The Flyers are heading into next season with plenty of belief, but the path back to the Stanley Cup playoffs in 2027 is still narrow. After a 2025-26 campaign that ended with a trip to the second round, Philadelphia didn’t make a long list of offseason moves, and that means the margin for error is already thin.
A $90 million offer sheet for Leo Carlsson would have altered the franchise’s outlook in a major way, both now and later. Anaheim refused to budge and kept its franchise centerpiece. Beyond that, the Flyers did land a potential upgrade in goal if Joseph Woll stays healthy, and Noel Acciari gives them a more versatile replacement for Garnet Hathaway, who is on the decline.
But the biggest issues remain the ones that can make or break a season.
The power play has to stop dragging the team down. Philadelphia finished last season with the worst power play in the NHL and allowed the fourth-most shorthanded goals. That simply won’t cut it if the Flyers want to keep pace with teams like the Washington Capitals, who finished outside the playoffs last season, owned the eighth-worst power play, allowed the third-most shorthanded goals, and then added Jordan Kyrou, Alex Tuch, and Boone Jenner in free agency.
The Flyers are counting on young talent to change that equation. Rookie Porter Martone is essentially stepping in for Bobby Brink, who was traded to Minnesota for David Jiricek at the NHL trade deadline.
Martone, 19, is expected to have a roster spot locked down. Jiricek, 22, will have to beat out Simon Benoit and/or Oliver Bonk for a job and ice time, but his offensive skill gives him a real shot to earn the edge when training camp opens next month.
A full season from Martone and a breakout from Jiricek would give Philadelphia a much better chance of escaping the league’s power-play basement.
Health may matter even more.
Sam Ersson’s season as Dan Vladar’s backup wasn’t enough. Ersson went 14-11-5 in 29 starts and 33 games, and while he finished better than he started, the overall body of work left the Flyers wanting more.
Vladar, meanwhile, appeared in 52 regular-season games last year, but from 2021 through 2025 he never played more than 30 in a season. Philadelphia needs him to stay available and somehow match last year’s 29-14-7 record, 2.42 GAA, and .906 save percentage.
Joseph Woll is no different. The former Toronto Maple Leafs goalie played 39 games last season, 42 the year before, and 25 the year before that.
The talent is obvious, but injuries and inconsistency have followed him. If something goes wrong, the fallback is the inexperienced Aleksei Kolosov, and that’s a risk the Flyers can’t afford to lean on.
At the center of it all is Matvei Michkov.
The 21-year-old was Philadelphia’s leading scorer after the Olympic break last season, and that stretch lined up directly with the team’s late push into a playoff spot in Game 81. Before that surge, MoneyPuck had the Flyers at just 3.8% to make the postseason. That number became a talking point because nobody expected them to get there, but the truth is simpler: they were mediocre until Michkov and a few others caught fire over the final three months.
Even in what was described as a bad season, Michkov still posted 20 goals, 31 assists, and 51 points in 81 games. He also scored four fewer power-play goals and five fewer power-play points than he did as a rookie. With a summer of hard training ahead, a better understanding of where he needs to improve physically, and another full season of adjustment under his belt, he has a chance to take a real step forward in Year 3.
Philadelphia needs that step. Without Michkov driving the attack, the offense looks much thinner, and the Flyers know it.
In Other News...
Flyers May Have A Buy Low Center Option Worth Watching
The Flyers search for a top-six center is already shaping up to be one of the bigger roster questions heading into the 2026-27 season, and it has opened the door to some buy-low possibilities around the league. One name worth keeping in the conversation is Connor Zary, a young center in Calgary whose profile fits the kind of swing Philadelphia could explore if it wants to add upside without paying full price.
Zary has shown enough in his past work to suggest there could still be another level to unlock, which is exactly why he is drawing trade buzz. For a Flyers team trying to map out its future down the middle, a player like that makes sense as a candidate to watch, even if the fit and the cost end up determining whether the idea goes any further. [Read more 🡒]
Flyers 2020 Draft Class Says Plenty About How That Era Went
The 2020 NHL Draft was supposed to be a meaningful pivot point for the Flyers, a chance to restock the pipeline and give the organization a cleaner future. Instead, looking back at that class now says a lot about how uneven that era turned out to be. Philadelphia made five selections, and while Tyson Foerster has grown into a notable contributor at the NHL level, the rest of the group has mostly taken a more complicated path through pro hockey.
Emil Andrae did reach the NHL before eventually being dealt to the Toronto Maple Leafs, while the other picks have spent their time largely in the AHL and ECHL, with some no longer in the Flyers organization at all. It is the kind of draft haul that reflects both the hope teams attach to that weekend and the long, often messy reality that follows, especially for a club still sorting through the legacy of those years. [Read more 🡒]
Flyers Still Have One Intriguing Young Center Trade Option
The Flyers still have work to do if they want to add more young center depth, and the search does not have to stop with free agency or the draft. Philadelphia can still poke around the trade market, where age and upside matter just as much as immediate help, and that keeps a few intriguing names in play for a club trying to build a deeper middle down the line.
One possible path runs through San Jose, where a promising young center has started to turn a strong AHL season into real attention around the league. For the Flyers, the appeal is obvious: a player with size, skill and room to grow could fit the kind of long-term roster puzzle they are trying to solve. The harder part is getting him out of an organization that has every reason to value what he brings, which is why this remains more of an idea than a completed move for now. [Read more 🡒]