Up next in 10
Philadelphia Flyers 2024-25 NHL Season Preview | The Hockey Writers Roundtable
2K views
Sep 4, 2024
Host Mike Fink welcomes Philadelphia Flyers writer Justin Giampietro to The Hockey Writers Roundtable to preview the upcoming 2024-25 NHL season. 0:00 Intro 1:05 Are the Flyers still rebuilding? 2:20 Forwards - Storylines/Burning Questions 8:03 Flyers' Defense 12:06 Goaltending - Ersson & Fedotov 16:36 How do the Flyers stack up in the Metro Division? Quick Fire 18:27 Biggest Storyline/Question Mark Going Into 2024-25 18:44 Breakout Stars 18:51 One Player That Needs to Bounce Back 18:57 Potential X-Factors 19:03 Rookie/Prospect That Could Surprise & Make the Team 19:20 Prospects To Watch 19:37 Bold Prediction/Hot Take 20:06 Who will lead the team in scoring (forwards & defense)? 20:36 Where will the Flyers finish in the East?
View Video Transcript
0:00
Hello, everybody, and welcome to the Hockey Riders season previews
0:05
We are now up to the Philadelphia Flyers, and I'm joined by Justin Gianpietro
0:10
has been covering the Flyers for a while now at the hockey riders. So, hey, Justin, how are you doing
0:16
It's the summer. So how are things been going for you? I mean, the only thing I'm worried about is I'm excited for the season to start
0:26
Right now, it's still two months out as we're recording this. but I'm happy to be on
0:30
I'm happy to preview the team. It's a really exciting time for the Flyers, finally
0:35
It feels like it's been forever. It does feel that way. I kind of want to ask about that because the Flyers enter this season a unique spot
0:44
We know how last season went where they were good in the first half. It looked like, oh, wow, Torterrell's got this rebuild, Brierrez got this whole thing planned out
0:53
They're poised for a playoff spot. They fall apart in the second half
0:58
Some people would still say they're a rebuilding team. Some people would still say, no, they're ready to compete out
1:05
Where are the Flyers based on one last season heading into this season
1:09
Really, all the offseason stuff also. Where do you see the Flyers heading into the season
1:15
Well, to me, a huge indicator of their direction was the Travis Connecting extension in the offseason
1:22
If you're rebuilding, I find it hard to justify giving a player of his age
1:28
age, a player with who plays the style he does, doesn't really tend to age well as you get
1:34
into the 30s, the mid-30s. They give him an eight-year deal. He's going to be 28 when that starts
1:40
To me, that indicates, you know, you're kind of going for this. You know, obviously we're going to get into it
1:46
Matt Van Meachkov is here. He's in Philly. I feel like they kind of, you know, want to build around him
1:53
You know, they said that him coming over is not really going to alter their process, but
1:57
you know you had a team that almost made the playoffs you add a player like that and you kind of
2:02
keep your roster intact i feel like they're i would call it a retool you know they're trying to get
2:08
younger um their draft um they stockpiled picks for this upcoming season so it'll be interesting
2:16
to see what they um what they do with that yeah and you mentioned connect me you mentioned micha
2:22
and those really are the two boards that dominate the storylines i guess
2:27
heading the season because the way a lot of people look at the flyers is Mishikov's here
2:31
he's the guy he's the next player to build around he's the player that they're
2:35
going to build their Ford unit round but what what looking at them because most
2:40
most hockey fans I guess know about Travis Kineckney because they've wanted them
2:45
they put trade rumors out putting them connecting on their team at some point
2:49
doesn't look like that's going to be happening most people know about maybe Farab maybe maybe
2:54
I mean they know about Mitchkhov they know about how he's coming up in the ranks. What is what are the what is the what is the what are the main themes or
3:04
storylines of that of the forward group coming into the season? Well I think your biggest one and
3:10
the big one that I think a lot of people on more so the outside media are looking at are how
3:16
the relationship between John Torterrella a very defensive heavy 200 foot game kind of coach
3:23
and then you add a player like mitchcov who whose biggest weakness coming out of the KHL was kind of his defense
3:33
I mean, I'm not too concerned about his defense personally, but it is a weakness of his game right now
3:40
And really, me personally, this is just me, I'm not too concerned about it, that relationship
3:48
I mean, those are two big personalities. Maybe they clash a little bit. That's really where I'd come from
3:53
That's where my worry would be. but in terms of the whole defensive thing
3:57
I think something that people need to realize is how lenient Tortorella can be when it comes to that stuff
4:05
You look at a player like Connect Me. He was never good defensively before Tortorella
4:12
but he really shifted his game into an offensive role. He is today a gambler
4:18
He loves to anticipate the play, and sometimes he sacrifices chances in the time
4:24
defensive zone when he does that he there's plenty of film showing him um i guess being very
4:31
aggressive a lot of the time it really did help the flyers offense but sometimes you know they
4:35
give a goal here and there but it was worth it to tortarella and he didn't bench connect me when
4:40
he made these mistakes now he encourages it is he encourages these actions so with mitchcock he kind
4:46
of plays a similar style in that way so i wouldn't really be too i guess worried about the whole
4:52
defensive thing. I mean, there are some ways in which he can improve, and it'll be a
4:58
battle, I think, but ultimately, I'm not too worried about that, you know
5:04
that storyline, but it will be something to monitor. Yeah. Is, with Mitch Cove
5:10
and with Connectnate, is this forward unit, is this group ready to compete, compete
5:16
with the rest of the Eastern Conference, or what do you think of the biggest issues? I mean
5:21
do they have, is, do they have, like their center position figured out what are their issues for unit wise or is it is it a unit
5:28
ready to compete well there are some pros and cons with the forward core first of all they only they were only 27th in in terms of goals they were second last in shooting percentage They didn shoot very well And they overall just weren I guess very great offensively
5:46
But I think the big issue is your center depth there. People look at somebody like Couturier
5:55
He is your first line center entering this season. And he showed a lot of promise
5:59
In the first half, he was really, like, genuinely a good first-line center
6:05
But then he suffered a sports hernia somewhere along there. He didn't specify when exactly that was
6:10
But I'm guessing January, February, that's just my speculation around that area
6:15
And after that, that's when your collapse started. I mean, there were other reasons for that
6:20
But not having a true first-line center, that destroyed them. So if Kuturi's not healthy, that's an issue
6:28
I mean, other than that, it's not a particularly great center court, but it is, I guess, passable because you have a lot of good wingers
6:34
You have Tyson Forrester, you have Owen Tippett, who I think could take a step up this year
6:39
You know, obviously, connect me. We talked about, we talked about Farabee a little bit. So, yeah, there are some pieces there
6:46
And one last point I want to get to is the Flyers finally have a shutdown line
6:52
They haven't had that, to me, in years. Like, I can't remember the last time they've had a true defensive line that they could rely on
7:00
that they could put out in all situations. We can't be exactly confident how much John Torrella will use the line of Noah Cates
7:10
Ryan Paling, and Garnett Hathaway. That was the really big shutdown line toward the second half of the year
7:15
And it was very successful. You know, they were taking on big minutes more than those guys should probably be taken on
7:21
But they were reliable. So that's just like another aspect of the forward core, I think
7:27
So it's more so defensively minded, I guess. in that way, but there are pros, there are cons
7:34
But overall, you want to be, I guess, a little bit more skeptical about that core
7:41
Yeah, and I think having a defense line like that is great for Tortorella, just because if he, I mean, if he's not happy with the way Mishkov's playing
7:48
or the way Kinectne is playing, they're struggling a defense. And he'll just, he has no problem benching them for a few shifts
7:57
and playing that defensive forward group and for a few shifts. I guess shifting to the defensive unit
8:05
there is some, you look at that unit, it's a lot of promise
8:09
a lot of young, good skaters. I mean, Drysdale's the one that people know about because they got him in the big
8:14
trade with Cutter-Goti, which I guess that's a whole can of worms that open
8:18
We don't need to dive into that. But Drysdale's a good young defenseman
8:22
They have other, I mean, obviously they have some good pieces, Where do you see, how do you see the defense shaping up this year
8:31
Well, really the defense was a very surprising strength last year. I think a lot of people on the outside will be like
8:39
that doesn't look like a good defense. But if you really look at it, I mean, the offense wasn't scoring
8:44
and they were second worst and say percentage. So the outlier here is the defense
8:48
They played very well. There are two guys in particular I want to look at
8:52
but overall it's just a pretty solid core. there's a little bit of upside
8:59
I'm going to look at first Cam York. He's a player who he was a second pairing guy in 2022-23
9:06
and he gets that extra boost in terms of workload. His first real season as a first pairing defenseman
9:12
and he was pretty good. There's a little bit more upside, I think, that he can unlock
9:18
because you look at his offense. He sacrificed that to play more defensively oriented
9:25
because at the end of the year, he was playing over 25 minutes a game from March to the end of the season
9:31
So he was really sacrificing that offense, limiting himself so he could play more defensively minded
9:38
He did score 30 points, which isn't bad, but you look at the more advanced metrics
9:44
He wasn't really providing that offense. It was more so his defensive partner, Travis Sandheim
9:49
So there's a lot of upside with Cam York. I think, you know, he showed that
9:55
that he's shown that before he just didn't show that last season so i think now that he's really
9:59
used to that first pairing role maybe we could see a boost in the offensive production and you know
10:05
that could really take the flyers far they could really use that offense um and also j sixtale
10:11
that's the other guy i want to look at very similar in terms of um the boost i guess in offense
10:17
but jami drysdale is a very his game is offense particularly his skating is something the flyers really
10:24
haven't seen. I can't remember they've had a skater as good as he is. And we typically
10:32
view skating as an offensive kind of asset, but he uses it for defense as well. I remember
10:40
a play where he was skating back really fast to cover a player like Matt Barzal, who's very
10:46
fast. And it, you know, it works at both ends of the ice. And if he is healthy, which he wasn't
10:51
He was suffering a sports hernia, just like a tourier, but him, it was the entire season
10:56
He was never once healthy. The Flyers had not seen Jamie Drysdale at full health at what he can be
11:04
There is so much promise with a player like that. He's only 22 still
11:09
And you know he showed some promise on the power play He was very good He just didn get the points You figure that out If he can get the health in place I think that can be a very good addition to your defense in a sense
11:24
Because he really wasn't, you know, he really wasn't there last season. So, yeah, I'm excited to see York Drysdale in particular
11:30
and just see how that defense meshes together. It really does feel like a unit that could be the difference maker for them
11:38
And it really, it could. It's one of those things with the flyers that when they traded pro
11:43
prove-off, people like, oh, they're going to fall apart defensively, and it end up doing the opposite where they gave those young skaters some time
11:50
And this unit, I think, it really, it can actually just, it helps out their goaltending a lot to the point where it could cover up what was a weak link
12:01
what was something that they struggled with last year. And I guess like segueing into the goaltending a bit
12:08
what what what what is the state of the gold ending we know what happened last year where with carterhart
12:13
he wasn't he wasn't he was removed from the team and they had urson they kind of had didn't really have
12:20
a steady unit so i mean with the defense helping out how do you see the goaltending
12:26
looking how does it look heading into the season well it's so hard to predict the goaltending
12:34
particularly because Harrison at his best, and we're talking about a pretty long span from about November 2nd to January 18th
12:43
He was at a 931 save percentage. He was really one of the best goaltenders in the league at that point for a good portion of the season when he was getting, you know, starting every other game
12:55
He looked really, really good. He was really the starter at that point
13:00
And, you know, you wanted to see an increase in workload. and then the whole situation happened
13:06
And then after that, that's when things took a turn. He was starting, you know, he went from starting every other game to every game
13:14
about like 85% of the games. And what happened there was he just, I guess he got exhausted
13:19
He couldn't play like he was anymore. And the reason why he was playing so much is because the Flyers really didn't have a backup
13:27
Cal Peterson, they put him in very rarely. He didn't play well when he was put in
13:32
he wasn't even very good in the AHL. So you put a subpar
13:36
AHL goalie in the NHL. Yeah, that didn't go well. Felix Sandstrom, another guy who was
13:42
subpar in the HL and then they sent him up to the NHL. They just didn't have an option
13:47
Excuse me, not Kolosov. I'll get into him in a little bit. Fedotov, their backup now
13:54
you know, he's a backup. They finally have a backup, at least they hope
13:58
There's a lot of question marks around him. He missed his entire
14:03
2022, 23 season due to military service in Russia, which was just
14:08
such a weird situation, of course, right? And then in the KHL last season
14:14
he was okay, but again, he didn't play the year before. So it really is a huge
14:20
wild card with him. But if he can be just play and maybe play good
14:26
then, you know, then Ersson can come in and be the starter and
14:30
be what he can be instead of being overworked. So there's a lot of upside, but it could go bad
14:35
It really could go bad. An HL goalie that maybe could surprise some people is Alexei Kolsoff
14:42
If he's with the team, there have been, there's been some drama around whether he's
14:48
terminating his contract because some homesickness, that's what some people are saying
14:53
It's just so many rumors that there's really no conclusive evidence as to what he's doing
14:59
but if he is in the H.L. And maybe Fideltoff struggles, or maybe Erson struggles, who knows
15:05
that could be a guy you look at, a young guy with some upside. But yeah, there's, it's really an uncertain position
15:12
And that really is where the Flyers season boils down to. If they can have even average goaltending, I think, you know
15:18
you could be looking at a pretty good team. But if they struggle again, then maybe they, you know
15:22
maybe they struggle as a team again. So what is the plan slash should be the plan
15:28
because based on what last season showed, Erson cannot take on not starting workload
15:35
but a majority, a huge surplus of starts. But he's good when he splits starts
15:40
which is what the first half of the season was, and he's good if you can maybe make him a starter
15:44
but not the key starter or the one who you overwork. What should their plan be in that
15:51
I think, I mean, if I had to estimate, I would say Erson gets around 50 games
15:56
because he started around 50 last season, but he wasn't starting at all in October
16:03
He started like two games out of their first nine, and he didn't play well because he just wasn't getting in
16:08
And then he started here and there, and then he started a ton
16:12
So it was all over the place. But if you can have a more cohesive workload
16:16
I think 50 works for him that Othoff, I guess, would be around 30 in that sense
16:22
Erson is your starter, barring anything. you know, if he really, really struggles, which I don't expect, but it could happen
16:29
So, yeah, but that's my plan, like a 50-30 type of workload
16:34
Yeah. And, I mean, if they figure out goaltending, it's kind of good at the interesting things to the
16:39
Flyers is that if they figure out gold-hending, are they one of those teams that can
16:43
surprise a lot of us in the Metro? But last year in the first half of the season when they were in third place everyone was like is this are these the real Flyers or these that where do you see I mean where do you see the flyers in general And if they figure out goaltending does that change of our conversation Is that the thing that if they changed that that changed the conversation
17:02
about them? There are just so many factors. That's just one of them. Yeah. Everything can't go
17:08
right for them. We can all say that, oh, their goaltending could be good and their center depth can be
17:12
good. But things happen. It's random things happen throughout a season that you really can't predict
17:18
but they were they weren't just some fluke team last season they played extremely well at five
17:25
on five and even strength they dominated their opposition pretty much every game the only issue
17:30
was they didn't have the talent to really take advantage of chances they didn't have the talent
17:35
in goal toward the end of the season to make those big saves so you know i mean i have them
17:41
personally around the they're going to be one of those teams to me that's competing for a
17:45
playoff spot again. You know, you look at teams like the Islanders, the Sabres, the Senators, all those teams
17:52
I think they're kind of in that mix. I mean, biously, I'd probably have them a little bit ahead, but I think I'll get into
17:57
that later. But yeah, they're just kind of in that bubble range
18:01
You can't definitively put them in the playoffs or really, to me, definitively put
18:05
them out of the playoffs. Yeah, it really feels that way, not just to the Metro, but Eastern Conference in general
18:12
So we'll segue over to some quick fire. quick fire questions and
18:18
with the first, just the first thing comes to your mind, quick one sentence
18:22
on each of these quick fire questions. First one, biggest storyline coming into the season
18:28
for the season. I think I talked about Mujkov here with Torterrella to me. That's the
18:35
biggest storyline. Biggest question mark. How Sean Gatoria will do. Any breakout stars or breakout can
18:45
any breakout players who can surprise us? Owen Tippett. One player who must bounce back after last season
18:54
Scott Lawton. Any X-Factors, make or break the season? Drysdale. Surprise rookies or prospects who can take over this roster
19:08
Who can make the roster? To me, the roster is mostly set, but I think Amil André could maybe make that step
19:15
to the roster. With that segueing over, any prospects or any prospects in the AHL to monitor, any prospects
19:25
that they just drafted, anyone in the pipeline to keep an eye out for
19:30
To me, an underrated prospect, Carter Sutheran of the WHL for the Portland Winter Hawks
19:36
Any hot takes or bold predictions that you have in back your head
19:42
We'll say that Drysdale gets 40 assists. 40 assists. My bold prediction with the flyers would be Matt Vaymichkov
19:53
you know, really really bursts on, becomes the next career for pre-resolve
19:57
That's something the flyers would hope for. No one else in the Metro would be rooting for
20:01
All right, let's, time for some predictions. Who leads, who on the forward unit leads the team in points
20:10
I'll go with the conservative answer here and go Travis Connecting. Is he leading them in goals and assists also
20:20
I'll say that he leads them in goals and I'll say Drysdale leads them as assist because I said 40
20:28
So leading defensemen in points then I guess it would be Drysdale
20:34
All right, prediction where do you see them finishing at the end of the season
20:39
All right I've done predictions for pretty much all the teams I've looked at everybody
20:45
I have them, you can call it bias, whatever. I have them eighth place in the conference
20:51
and I have them just squeaking into the playoffs with 97 points. Who do you have them pass
20:57
Like, who's right behind them? That's kind of what I'm curious. Or who's right in front of them? Where are they sandwiched between
21:02
It's kind of what I'm. So I have a lot of teams that are, a lot of your contenders
21:07
Like, they're kind of separated from the contenders. They're just kind of just ahead of these wildcar teams
21:13
like the onlanders, they could be in the mix, the penguins, the capitals, the sabres, the senators
21:17
all those teams, I'll say they just finished right ahead of those teams
21:21
and behind teams like maybe the devils, the lightning, those kinds of teams
21:27
I guess one last question is, what could be the reason, what's the biggest thing that could keep them out in the playoffs
21:33
What's the issue that could hold them back this season? Mainly injuries
21:37
I mean, that's for everybody, but there's a particular issue for the flyers
21:43
in terms of injuries. Yeah, it seems like, not that they don't have depth
21:47
but if they lose a key player, it's harder for them to cover up that issue
21:52
then say, another team, other teams in the conference and really in the NHL would
21:58
I guess that's all we got. We covered pretty much everything. So thank you for
22:04
thank you everyone for watching. Please like, comment, and subscribe, and check out all of the content at the Hockey Writers
22:12
check out our substack content. Justin is a constant contributor to both the Flyers team page and the substack page for the for the flyers
22:25
And tune in next time for another great preview. Thank you
#Hockey
#Team Sports