Flyers predictions for 2024-25 NHL season – NBC Sports Philadelphia

There are many compelling components to the Flyers’ 2024-25 season, which begins Friday night in Vancouver, British Columbia.

It’s Year 3 of the John Tortorella era and Year 1 of the Matvei Michkov era. Does this mean a four-year playoff drought is coming to an end? Or are the Flyers even deeper in the rebuild?

“I think we still have a lot of work to do as we continue to build,” Tortorella said last week. “We are still building. I’m just not making that much progress. That’s just hockey speak, right? ‘Yes, we’re here to win a Stanley Cup.’ I don’t believe in that. We have so much to do with our team before we even start talking about it.

Before the club opens the season against the Canucks (10 p.m. ET/NBCSP), we take a look at our Flyers Fearless Forecast, featuring predictions for the team’s finish and a random selection of bold predictions from Brooke Destra, Joe Fordyce and NBC Sports Philadelphia Jordan Hall.

Destra

Flyers Prediction/Cup Prediction

Ready or not, playoff hockey returns to South Philly for the first time since April 2018. Yes, the Flyers made the postseason in the 2020 bubble — but it wasn’t the same. The drought will end and in this new era of Orange you will see what it is like to play in front of a roaring sell-out crowd.

Despite last season’s late decline, the Flyers still finished the year with 87 points (38-33-11). This year, with 93, they will break the 90-point mark for the first time since 2017-18 and secure a wildcard spot.

Once they’re in? Who knows. Anything is possible – but don’t count it as a first-round exit.

Is this the season when Connor McDavid can finally cross winning the Stanley Cup off his to-do list? Last season he finally got a glimpse of playing for the Cup in the Finals, and 2024-25 is the year he finally leads the Oilers to the promised land.
In a six-game series, Edmonton will defeat the Rangers and win the Cup for the first time since 1990.

New hardware in Philly

It’s hard to believe that in the 56 years of this organization, not a single player has taken home the Calder Memorial Trophy. That changes in 2024-25.

The biggest storyline of the season is no secret – Michkov. The 19-year-old’s first season in the NHL comes years before anyone expected it. There have been many instances over the past decade-plus for this Flyers club where expectations, if any, have fallen short of expectations. Michkov is about to break this cycle by breaking down the door in his rookie season.

It won’t be an easy rookie class to compete against either. People will be keeping an eye on cutter Gauthier from the Ducks and Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith from the Sharks, among others. It’ll be a fun, added element to keep an eye on all season long, that’s for sure.

From the basement

I’ll chalk this up to positive manifestations and wishful thinking…but something has to happen this season. The power play has been abysmal, averaging last in the league over the past six seasons. It was as bad as it could be.

This is the season that changes. Don’t expect the Flyers to climb into the top three – but realistically they should find a home in the middle of the group. I truly believe that if the Flyers had scored a dozen more power play goals last season, it could have impacted their playoff chances.

This year, fans won’t be afraid every time they go for the man advantage – but they will be optimistic. It will be a nice (and necessary) change.

Fordyce

Flyers Prediction/Cup Prediction

While this Flyers season will certainly provide excitement with Michkov’s arrival, we cannot view the Flyers’ rebuild and progress in a vacuum. Still, I think the Flyers will narrowly miss the playoffs with a winning record, but the East is full of good teams as always and I don’t think the Flyers are quite there yet.

The Flyers’ goaltending is a big question mark. Samuel Ersson is entering his first season as starting goalkeeper. How many games will he have to start? Nobody knows, but it will be a lot. Ivan Fedotov is so far an unknown with limited NHL experience (one career start).

This is a different NHL than when Martin Brodeur started almost every game. You need two goalies and there’s no better proof of that than last year’s playoffs.

Stanley Cup Prediction: Stars over Rangers.

I feel like I’m 40

My #1 boldest prediction for the Flyers is that Travis Konecny will finally reach and surpass the 40-goal mark in a season. At various points over the past two seasons, Konecny has been on pace to score more than 40 goals. Injuries and goal failures meant that he did not achieve his goal.

With the two-time All-Star’s offseason contract extension and his new leadership role on this team, I believe Konecny will take some responsibility for this team and have his best season ever.

There’s this camera

My second bold prediction is that this will be the season where Cam York emerges not only as a true first-pair defender, but also as a PP1 quarterback at this point. There’s a reason York was a good pick in the first round and I think this will be the year he shows that from the start of the season.

room

Flyers Prediction/Cup Prediction

The rebuilding Flyers made a 12-point jump from Year 1 to Year 2 under Tortorella and missed the playoffs on the final day of the regular season after losing nine of their last 11 games.

The head coach now has a dynamic member of his squad and is entering his third season, a season in which he has historically performed very well with his teams.

• Third full season with Lightning 2003–04: 106 points, Stanley Cup champions

• Third full season with the Rangers 2011-12: 109 points, appearance in the Eastern Conference Finals

• Third full season with Blue Jackets 2018-19: 98 points, advance to second round

Combine Tortorella’s third-year track record with Michkov’s quick arrival and the Flyers will make the playoffs for the first time since the 2020 bubble. In training camp and preseason, the extremely talented winger was better than advertised and even exceeded Danny Briere’s expectations. In some ways, Michkov is like a significant addition to the free agent team.

The Flyers are expected to have 12 players age 25 or younger on their season-opening roster. There’s a lot of familiarity from last season as most of the team’s youngsters now know what it’s like to compete in a postseason race.

“I think it’s a big step up,” Flyers assistant coach Brad Shaw said a week and a half ago. “I think the success that this core group had last year, certainly in the first 65, 70 games, gives us a leg up in terms of confidence as well. We kind of have a blueprint for how this is done.”

The Flyers finished the 2023-24 season with 87 points at 38-33-11. A realistic improvement would be 92 points at 42-32-8. That should put them in the dance as a wildcard team with a tough first round matchup and elimination.

As for the Stanley Cup, the Maple Leafs will break through and win their first championship since 1967. Craig Berube gets his second ring as head coach, leading Toronto past the Stars in seven games.

Fara eruption

Joel Farabee is only 24 years old and is getting better and is poised for a big season.

He has gone under the radar and has focused a lot of attention on the other young strikers. But he will have more responsibility for all situations in 2024-25 and also have a little more motivation.

Let’s say 25 goals and 60 points for Farabee, who enters the season with an Ironman streak of 174 games.

Power moves

It’s hard to say what will happen next with the Flyers’ power game. Assistant coach Rocky Thompson has gone to great lengths to alleviate the problems. In the offseason, he gave a “huge presentation” with statistical analysis when the Flyers held an all-hands-on-deck meeting to analyze the man advantage.

The Flyers suffered from their worst power play in the league last season (12.2 percent). And it’s important to note the man-advantage issues that preceded Thompson, who enters his third season in charge of the units. In 2021-22, the season before his arrival, the Flyers had an NHL-worst 12.6 power play percentage.

“With the people we had, it can’t be as bad as this year,” Tortorella said after last season in April. “So we have to look at ourselves here.”

If the Flyers don’t see much improvement on the man advantage, especially with the arrival of Michkov and a healthy Jamie Drysdale, one has to wonder what they’ll try next to find answers.