Fearless forecast for the Flyers’ 2023-24 season originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
With changes in leadership this offseason, the Flyers will start a new, rebuilding era Thursday night.
“I am promising you that we’re going to get it right, together,” Flyers president of hockey operations Keith Jones said at a decorated press conference in May. “This is not my team. This is our team. And I look forward to working with everybody, everyone that’s here. The Philadelphia Flyers are coming back.”
The club opens the 2023-24 season against the Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP).
So let’s provide our Flyers Fearless Forecast, featuring projections for how the team will finish and a random assortment of bold predictions from NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Brooke Destra, Joe Fordyce and Jordan Hall.
Destra
Flyers prediction/Cup prediction
It seems like the Flyers have completely flown under the radar moving into the 2023-24 season. No, I’m not going to sit here and say they’re going to shock the league and come out on top of the Metropolitan Division — that’s just silly. However, I don’t think they’re going to be nearly as bad as many are anticipating.
They have a healthy Cam Atkinson and Sean Couturier (yes, it’s a big deal). With their returns, there was enough talent at the forward position that the Flyers had to make the choice to waive Wade Allison (luckily, he cleared — something I wasn’t expecting). The Flyers will start the season off with a nice balance of youth and veterans. Offensively, I don’t have many concerns … when you look to the blue line, though, that’s where the red flags come in.
I believe Cam York will step up with his new responsibility, but the rest of the defense is truly up in the air. How will Marc Staal mesh with this roster? Will Travis Sanheim put the pieces back together to stabilize his game? It’s definitely my biggest concern at the moment.
The Flyers won’t make the playoffs but something keeps telling me it’s going to be closer than you think — maybe even just a few points out of the second wild-card spot. Crazy, I know.
I fully believe the Metro will be the most exciting division to watch this season and, ultimately, either the Hurricanes or Devils will represent the East. As far as the West, I think the Stars have unfinished business after getting bounced in the conference final against Vegas.
Give me Devils vs. Stars … with Dallas taking it home.
Konecny repeats … and then some
Travis Konecny finally reached the 30-goal milestone last season with only 60 games under his belt. It was a hurdle he was going to get over eventually and a bright spot in an otherwise dim year.
Imagine what he could accomplish with a full 82 games?
Forty goals. That’s what I imagine.
It will truly be a new era of orange
I’m going to keep this one simple — and it’s not really a bold prediction for this specific season but for the next few years. The ongoing joke of being two to three years away from being two to three years away is finally going to come to an end.
There is already a new energy surrounding this organization … and that’s step one.
Take the 2023-24 season as the starting line for the next three years. We’ll see this team round out into a true competitor. The Flyers are getting younger, faster and more aggressive on all fronts.
It’s the most excited I’ve been for Flyers hockey in a hot minute. Let the growing begin.
Fordyce
Flyers prediction/Cup prediction
The Flyers’ messaging has been clear since the moment Danny Briere took over for Chuck Fletcher — this is a rebuild, not a teardown. They’re going to do it the right way, even though it may take some time.
That message got only stronger when Jones took over as team president. He is aligned with Briere and head coach John Tortorella, showing that the Flyers’ hierarchy is realistic about where this team is and focused on the same goals.
With that said, I believe this year’s Flyers team will be more competitive than last season’s team. Last season, it became clear there were certain players who were not going to wear the orange and black going forward. It seemed clear to those players, as well, and I believe it may have affected the competitive level of the team at times.
This season, two veterans in Couturier and Atkinson return and combine with an infusion of youth. While I believe this team won’t look much different in the standings, it will look quite a bit different on the ice. However, I’m not going with any bold predictions this year, and believe that the Flyers will finish 10th in the Eastern Conference, finishing with 78 points.
When you look at the NHL as a whole, there are teams from each conference that stand out to me and this will be the year they seize their opportunity.
In the East, several teams — the Rangers and Bruins to name two — have had their opportunities to win a Stanley Cup recently and haven’t done so. This year, I think it’s the Devils, led by the dynamic Jack Hughes, to make that jump.
In the West, much has been made about Jack Campbell’s offseason and his motivation to perform for the Oilers as the team moves back to him as its starting goaltender. I think this year it all comes together, with Edmonton tightening up on defense and getting solid goaltending. And the offense with Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and others will be there to bring it home.
Oilers over the Devils in the Stanley Cup Final.
Konecny takes another jump
What I see for the season ahead is a motivated Konecny, returning this year after battling injuries last season, and reaching the 35-goal mark.
There goes that Cam
Cam York will grab a hold of that No. 1 defenseman label and power play quarterback, and run with it. York indicated on media day what last year was like for him. From not making the team out of camp to what it was like when he did come up to the Flyers, York’s experience will motivate the young defenseman to play with something to prove.
This year, the training wheels are off and I’m looking for a big year from York — just what the Flyers need as they move forward.
Hall
Flyers prediction/Cup prediction
In 2022-23, the Flyers didn’t have Couturier or Atkinson and were coming off a 57-loss, 61-point season (25-46-11). But they found a way to stay relevant in the standings going into February and finished the season with 75 points (31-38-13).
This season, Couturier and Atkinson are healthy to open the year. The club has some of its better prospects pushing for full-time roles. And, rebuild or not, Tortorella is still a coach with competitive genes and a fire to win.
It will be fascinating to watch how the Flyers try to balance the everyday desire to win with following through on their rebuilding promises. That is not an easy balance to strike.
“We’re not tanking any games, we’re not trying to lose on purpose,” Briere said in September. “We’re going to do things, obviously, for the future, but at the same time we expect these guys to go out and win every game.”
With the potential for better health, younger players having a chance to take another step and a goalie like Carter Hart, a realistic jump for the Flyers could be 81 points. Let’s say they go 35-36-11. That wouldn’t be a terrible thing for their rebuild. They’d see progress and still have a chance at a top-10 draft pick in 2024.
As for the Stanley Cup, after their disappointing first-round exit last season, Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar will drive a motivated Colorado team back to the Stanley Cup Final. The Avalanche will square off with Peter Laviolette’s Rangers and win in six games, giving them their second title in three years.
Breakout on the back end
Sanheim is still a Flyer and poised for a career season. He’s at a prime age, he’s going to quarterback a power play unit and he’ll play close to top-pair minutes.
Over the previous three seasons, Sanheim saw just 36 seconds a game on the power play. Last season, he played under 20 and a half minutes a night. Those numbers should change this season after the Flyers’ rebuilding summer.
With an increased role and plenty of motivation from the past year, the 27-year-old defenseman will have a good opportunity to put up double-digit goals and 40-plus points.
Not so young … yet
Staying on the blue-line theme, the Flyers have said they want to see more youth in their defense.
“We’re going to have some horror shows at night in certain games with our young back end,” Tortorella said last month at the start of training camp. “But we’re going to work with them, we’re going to live through some of the mistakes and see what we have there.”
However, the Flyers’ defense isn’t going to look particularly young at the start of the season. In fact, a real youth movement defensively might not happen until February or March.
Staal, Nick Seeler and Sean Walker are all veteran defensemen on expiring contracts. All three could be attractive to contending clubs at the March 8 trade deadline.
That’s when the Flyers will actually have a much younger look on their blue line. So it could take some time because the Flyers do have competitive, defensive-minded veterans who are going to challenge the club’s decision-makers.
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