Many worried about the defense before the Philadelphia Flyers (3-3-1) took to the ice to begin the 2025-2026 NHL Regular Season.
Rasmus Ristolainen (triceps) and Cam York (lower body) began the season on injured reserve. It seemed like a foregone conclusion that the Flyers would struggle in their first five games of the season. Each of those teams competed in the 2025 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs, but Philadelphia kept its head above water with a 2-2-1 start.
Only the Winnipeg Jets defeated the Flyers by more than one goal, 5-2. Philadelphia even got their receipt against the 2025 Stanley Cup Champions: the Florida Panthers. A 5-2 win sparked confidence on home ice at Xfinity Mobile Arena. The first homestand of the 2025-2026 NHL Regular Season featured a 3-1-0 finish.
The Flyers are seven games through the 2025-2026 NHL Regular Season. Today, they return to the Xfinity Mobile Arena to host the New York Islanders.
One constant trend is that Philadelphia doesn’t stack up well against its opposition when you tell the offensive tale of the tape. Let’s take this game-by-game, providing comparative statistics between the Flyers and their opponents retroactive to the date of the games as they’ve played out:
- 10/9; at Florida Panthers: 35.5SOG/GP, 2.5GF/GP, 28.5%PP
- 10/11; at Carolina Hurricanes: 22.5SOG/GP, 5GF/GP, 12.5%PP
- Flyers: 21.5SOG/GP, 2GF/GP, 20%PP
- 10/13; vs. Florida Panthers: 31SOG/GP, 3.25GF/GP, 35.2%PP
- Flyers: 21.6SOG/GP, 3GF/GP, 10%PP
- 10/16; vs. Winnipeg Jets: 23.2SOG/GP, 4.25GF/GP, 25%PP
- Flyers: 20.5SOG/GP, 2.75GF/GP, 7.6%PP
- 10/18; vs. Minnesota Wild: 28.3SOG/GP, 2.83GF/GP, 38.4%PP
- Flyers: 20.6SOG/GP, 2.6GF/GP, 6.6%PP
- 10/20; vs. Seattle Kraken: 26.5SOG/GP, 3GF/GP, 25%PP
- Flyers: 21.6SOG/GP, 3GF/GP, 15.7%PP
- 10/23; at Ottawa Senators: 30SOG/GP, 3GF/GP, 21.4%PP
- Flyers: 21.8SOG/GP, 2.71GF/GP, 13.6%PP
Each game, Philadelphia averaged fewer shots on goal per game, fewer goals scored per game, and a smaller conversion rate (except when visiting the Carolina Hurricanes on October 11th). Rick Tocchet wanted the Flyers to become a better puck possession team, and that largely holds from the faceoff dot. The other half of the early success this season is the defensive metrics.
“We’re trying to put people in [a] position where you’re going to come up with loose pucks if you listen to our concepts; [a] more downhill approach delivering pucks, you’re going to beat your guy to the puck that way. If you’re standing around where [you] have four high all the time, you’re not going to have puck possession. You’re looking for that pretty play; six-on-five. There’s clips where you have five guys outside. We have four Ottawa [Senators] guys, and we have five guys outside. You can’t score that way. Like I said, we’ve done good things this year where they have done it. It’s just, you got to do it more consistently. That’s really what it comes down to.” – Rick Tocchet; 10/24/2025
Firstly, Dan Vladař (3-2-0, 93.2%SV, 1.81GAA) has been stellar in five quality starts. It’s simple to look at his work between the pipes and specifically credit him for the early success this season. Sam Ersson (0-1-1, 84.9%SV, 3.88GAA) presents a stark contrast with a chance to find the win column today versus the Islanders.
“[He’s] [Dan Vladař] just solid. There’s some saves there where they are grade-A shots. It doesn’t seem like [it] to the average person, but that’s a good save. There’s traffic, and you see him stick his blocker out. From the bench, that’s a good save. He’s making those kind of saves to keep us in; he’s given us a chance to win every night.” – Rick Tocchet; 10/24/2025
In front of the goaltenders are a few different versions of a defensive unit that held their own against opponents who combined for a 26-18-4 record. Travis Sanheim, Nick Seeler, Jamie Drysdale, Noah Juulsen, Egor Zamula, Cam York, Adam Ginning, and Emil Andrae all contributed to different elements of a makeshift defensive unit performing better than expected. Tocchet challenged Zamula, Ginning, and Andrae to show him something while Sanheim was being pushed to his limits, leading the entire NHL in minutes among defensemen. It wasn’t until recently that Tocchet provided an uptick in minutes to his bottom pair, featuring Zamula and Juulsen, to alleviate the workload for York and Sanheim.
Another constant trend is how Philadelphia mitigates opposing offenses. The forwards have a say, particularly the centers at the faceoff dot. Sean Couturier, Noah Cates, Christian Dvorak, Jett Luchanko, and Rodrigo Ābols all can say they’ve logged a win rate higher than 50% in the faceoff circle when they’re tasked with the opportunity. Cates is thriving at the draws in the defensive zone. The rest of those names are seeing more draws in the offensive zone.
Let’s tell the defensive tale of the tape, providing comparative statistics between the Flyers and their opponents retroactive to the date of the games as they’ve played out. For these examples, we’ll cite the offensive values listed above through the first seven games, this time adding faceoff win rates, against the metrics provided by the defensive unit in Philadelphia:
- 10/9; at Florida Panthers: 35.5SOG/GP, 2.5GF/GP, 28.5%PP, 48.7%FO/GP
- Flyers: 34SA, 2GA, 80%PK, 61.2%FO
- 10/11; at Carolina Hurricanes: 22.5SOG/GP, 5GF/GP, 12.5%PP, 53.3%FO/GP
- Flyers: 39SA, 4GA, 100%PK, 46.4%FO
- 10/13; vs. Florida Panthers: 31SOG/GP, 3.25GF/GP, 35.2%PP, 45.3%FO/GP
- Flyers: 26SA, 2GA, 80%PK, 49%FO
- 10/16; vs. Winnipeg Jets: 23.2SOG/GP, 4.25GF/GP, 25%PP, 51.5%FO/GP
- Flyers: 15SA, 5GA, 0%PK, 46.7%FO
- 10/18; vs. Minnesota Wild: 28.3SOG/GP, 2.83GF/GP, 38.4%PP, 48%FO/GP
- Flyers: 16SA, 1GA, 100%PK, 51.1%FO
- 10/20; vs. Seattle Kraken: 26.5SOG/GP, 3GF/GP, 25%PP, 44.4%FO/GP
- Flyers: 23SA, 2GA, 83.3%PK, 57.1%FO
- 10/23; at Ottawa Senators: 30SOG/GP, 3GF/GP, 21.4%PP, 58.4%FO/GP
- Flyers: 33SA, 2GA, 100%PK, 55.8%FO
Generally, structure is winning out, or at least providing the Flyers with a fighting chance to pull off a victory.
Tocchet deploys a box-and-one defensive structure. Over the last couple of weeks, Philadelphia has emphasized it in practice. The one performance that stands out, unlike the others, is the slop versus the Jets. The Flyers allowed 15SOG, and Ersson is credited with giving up four goals, but in that performance, only one was a genuinely rough one (even-strength: Mark Scheifele). Defensively, structure was sacrificed twice (even-strength: Vladislav Namestnikov, penalty-kill: Mark Scheifele), and a puck took a bad bounce off Cates (even-strength: Morgan Barron).
“I think the hardest part is, we’re a box-out team most of the time. There’s times when you do have to block a shot, don’t get me wrong. I love that guy’s block shots. It’s when a guy beats you to position, where you can’t do the double screen. That’s the next level where we got to try to figure that out; where we don’t have two guys standing in front of the goalie. You might have to let the guy stand there, and you might have to be off the side. Let the goalie have that shot, and then any kind of spray you would have. That’s the next thing we’re trying to teach.” – Rick Tocchet; 10/24/2025
Since then, Philadelphia regrouped. They’ve held opponents (Minnesota Wild, Seattle Kraken, Ottawa Senators) under their average goals scored, dominated on the penalty kill, and won at the faceoff dot.
What stands out, and another point of emphasis from Tocchet’s box-and-one defensive structure, are the low-percentage shots forced outside of the faceoff dots and above the faceoff circle. In other words, how often the Flyers are forcing opponents away from the high slot, slot, and hash marks. Through seven games, 45.2% of shots faced are considered perimeter shots. That’s not bad from a defensive unit that looked like the weak link of the roster, considering the injuries at the start of the season.
If we’re to consider how Philadelphia ranks among defensive metrics, the current sample size suggests the Flyers are among the elite defensive units in the NHL after several games.
- Goals Against: 18GA (3rd)
- Goals Against/Games Played: 2.57GA/GP (9th)
- Penalty Kill: 86.2%PK (10th)
- Shots Against/Games Played: 26.6SA/GP (12th)
- Faceoffs: 52.7%FO (8th)
All things considered, this is a top 10 defense in the NHL. It’s early in the 2025-2026 NHL Regular Season, but Tocchet and Todd Reirden are overachieving against good opponents with the system they’ve deployed away from the puck.
