97.5 The Fanatic Flyers Roundup: Unlikely Winning Stretch, Carter Hart’s Frustration
Some people are starting to believe. The Philadelphia Flyers are tied for second place in the Metropolitan Division, occupying a playoff spot in the Metropolitan Division. Is the rebuild ahead of schedule? Are the Flyers for real?
- Saturday 12/9: Flyers 5, Colorado Avalanche 2
- Tuesday 12/12: Nashville Predators 3, Flyers 2 (OT)
- Thursday 12/14: Flyers 4, Washington Capitals 3 (SO)
Riding a Hot Streak
The Flyers hit the low point of the 2023-24 season in a loss to the lowly San Jose Shakes on Nov. 7. They looked like a much different team against the Avalanche in Denver on Saturday. Travis Konecny scored twice to sink a team that won a Stanley Cup less than 18 months ago.
The win improved their record to 11-3-2 since the embarrassing loss at the Shark Tank. John Tortorella has this team playing with structure and intensity. They’ve built an identity as an excellent shot-blocking team, a heavy emphasis of their head coach.
Tim Saunders and Todd Fedoruk even spoke on the 97.5 The Fanatic broadcast about the Nashville Predators deliberately sending shots from high in the Philadelphia zone wide of the net to avoid blocks and settle for getting the puck low below the goal line.
The Flyers have survived with a roster below league average, but their early-season success is no fluke. They rank fourth in the NHL in expected goal share (xGF%) at 5-on-5, the most comprehensive analytical play-driving metric that gives substance to the “ice tilting in their favor” cliche.
They still rank 22nd in scoring, but they’ve kept the puck out of their own net with strong goaltending from Carter Hart and Sam Ersson. Travis Sanheim has also led a blue line outperforming expectations.
Sharp Contrast: Danny Briere, Carter Hart
Will a flawed roster continue the hot streak? The odds still aren’t great. Three division teams with superior talent sit close behind the Flyers for the final Metro playoff spot.
However, don’t let it spoil the positivity of a team making considerable strides developing young players in-house.
Danny Briere and Carter Hart both gave reasonable outlooks from two different perspectives this week. The rookie general manager spoke on the NBC Sports Philadelphia broadcast with a measured evaluation of the 2023-24 season. Have expectations changed? Will the roster construction strategy at the trade deadline change?
“We know where we are. We’re trying to get out of that rut where we make the playoffs one year (then) we miss (the next). You look at the standings. It’s very, very tight. We know we have a long ways to go, and we’re trying to build a team that’s going to be contenders for years to come, not just for one year… It’s a long season. It feels like it’s flashing by us, but the plan hasn’t changed.” -Danny Briere
Hart, on the other hand, approaches things from a player’s mindset. He has a message (seemingly) for the fans still calling for the Flyers to tank and increase their odds in the NHL Draft Lottery.
“I don’t think anyone wants us to win. That definitely fires us up and fuels the fire to prove everyone wrong. It just strengthens our belief in each other…Everyone’s willing to fight for the guy next to them.”- Carter Hart following the Flyers 5-2 win over Colorado. #PHIvsCOL pic.twitter.com/6uax22HxBI
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) December 10, 2023
Looking Ahead
The Flyers have four games remaining against Eastern Conference opponents before a five-day Christmas break. The infamous “Disney on Ice” trip to the West Coast looms after the holiday.
- Saturday 12/16: vs. Detroit Red Wings 7pm on 93.3 WMMR
- Tuesday 12/19: @ New Jersey Devils 7pm on 97.5 The Fanatic
- Thursday 12/21: vs. Nashville Predators on 97.5 The Fanatic
- Friday 12/22: @ Detroit Red Wings 7pm on 93.3 WMMR
Listen to 97.5 The Fanatic, the flagship radio partner of the Philadelphia Flyers.
The All-Time Roster of Underrated Philadelphia Flyers
Mike Knuble
Peter Forsberg and Simon Gagne were the stars at the top of the lineup coming out of the 2004-05 lockout. However, there are three players on an NHL line.
Mike Knuble spent four seasons with the Flyers from 2005-06 through 2008-09, and he returned for a cup of coffee in 2013. He provided the perfect complement to a crafty playmaker like Forsberg and a finesse star like Gagne. He scored a career-high 34 goals in his first season in Philadelphia and followed it up with 24, 29, and 27 goals in the next three seasons, respectively.
Knuble knew his role as a garbage goal-scorer, and he played it damn well. He added 14 points in 24 playoff games with the Flyers, including an overtime game-winning goal against the Washington Capitals in 2008.
Kimmo Timonen
The NHL still associates the Broad Street Bullies mentality with the Flyers. Players like Chris Pronger feed into the identity of the fan base. The 6-foot-6 defenseman resonated with the fans perfectly as a fearless, powerful defenseman who became the workhorse on the Philadelphia blue line during the run to the 2010 Stanley Cup Final.
Kimmo Timonen didn’t have the same reputation. The Finnish puck mover was more of a classy guy off the ice who didn’t bring as much grit as Pronger, but he actually had a longer run as the top blueliner in Philadelphia.
The Flyers acquired Timonen as part of a series of trades with the Nashville Predators that pulled them out of the disaster of the 2006-07 season. He averaged over 20 minutes of ice time in each of his seven playoff series wins with the Flyers. Only Mark Howe and Eric Desjardins scored more points among defensemen in franchise history.
Dan McGillis
Hockey in the late 1990s and early 2000s required more physical defensemen while modern roster construction prioritizes puck movers on the blue line. The Flyers acquired 6-foot-3, 220-pounder Dan McGillis in 1998 during a window of Stanley Cup contention.
McGillis played 380 regular-season and playoff games in orange and black. He was the physical presence a contending team needed, but you won’t see his name in the franchise record books too often.
Stay-at-home defensemen are harder to glorify than offensive catalysts. McGillis recorded a career-high 49 points in 2000-01, and it’s no coincidence that it was the only one of his nine NHL seasons when he received Norris Trophy votes.
Steve Mason
Anyone who follows the Flyers knows the notorious reputation of the “Goalie Graveyard” in Philadelphia. The revolving door of goaltenders reached its peak with the Ilya Bryzgalov nightmare that ended in 2013, right around the time the Flyers really started to lose popularity in the Philadelphia sports landscape.
Coincidentally, the Flyers acquired Steve Mason in 2013. He spent four seasons as the top option between the pipes for forgettable Flyers teams that never won a playoff series.
Mason wasn’t some Vezina Trophy winner who would reverse the “Goalie Graveyard” narrative. He was never going to demand the attention of casual hockey fans in Philadelphia who were only interested in a contending team, but he was the type of solid goaltender for a good period of time that the Flyers haven’t usually had.
Daymond Langkow
It’s tough to identify any reason why Daymond Langkow is underrated. Like Joffrey Lupul and Sami Kapanen, he doesn’t seem to come up in conversations about the Flyers too often. The NHL journeyman notched at least 50 points in each of his two full regular seasons in Philadelphia.
He helped the Flyers advance to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final in 2000 with 10 points in 16 games during the playoff run.
The Daymond Langkow trade tree had remarkable ripple effects on the franchise. The return package acquired from the Phoenix Coyotes in 2001 indirectly led to the acquisitions of Jeff Carter, Jakub Voracek, Sean Couturier, Cam Atkinson, Jason Smith, Joffrey Lupul, and Chris Pronger.
