The Philadelphia Flyers look to be on the rebound after the 2-1 shootout loss to the St. Louis Blues on Monday night. They Flyers were coming off an incredible win against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday. The game concluded as it theoretically should have, with a Flyers win, but they unfortunately had a tough time getting passed the Blues’ goal, Jordan Binnington, and lost the game as Morgan Frost was the lone Flyer that scored in the shootout. The Flyers collected their 1 point for the overtime loss, but now have to face both of Florida’s teams to end out the week. Meanwhile, Philadelphia Flyers’ General Manager, Danny Briere, has made some moves this week that impact the team as the trade deadline ends.
To rip the proverbial band aid off, Brier has traded defenseman Sean Walker to the Colorado Avalanche. Walker played incredibly well for the Flyers this season. He has 22 points (6 goals, 16 assists) and a +9 rating. The Flyers received him from the Los Angeles Kings as a part of the deal that sent former Flyer Ivan Provorov to the Columbus Blue Jackets. He was paired with defenseman Nick Seeler to make a strong 2nd pairing for the Flyers. When together, Seeler and Walker were able to play to their strengths that gave the Flyers a lot of opportunities while backchecking. In return for Walker and a 2026 5th round pick, the Flyers receive a conditional 2025 1st round pick from the Avalanche and Ryan Johansen, but the Flyers waived Johansen.
Losing Walker will definitely impact the Flyers’ blueline. However, the Flyers recalled defenseman prospect, Ronnie Attard, last week. Without Walker, Attard should see more time in the NHL to help further develop him.
In more positive news, Brier resigned Seeler to a 4-year extension for 2.7 million AAV that will start in the 2024-2025 season. Seeler currently leads the league in blocked shots (184 BKS) and will miss his first game of the season due to the last shot he blocked. He took a puck right to the ankle to cut off a scoring opportunity the Blues were pushing for on Monday night.
A defenseman that can block shots so much and continue to play is great, but Seeler can do it while having a +15 rating. A rating that high means that Seeler is directly impacting the game positively because the Flyers are scoring when he out on the ice.
Brier brokered a deal to help the Vegas Golden Knights acquire Noah Hanifin from the Calgary Flames in exchange for a 2024 5th round pick. All the Flyers have to do is retain 25% ($1.2375 million) of Hanifin’s contract until summer when he becomes an unrestricted free agent.
In non-trade related news that impacts the team, the Flyers signed their 2023 3rd round pick, Denver Barkey, to his entry level contract. Barkey currently plays for the London Ontario Knights in the OHL and has developed incredibly well. He has passed all his point totals from the previous year and is still going. In 57 games played so far this season, Barkey has 89 points (31 goals, 58 assists) with two weeks left in the regular season. Last season he played 61 games and had only 59 points (22 goals, 37 assists). He has more than tripled his shorthanded goals (7) from the previous season (2), and is one of the top three scoring leaders for the entirety of the OHL.
Barkey has proven to be an incredible asset for the Knights this season and looks to be ready to move to the next level, which is great news for the Flyers as the rebuild continues into the future.
In the immediate future for the rebuilding Flyers is the Florida Panthers. The Panthers are the number 1 team in the Atlantic Division and are currently riding a six-game win streak. The amazing season that both Sam Reinhart and Matthew Tkachuk are having factor heavy into the powerhouse the Panthers have become. Reinhart has 45 goals with perhaps his most beautiful goal of the season coming from an assist from his captain, Aleksander Barkov, in Monday’s game against the New York Rangers.
The Panthers crushed the Rangers 4-2, which is no easy feat as the Rangers as the number 1 team in the Metropolitan Division. It is worth noting that Barkov is only 3 assists (47) behind tying alternate captain, Matthew Tkachuk (50) for team lead. Besides these three players, the Panthers have Carter Verhaeghe (64 points) and the newly acquired Vladimir Tarasenko from the Ottawa Senators. The Flyers are going to have to play a brilliant defensive game against the Panthers in order to have a chance at achieving victory. This means marking players, closing passing lanes, and blocking shots while finding opportunities for scoring chances. The Flyers won the last time they played the Panthers this season and have a chance of repeating it.
After the Flyers play the Panthers, they move on to play the other playoff competitive Florida based team, the Tampa Bay Lightning. When the Flyers saw the Lightning last week (February 27th), they defeated them 6-2 in a landslide victory. The main player to always lookout for is Nikita Kucherov. Kucherov has 10 points (2 goals, 8 assists) in his last five-games. Both Victor Hedman and Braydon Pointe prove to be formative in the goals scored in the last five games as both players have 6 points.
Hedman is one of the best defensemen in the league. He currently has 60 points (10 goals, 50 assists) so far this season. Pointe has 65 points (32 goals, 33 assists) so far this season making him a gifted player on any play. The Flyers have to ensure passing lanes to and from Pointe, as well as Kucherov and Hedman are closed. The Flyers managed to keep the Lightning stumped most of the game last week by shutting down the passing lanes and winning faceoffs. They will again have to contend with Steven Stamkos in the faceoff circle and hopefully have more favorable outcomes.
The Lightning are constantly fending off other teams from moving ahead of them for their Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference. Currently, they are tied with the Detroit Red Wings with 72 points, but the New York Islanders are closing in on them with 68 points. The Flyers also have 72 points and could deal a significant blow to the Lightning while gaining some distance between them and the Islanders in the Metropolitan.
In order for the Flyers to repeat their victories over both these teams, they need more from Owen Tippet. Tippet has had a rough time controlling the puck recently which is limiting his shots. He needs to take more time with handling the puck and trying to exert control over it. That being said, it is going to be up to his linemates and the defensemen to help generate more space for Tippet to operate. Tippet had 5 shots on goal against the Blues and had an opportunity in the shootout, but ended up shooting it wide because he was in a rush.
Hopefully being the only Flyer to score in the shootout has boosted Morgan Frost’s confidence to take more shots on goal regularly. He has the ability to control the puck and can create opportunities with his passes, but Frost needs to take more chances himself by shooting at the net.
Both Frost and Tippet work incredibly well together and are formidable on the ice when they are able to generate the space for themselves to work. Cam Atkinson is not as adept on a line with these two as Travis Konecny is. Atkinson once again is struggling as he has gone without a point since the end of January. The Flyers have their hands tied by not having Konecny healthy. TK could make his return tonight as he practiced yesterday successfully, but there is no guarantee of his return as he is still on IR.
Without the entirety of their 2nd defensive pairing (Walker and Seeler), the Flyers are going to have to dig deep and play possibly the best defensive game of the New Era of Orange thus far. Attard will get a chance to shine right from the start, should he bring his strong defensive game up to the NHL. Hopefully the Flyers can close out this eventful week with four more points and put some much-needed distance between them and the Islander.
Photos courtesy of the Philadelphia Flyers.
Stats courtesy of Statmuse and the NHL.
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