The Flyers can talk about playoffs all they want in 2026-27, but one thing is going to decide whether that talk turns into reality: the power play.
Philadelphia enters the season with bigger expectations than it had a year ago. The goal is no longer simply to hope for a postseason berth.
The team is looking at it as something that should happen. That still won’t be simple, even with hopes that Dan Vladar can repeat most of what he did in his first season with the Flyers, or at least stay close to those numbers, and that Joseph Woll can absorb whatever remains.
They’re also banking on a healthy year from Tyson Foerster, a strong first full season from Porter Martone, and a big bounce-back from Matvei Michkov. If those pieces line up, the Flyers should be in decent position once March and April arrive.
But none of that matters much if the man advantage stays stuck in the mud.
The Flyers were dead last in 2025-26 on the power play, finishing at 15.7 per cent. That wasn’t a one-year blip, either.
Philadelphia has finished dead last four of the last five seasons, and that kind of repeated failure doesn’t just show up in the standings - it hangs over the group. John Tortorella couldn’t fix it.
Rocky Thompson couldn’t fix it. In their first season with the club, Rick Tocchet and Jaroslav “Yogi” Svejkovsky didn’t have a real solution beyond continuing to try.
That’s the problem the Flyers have to solve if they want to do more than just scrape into the postseason. The numbers are brutal.
Of the eight Eastern Conference teams that made the playoffs, the next-worst power play in the regular season was Buffalo at 19.5 per cent, good for 20th overall. Everyone else was at least five percentage points better than Philadelphia.
Carolina checked in at 24.9 per cent, fourth-best in the league. The gap was massive.
And if the Flyers can’t at least make the power play respectable, a playoff run becomes even harder to imagine. Championship teams usually have some juice on the man advantage.
The last 10 Stanley Cup winners were typically in the top half of the league on the power play, and most were in the top 10. The exceptions were Pittsburgh in 2015-16 at 16th, Vegas in 2022-23 at 18th, and Florida in 2024-25 at 13th.
The lesson is pretty clear: if the power play isn’t working, winning 16 playoff games is possible, but it’s a long shot.
Philadelphia’s own numbers show how much the issue matters. The Flyers got 37 power play goals last season out of 240 total goals, which means the man advantage accounted for just 15.4 per cent of their scoring.
That’s not a weapon. That’s a drain.
More often than not, the power play became a momentum killer instead of a lift.
For a team built on structure, that matters even more. Tocchet’s defensive system is tight, but a functioning power play gives that style more breathing room.
It changes how games feel. A one-goal deficit doesn’t loom quite as large if the team can count on a man-advantage chance to flip the script.
It also helps a goaltender like Vladar settle in, knowing his team has a way to answer if it falls behind. And the Flyers scored first only about one-third of the time last season.
If the power play starts producing, that number could move much closer to 50 per cent.
Nobody is asking for Edmonton-style fireworks. A 30 per cent power play over 82 games would be fantasy.
What Philadelphia needs is something steadier and more credible - a stretch of games here and there where the unit actually looks dangerous, not just stuck in neutral. Another season finishing at or near the bottom of the league would have to be viewed as a major failure, no matter how many good looks or open chances get wasted.
There is a path to real improvement. Ten more power play goals than last season would put the Flyers at 47, a total that would have cracked the top 20 in 2025-26.
Fifteen more would push them to 52, which could land them in the middle of the pack. That would be a meaningful jump, and if Philadelphia can climb into the teens in the league rankings, it would count as a major win.
The younger players could be part of the answer. Michkov, Martone, Trevor Zegras, Denver Barkey, and Bump haven’t been around long enough to carry the baggage of the last half-decade. Fresh legs, fresh ideas, fresh confidence - that may be exactly what this group needs after so much of the same old result.
And there’s no reason to wait around for the change to happen later. The Flyers need the power play to start moving in the right direction right away.
If it does, everything else around the team gets a little easier. If it doesn’t, the same problem that has haunted them for years will be waiting again.
In Other News...
Flyers Prospect Jack Murtagh Still Leaves One Big Question
Jack Murtaghs first season at Boston University gave the Flyers a useful starting point, but not much in the way of clarity. The 2025 second-round pick finished with 6 goals and 5 assists in 35 games, a modest line that also reflected a BU team that struggled to produce offense across the board. For Philadelphia, the season was less about big numbers and more about getting a first look at how the young forward handles college hockey and the pace that comes with it.
The bigger issue is still the same one the Flyers and outside evaluators have had since draft day: what kind of player Murtagh ultimately becomes. His value lies in projection right now, because his freshman year showed development without fully defining his game. Even with a season in the books, he remains a prospect whose long-term role and ceiling are still very much open to interpretation. [Read more 🡒]
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Barkey appears headed for a bottom-six spot, where the Flyers would be hoping his puck skills translate into a steadier point total as he settles in. Bump, meanwhile, has the kind of upside that can change the feel of a young forward group quickly, with a breakout season and power-play time both in play if his development keeps moving the right way. For a team still building toward a clearer identity, the possibility that these two are becoming real NHL pieces matters just as much as any single training camp battle. [Read more 🡒]
Flyers Just Sent A Clear Message About Their Direction
The Flyers spent the summer making their intentions plain, locking in three players who figure to sit near the center of the franchises next phase. Trevor Zegras, Dan Vladar and Jamie Drysdale all landed long-term extensions, a sign the front office is not interested in treating this as another short-term reset. Instead, Philadelphia is betting on stability and continuity as it tries to turn its young core into something more durable.
Zegras four-year deal, Vladars five-year extension and Drysdales new long-term contract give the Flyers a clearer picture of what the roster is supposed to look like moving forward. Moves like these do not solve everything on their own, but they do show a team trying to define its direction and commit to it, rather than leave its future to another round of constant change. [Read more 🡒]