97.5 The Fanatic Flyers Roundup: Playoff Contenders, Cutter Gauthier
Cutter Gauthier continues to rise through the ranks as one of the top prospects in the NHL with another strong performance for Team USA at the World Juniors. The outlook on the future during the first organizational rebuild in Philadelphia Flyers history is trending in the right direction.
John Tortorella and the 2023-24 Flyers are more worried about the present. They continue to keep pace in playoff position in a competitive Metropolitan Division landscape.
According to NBC Sports Philadelphia, over 84% of NHL teams that occupied a playoff position on Christmas Eve since the league expanded to a 16-team playoff format in 1979-80 have made the postseason. Could the Flyers shock the NHL with a playoff berth?
- Friday 12/22: Detroit Red Wings 7, Flyers 6 (SO)
- Thursday 12/28: Flyers 4, Vancouver Canucks 1
Flyers Sink Canucks
The Flyers returned from the NHL’s Christmas pause to face the Vancouver Canucks, a team tied for the most points in the league at the unofficial midway point of the season. Three heroes that you would’ve called unlikely just a few short months ago helped Philadelphia to a complete effort in a 4-1 victory.
Egor Zamula got a struggling power-play unit going with a goal from the point to start the scoring late in the second period. Sean Walker quickly pumped in another. Bobby Brink then forced a neutral zone turnover to finish the barrage. The rookie fed Joel Farabee for Philadelphia’s third goal in a 2:06 stretch.
On Christmas Day in 2022, the Flyers owned a cringy 3-20-4 combined record in road games immediately following the holiday pause dating back to the 2014-15 season. The dreaded “Disney On Ice” road trip seemed like a curse in Flyers fandom while the Mouse occupied the Wells Fargo Center.
Tortorella already reversed the narrative with a 4-0-0 West Coast sweep in his first season in Philadelphia. If the Flyers keep winning and ignoring outside noise, his fiery style will mesh flawlessly with the fan base.
World Juniors
The top prospects in the sport capture the attention of the hockey world every holiday season at the World Juniors. Cutter Gauthier, Oliver Bonk, and Alex Ciernik represent the Flyers prospect pool in Sweden this year.
Cutter Gauthier, the fifth-overall pick in 2022, notched four assists in two victories with Team USA to begin the tournament. Bonk has also helped Canada cruise to a 2-0-0 record. Ciernik and Team Slovakia look like a dark horse to compete for a medal.
The IIHF will not allow Russia to compete. The unfortunate reality of world politics therefore prevents Philadelphia’s top prospect Matvei Michkov from playing in the tournament.
Exceptional pass from Gauthier after Buium gives and goes into zone with speed. Goalie probably should’ve saved shot but it goes in.
— James Iacovone (@JimIkeHW) December 28, 2023
pic.twitter.com/v5MzzovPuV
Looking Ahead
You heard legendary color commentator Steve Coates on 97.5 The Fanatic for years, and his replacement Todd Fedoruk has jumped in seamlessly next to play-by-play announcer Tim Saunders.
Enjoy an… interesting… version of Coatsey’s Corner that aligns with their loveable sense of humor before you hear Fedoruk and Saunders back on the call Friday night.
- Friday 12/29: @ Seattle Kraken, 10pm on 93.3 WMMR
- Sunday 12/31: @ Calgary Flames, 8pm on 97.5 The Fanatic
- Tuesday 1/2: @ Edmonton Oilers, 9pm on 93.3 WMMR
- Thursday 1/4: vs. Columbus Blue Jackets, 7pm on 97.5 The Fanatic
97.5 The Fanatic, the flagship radio partner of the Philadelphia Flyers, provides a weekly roundup with news, analysis, and the outlook on the 2023-24 season.
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.
