The Flyers may have spent the last few years trying to patch over the same old problem, but Tuesday’s practice offered a real glimpse at how they might attack it differently this season.
Rick Tocchet has already made it clear he wants the coaching staff thinking creatively about the power play after Philadelphia finished dead last in the league last season at 15.7%. So when the Flyers rolled out a group featuring Trevor Zegras, Porter Martone, Tyson Foerster, Matvei Michkov, and Jamie Drysdale, it felt less like a random drill and more like a test run for something bigger. Travis Sanheim also rotated in for Drysdale at the point, while Travis Konecny got a look in Martone’s spot.
There’s another name in the mix, too. David Jiricek was heading to Boston for Tuesday night’s preseason game during the practice, and his shot gives him a real chance to factor into the top unit as well. If he makes the roster out of camp, which he should given his waiver status, he’s likely to land on one of the two power-play groups.
The most interesting part of the setup was the way Philadelphia tried to pair Zegras and Michkov. They’re both left-hand shots who naturally want that right-side space on the man advantage, and the Flyers clearly want to make room for both.
Last season, the two played 72:07 together on the power play, and the numbers were encouraging: 12 goals for and two against in that span, which worked out to 9.98 goals per 60 minutes. That was better than the 6.35 G/60 with Zegras alone over 170:01, and far ahead of the 2.87 G/60 with just Michkov over 104:34.
Michkov’s sophomore season was still productive despite the dip, with 20 goals and 51 points. Zegras, meanwhile, rebounded in a big way with a career-high 26 goals and 67 points. Zegras also did plenty of damage on the power play, finishing with 10 goals and 13 assists there, while Michkov had four power-play goals and eight power-play assists.
The Flyers’ practice setup showed one way to make the fit work. As Charlie O’Connor noted, Zegras was on the right half-wall while Michkov was also on the right side, but lower and closer to the far post, with the puck moving through him below the goal line. That kind of alignment gives Michkov several choices: feed it back to Zegras, take the puck to the net himself, or slip it to a bumper player for a quick slot chance.
That bumper role is another wrinkle the Flyers are testing. In one drill, Michkov and Martone worked together with Yogi Svejkovský, with Martone stationed in the bumper. His frame in that spot can help open things up, though Konecny has been used there too.
Michkov has already stood out in camp, and that’s before the Flyers have even leaned heavily on him on the power play. If he can create from the goal line the way they’re experimenting with now, it could give Philadelphia’s man advantage a much-needed lift.
And that matters. The Flyers have lived with the idea that average goaltending and average special teams would have pushed them into the playoffs in recent years.
They got the goaltending last season and barely made it in. If the power play climbs to league-average territory, or even around 20th in the league at 20%, that would amount to roughly four or five more goals per 100 chances, or about 10 extra goals across last season’s 235 opportunities.
That kind of bump can swing games fast. It can protect a lead, erase a deficit, or turn a close night into points in the standings.
It also showed up in the playoffs, where the Flyers had a 5-on-3 chance in Game 3 against the Hurricanes and instead watched Carolina go the other way and score in a 1-1 game. Convert there, and the whole night could have looked different.
For now, though, the Flyers still have to get there. In a crowded Metropolitan Division and an 84-game season where every point will matter, a real power-play jump might be one of the cleanest ways for them to do it.
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A batch of veterans has now been pushed into the waiver process, which underscores how crowded the picture remains as the final spots come into focus. One name in particular stands out because he had been practicing in a more NHL-facing role, and his situation could matter if the Flyers need more room for a younger winger who is not fully set for opening night. [Read more 🡒]