The Flyers made the playoffs in 2025-26, finishing 43-27-12, but one familiar problem kept hanging over everything they did: the power play still wasn’t good enough.
That unit has been a sore spot for years, and this season didn’t bring the kind of turnaround the team needed. Philadelphia finished at about 15.7 percent with 37 goals on 235 opportunities, which left it near the bottom of the NHL at 32nd or close to it. The numbers were still well below league average, and the search for consistency never really ended.
The frustration only grew in the playoffs. In a key loss to the Hurricanes, the Flyers went 0-for-5 on the power play and even gave up short-handed goals against. It was the kind of night that put the problem right back in the spotlight.
What makes the whole thing more annoying is that the roster does have skill. Travis Konecny led the team in points, Trevor Zegras brings playmaking ability, Matvei Michkov is in the mix, and Owen Tippett adds more offensive punch. On the back end, Cam York and others have power-play upside as well.
Still, the execution never looked clean. The criticism has stayed pretty consistent: the setups feel stale, too much of the action gets pushed to the perimeter, zone entries are slow, there isn’t enough net-front presence, and the puck movement doesn’t get quick enough to create dangerous looks. Too often, the whole thing looks predictable and easy to defend.
The Flyers also went into the offseason needing more talent to help solve it. A viable 1C who can move the puck and win key draws, along with a power-play quarterback on defense, were both seen as needs. But it appears the Flyers will get neither of them.
Rick Tocchet and assistants like Jaroslav Svejkovsky were brought in, in part, to fix this area. Tocchet’s success in Vancouver was part of the appeal, but the first year brought mixed results.
So the Flyers head into the next season with a playoff berth on the resume and a very obvious ceiling attached to it. The power play remains one of the biggest holes on the roster, and until that changes, it’s going to keep limiting what this team can become.
The hope is that offseason additions, better use of young talent and some tactical adjustments can finally move the needle. If not, the same old numbers will be back in the conversation for 2026-27.
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