The OT victory opens the door to an offseason of uncertainty and change
Flyers’ OT win in finale gives way to offseason full of unknowns, inevitable change Original appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Flyers ended a major transitional year Thursday night.
The club ended the 2022-23 campaign with a 5-4 OT victory over the Blackhawks at United Center in Chicago.
Ivan Provorov scored to win the game. This season the Flyers had a 3-12 record in overtime. Two of these three victories occurred in Games 81, and 82.
The Flyers won their first road game since February 20. The team had a 13-20-8 record away from home.
The Flyers are in the process of rebuilding and have missed the postseason for three years running. This is the first time they’ve done so since 1989-1990 to 1993-1994 when they had five consecutive seasons without making the playoffs.
In Year 1 of John Tortorella’s reign, the club was 31-38-13. Chuck Fletcher, the general manager at the time, was fired in March a week after the trade deadline Dave Scott, owner, is at the helm. announced his retirement later that month.
The fifth time in nine final games. Tortorella did not coach Instead, I watched the Thursday night finale from a different vantage point. Darryl Williams, assistant coach of the team, got to take over as bench boss.
With the overtime victory Tuesday nightThe Flyers already secured their place in the odds for the 2023 NHL Draft lottery at number one. 7. There’s a 6.5 per cent chance that they will get the number one overall pick.
The Flyers won both games of their regular season series against the Blackhawks.
Jonathan Toews was a Stanley Cup champion three times with Chicago. played his final game as a Blackhawk And scored a goal.
Felix Sandstrom denied the captain’s breakaway attempt during overtime.
• There was incremental improvement from the Flyers’ disastrous 57-loss 2021-22 season. The Flyers won six additional games and had 14 more points. The team did this without Sean Couturier (back), Cam Atkinson (neck) You can also find out more about the following: Ryan Ellis (pelvic area). They also saw positive changes in younger players.
It is clear that this is not a good enough performance for a team with a much higher standard, and fans who have been extremely patient.
The Flyers were looking to improve their stability this season. What is their stability heading into the off-season?
This summer, the roster will be dominated by Tortorella.
“I look at some of the encouraging and not so encouraging things about our young players. Some of them have grown, some haven’t. Some of the veterans haven’t. This will be discussed,” Tortorella said in March. “For me, adding players to this organization will not be possible until players are removed. I think that there should be some subtraction in this case. These will be discussed at the end the year.”
Changes will occur. The questions are how loud will the changes be to the roster and what will the hockey ops department look like?
We’re going look at all the options to improve our team.” interim GM Danny Briere said in March. “I do not think that this is a simple fix. That’s my belief and that’s why I’m not afraid to use the word rebuild, as long as you all understand those little asterisks — that it’s not a fire sale. It doesn’t mean a fire sale to me.”
• Despite missing 22 games with two separate injuries (right hand; upper body), Konecny reached the 30-goal mark for the first time in his NHL career.
Then he added No. He scored No. The game ended just six minutes after the 30th minute.
Konecny now has 61 total points in 60 games this season (31 goals and 30 assists).
The 26-year old winger is the first Flyers’ player to have scored 30 or more goals during a single season since Couturier did it in 2018-19.
Tippett scored two points, including his 27th, and Morgan Frost had two assists.
Kevin Hayes is the Flyers All-Star for this season. He fell one point short of his 55-point career high set in 2018-19. With Hayes in his prime, turning 31 years old next month and on a rebuilding teamIt’s a legitimate concern about his staying in Philly during the summer.
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• The accomplished and well-liked Justin Braun played what definitely felt like the final game of his 13-year NHL career.
NBC Sports Philadelphia Keith Jones asked Braun if he thought this was the end of the game during the first half. Braun responded, “Yeah. I think that might be it.”
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In a nice touch by the Flyers, they had Braun’s father Paul Braun on the bench during the first period.
The Sharks drafted the 36-year-old as a seventh-round pick in 2007. In his NHL career, he played 842 regular season games and 119 post-season games.
• Sandstrom made 34 saves on 38 shots to pick up his third career NHL win.
Chicago netminder Alex Stalock stopped 31 of the Flyers’ 36 shots.
• Tony DeAngelo was a healthy scratch for the final five games of the season. We touched on the precarious situation last Sunday.
I won’t discuss it with you. He’s out,” Tortorella said Tuesday. “I’ve spoke to him, and he understands where I stand with him.”
This is just another question to ask as we enter an offseason that will be full of them.
• The organization stares down a summer littered with unknowns and to-do items.
The Flyers must first hire a president for hockey operations. Briere’s suitability for the full-time GM position must be determined. He certainly seems to have a clear favorite.
The NHL draft will be held on June 28-29. Free agency starts July 1, at noon ET.
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