The Flyers entered this season thinking wing was their safest, deepest spot. Matvei Michkov and Porter Martone are two of the most talented under-22 players in the league.
Travis Konecny and Owen Tippett are reliable 25-goal scorers, with Konecny usually around 70 points. Tyson Foerster should be good for at least that kind of production, maybe more.
Denver Barkey and Alex Bump also flashed real promise down the stretch last season.
And then the first five games happened.
Suddenly, Philadelphia felt the need to add a winger four games into the season - a pretty blunt sign of how rough the start has been. Part of that comes down to simple availability, with goaltending holding up and centers and defensemen being harder to land. But the move also says plenty about the state of the roster right now.
Danny Briére put it plainly about the Bunting signing: “It’s not like - it’s not a panic move, it’s just like, look, this is not good enough, guys.”
Michael Bunting is the addition. He’s 31, a left winger who didn’t become a full-time NHL player until the 2021-22 season, and he’s already bounced through six NHL teams. None of those stops has lasted more than two seasons, and he hasn’t spent a full season with just one team since 2022-23, when he was coming off a breakout run with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
On paper, that might look like an odd fit for a club that was supposed to be loaded on the wing. But Bunting brings a few things Philadelphia badly needs.
The biggest is scoring. The Flyers have managed just six goals through five games, and Bunting played in one of them. That’s the same total as Edmonton defenseman Evan Bouchard by himself, and the Flyers would happily take any kind of offensive lift right now.
Bunting isn’t going to carry an attack on his own, but he can help chip away at the problem. Since he broke out with 10 goals in 21 games for the Arizona Coyotes in 2020-21 under Rick Tocchet, he has hit double digits every season and usually pushes toward 20. Last year’s 14 goals were a career low over a full season, though his output had been on pace for more before it fell off after a midseason move to the Dallas Stars.
What makes him useful is where he does his damage. Bunting lives around the crease, and that’s an area the Flyers can use more of.
Martone projects well there, but he’s still only a rookie. NHL EDGE has consistently shown Bunting generating shots and goals in high-danger areas, right around or directly in front of the net.
His finishing has bounced around a bit, but he’s far from a poor scorer.
The other thing Philadelphia seems to be missing is edge. The start to the season has felt flat, even by early-season standards. It’s not just about big hits - though Rasmus Ristolainen did flatten Sidney Crosby just before the Flyers gave up their first goal of the season - it’s about the lack of the bite they showed late last year, when they were scraping and clawing to stay alive in the playoff race.
Briére said that’s where his concern begins, saying, “There’s lots of issues, but for me it starts with (compete level). You raise your compete level, a lot of things will fall into place. … Just a little too casual from our guys to start the season.”
Bunting fits that need, too. He isn’t a big hitter, but he’s the kind of forward who will stir things up after the whistle and jump into scrums without hesitation. If you spend that much time around the front of the net, you’d better be willing to handle the rough stuff, and Bunting clearly does.
For his Flyers debut on Thursday, he started on the fourth line alongside Noah Cates and Noel Acciari and also got time on the second power-play unit.
That role could grow in a hurry. Travis Konecny got hurt Thursday and will be out at least through the weekend, which opens a path for more minutes. Nikita Grebenkin, meanwhile, won’t be available for at least four months after back surgery, with the absence stretching back to March.
In Other News...
Flyers Early Skid Is Already Raising Bigger Questions About This Roster
Seven games into the season, the Flyers are already facing the kind of early turbulence that can change the conversation around a roster fast. Their latest loss came against the Carolina Hurricanes, extending a rough start that has left Philadelphia searching for any kind of rhythm or consistency while the goals and results keep piling up in the wrong direction.
The numbers have been hard to ignore, with the club struggling to finish chances and get much going on special teams, and coach Rick Tocchet has been blunt about the need for patience and improvement. Players are saying the right things about sticking with it, but the bigger question now is whether this is simply an ugly opening stretch or a sign of deeper problems that this group has to sort out before the hole gets much harder to climb out of. [Read more 🡒]
Flyers Frustration With Rick Tocchet Just Reached Another Level
The early-season spiral in Philadelphia kept getting uglier in Raleigh, where the Flyers dropped a 4-1 decision to the Carolina Hurricanes and saw another lineup experiment go sideways. Prospect defenseman Oliver Bonk was elevated to the top defensive pairing and had a rough night, a move that only added to the sense that the team is searching for answers in real time as the losses pile up and the frustration grows louder.
Rick Tocchets decisions are now under a harsher spotlight because the results have left so little room for patience. With the offense sputtering, the defense unsettled and the group still waiting for a clean response, the Flyers look stuck between development and damage control, and the bigger concern is that the season is already drifting in a direction no one around the team can afford to ignore. [Read more 🡒]
Flyers Coaching Speculation Just Got More Frustrating After 0-7 Start
Seven straight losses have put the Flyers in an ugly early-season hole, and the frustration around the team has already started to spill into familiar territory. When a club opens this way, the first place fans often look is behind the bench, and John Tortorellas name has been central to the speculation as Philadelphia searches for any sign of a reset.
For now, though, the noise may be louder than the reality. Reports from Sportsnets Elliotte Friedman suggest a coaching change is not considered likely at this moment, which leaves the Flyers in the awkward spot of being mired near the bottom of the standings without an obvious short-term fix. NHL history has plenty of unusual midseason moves, but this one appears headed toward patience for the time being, with the bigger question centered on how long the team can ride out the slump before something more dramatic becomes unavoidable. [Read more 🡒]