Tocchet Sees ‘Power Forward’ in Owen Tippett’s Early Hot Streak

Rick Tocchet knows a thing or two about NHL power forwards.

After Owen Tippett extended his goal streak to three consecutive games in a win over the Seattle Kraken, the first phrase Tocchet used to speak about Tippett was the one that defined the head coach's own 18-year NHL career.

Tippett has taken hold of the clean slate under his new head coach with five goals in six games to open the season.

Can a player with the raw tools most NHL players would kill for finally leap from contributor to star in 2025-26?

The centerpiece of the return package in the Claude Giroux deal showed the dynamic skill set in his first two full seasons in Philadelphia that had made him the 10th-overall pick five years before the deal.

Tippett scored 27 goals in 2022-23 and 28 goals in 2023-24. His rare mix of speed and power on top of his heavy shot set a high ceiling for a bright future. However, he stagnated his pursuit toward that ceiling last season, his first on an eight-year contract worth $6.2 million in annual value.

NHL organizations expect players to run with the vote of confidence after signing the big ticket. Instead, factors inside and outside Tippett’s control limited his dynamic scoring.

He attempted fewer shots, hit the net with a lower percentage of the attempts, and finished only 20 times, his lowest goal total since joining the Flyers. His 188 shots on goal in 77 games fell drastically short of his 289 in 2023-24, when he set a career high in goals.

Tippett took a punishing hit from Brenden Dillon of the New Jersey Devils in late January, and a resulting upper-body injury slowed him through the 4 Nations Face-Off Break in February. Tippett also spoke as much as any teammates about the morale impact after the Flyers traded well-liked veterans Joel Farabee, Morgan Frost, Scott Laughton, and Erik Johnson.

Trades are part of the unforgiving nature of life in the NHL. Front offices usually look for younger players to fill the void by stepping into vacant leadership roles. The door was wide open for Tippett after he turned 26 in February.

Tippett recorded the highest skating skating speed in the NHL in 2023-24, and his top speed last season ranked in the 96th percentile of all skaters. His blazing shot velocity ranked in the 92nd percentile, and his stocky 6-foot-2 frame gives him an advantage most NHL wingers crave in a bruising physical game.

However, he didn’t convince anyone in 2025-26 he deserved the constant attention of opponents as a dangerous goal scorer, a voice in the team’s leadership group, or a bigger role in the organization’s rebuild as an undisputed top-six cornerstone.

Tippett surprisingly spoke with satisfaction at his end of season media availability. The outrageous set of raw tools and the $6.2 million cap hit set a higher bar that he didn’t give proper credit to by referring to 2025-26 as a “pretty good year.”

26 years old isn’t young by NHL standards. An organization constantly emphasizing internal development instead saw stunted growth from a high-priced player in his prime age years.

The Flyers limped through the Ron Hextall and Chuck Fletcher regimes with an awkward acceptance of mediocrity. The malaise led Danny Briere and the new front office to trust the most demanding coach in the NHL to push players past their comfort level.

John Tortorella seemingly mastered the focus on internal player development as a key piece of the rebuild when the Flyers took major strides into playoff contention in 2023-24.

Owen Tippett, Cam York, and Tyson Foerster broke out as contributors in the middle or top of an NHL lineup early in their careers. However, all three players dipped during Tortorella’s 73 games behind the bench in 2024-25.

How will Rick Tocchet change the dynamic with Tippett, a player Tortorella challenged to decide himself how good he wants to be? The new head coach's leadership and instruction style might resonate better after the underwhelming season in 2024-25.

The clock is ticking whether Tippett realizes his age or not, and he’s hit the ground running this season. He scored four goals in the final three games of Philadelphia’s first homestand. He threaded the needle over reigning Vezina winner Connor Hellebuyck’s shoulder with a laser, but he's also simply thrown a few pucks toward the net to feed the scoring momentum.

The freight train winger buried Tye Kartye with a punishing center ice hit in the second period on top of a two-goal effort against the Kraken. The hot streak should encourage optimism, and Tippett spoke about how it feeds his confidence.

Tippett downplayed the impact of some elements of his game feeding his improvement early in the season. He called his higher shot volume “situational” instead of an intentional focus to increase his numbers from 2024-25. He previously told 97.5 The Fanatic early last season that he believes the media fixates a little too closely on his shot selection.

While Tocchet mentioned conversations with his player about physicality opening up space for a power forward, Tippett lightened the emphasis on big hits as a way to engage in the game.

Owen Tippett knows how to find the back of the net, and his scoring surge to begin the 2025-26 season shouldn’t surprise anyone who’s seen his raw tools on the ice. However, the seventh-year NHLer will now have to demonstrate trust in his skill set when lower-percentage shots from off angles or deflections don’t find the back of the net through stretches of an 82-game season.

His ability to respond to the inevitable droughts that goal-scorers face with physical play, persistent shot attempts, or aggressive speed bursts for scoring chances would demonstrate self-trust in the skill set of a good player with the potential to become a great player.