even finished the shift with a goal after getting his stick back.

Beating the Penguins is always good. Beating them in the playoffs is even better. But beating them in a 5 OT Game? That is what Keith Primeau and the Flyers did in 2000. Game 4 of that Playoff Series was knotted 1-1 through 3 periods of regulation, and 4 of Over Time. But Keith Primeau finally;ly ended the marathon game with this goal.

2010's run did not go the way we wanted it to. But the ride was still so much fun. But that run almost ended before the playoffs. After floundering down the stretch, they were down to their last game of the season. The Rangers held on to a 1-0 lead over the Flyers, until the final period where the Flyers finally lit the lamp. It went to OT, and then to a Shootout. And even that was close. The shootout was tied 1-1. Giroux comes up and nets it. Leaving the Rangers down to just Olli Jokinen with a chance to tie it back up. But Brian Boucher said No, and the Flyers were heading to the playoffs.

If you thought the shootout was tense though, the series vs the Bruins jacked that up to another level. The Flyers went down 0-3 to Bruins. At the time, only 3 American Sports teams have come back in a 7 game Series after losing the first 3 games. The Flyers made that 4. But not only did they come back from a 3-0 hole in the series, they came back from being down 3-0 in game 7 too. It is something you could honestly argue is the best comeback in Sports history, given it was not only a series comeback but also a comeback in game 7.

After this and the shootout, it felt like the Flyers were destined to win.

That magic continued for a moment in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Series vs the Blackhawks. Chicago took games 1 and 2 of the series. And if it wasn't for this Girouz game-winning shot, the Flyers would have been in another 3-0 series holes. But the Flyers were not dead yet. Giroux gave them a little bit of life. While it did not work out for the Flyers, there was fleeting bit of hope after this OT Game Winner.