The Philadelphia Flyers’ 2022-23 campaign didn’t end without a little bit of controversy and ruffled feathers.
Tony DeAngelo was a healthy scratch in the final 5 games of the season, much to the dismay of the offensive defenseman who found it “ridiculous”. Kevin Hayes essentially coasted in the second half when the rumours started to grow louder and louder before he acknowledged that he understands the name of the game and that the Flyers are undergoing a rebuild. Of course, we also can’t forget the debacle that was the trade deadline that not only kept James van Riemsdyk around, but eventually cost Chuck Fletcher his job.
The one constant all season long was the man behind the bench in John Tortorella. From day one, he set out on his plan to fix, rebuild, and get the Flyers back on track, even at the behest of his general manager. It was no secret that they didn’t see eye-to-eye as the general manager handed his head coach a rotten lemon to make lemonade with.
Tortorella shielded and deflected a lot of blame that was thrown towards the front office onto himself and by the end of the season, he was seen in the press box next to his new interim general manager, than behind the bench with his coaching staff.
When Chuck Fletcher was relieved of his duties as general manager and president of hockey operations, Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman took to 32 Thoughts: The Podcast to dissect what led to this decision, what was going to happen before the season ended, and what to expect during the offseason.
One important tidbit that might’ve been missed due to the importance of finding a new president and/or general manager, was how the remaining front office members and ownership group felt about Tortorella. They saw him as the only thing that worked out this season, essentially labeled him as the beacon of light to get this team back to relevance, and labeled him as the one thing that the fanbase could agree upon.
After the first year of a 4-year contract, we have a better understanding of what is going to take place both on and off the ice. Tortorella has been side by side with Daniel Brière quite often since he was named interim general manager and he is going to have a say in what the roster turnover is going to look like. He has mentioned “subtraction” on several different occasions and his presser for Monday only echoed that sentiment even louder.
Below are a series of tweets from Philadelphia Flyers website contributor Bill Meltzer after the press conference on Monday.
Not surprising that he still stands behind his “process” that he has urged the fan base and the media to understand will take a long time to bear its fruits. He penned a letter at the beginning of the season and another one mid-season, detailing what he first expected to what he had seen up until that point. While the results weren’t leading to wins right away, he believes that most of the team took the right steps in rectifying their earlier mistakes and finished the season on a good note.
We’ve never really gotten inside information on how the previous coaching staffs used to handle their business. Whether it was Alain Vigneault, Dave Hakstol, Craig Berube, or Peter Laviolette, we just had to assume what was going on. Tortorella has given us more insight than we probably expected and he’s as open with his team as he is the fan base and media.
He can be hard-headed, he can be overly feisty, he can sometimes be difficult to deal with but he has one goal in mind. This team lacked accountability for years on end and no matter which head coach stepped through those doors, into the confines of the Wells Fargo Center, and planted themselves behind that bench, they lost control of the locker room pretty quickly. Players also felt comfortable enough to reach out to him and have face-to-face conversations about what they agreed or disagreed with.
Scratching Kevin Hayes was necessary, scratching Morgan Frost was necessary, scratching Travis Sanheim was necessary, and scratching Tony DeAngelo was necessary. Whether they appreciated it or not was one thing, but Tortorella needed to light a fire under them, send them a message, and get them to realize what they had done up until that point. A lot was made of Hayes’ press box appearance since though he was leading the team in points and was later named the team’s All-Star representative, but his 200-foot game disappeared within a flash and his game off the puck was becoming more costly and it essentially cancelled out his offensive output.
Tony DeAngelo thought it was “ridiculous” to sit out all 5 games but it was a move that was multi-layered: 1) it sent a message to the player that he underperformed, 2) it was a move that at first made way for younger players like Ronnie Attard, 3) it was a move that came after Rocky Thompson’s intermission speech of players not caring, and 4) it was a move that summed up the season as a whole and what is to come during the offseason.
One of the most important pieces of information between now and the beginning of the 2023-24 season is what changes are the Flyers going to undergo in terms of player personnel. Based on how the season ended, we got a good indication that players like Owen Tippett, Morgan Frost, Noah Cates, Joel Farabee, and Cam York are seen as part of the solution moving forward.
Players like Kevin Hayes, James van Riemsdyk, Tony DeAngelo, Ivan Provorov, and Travis Konecny either have one foot out the door, have both feet out the door and have slammed it shut, or have re-entered the trade block but have made the front office think twice again.
van Riemsdyk will walk in the summer and his words after the season ended echoed his lackadaisical play as he was disappointed to not have been traded as he wanted a chance at chasing the Stanley Cup. The more player and team keep reiterating that Hayes is part of the future or that he wants to remain with the team, makes it sound like total damage control on the off-chance nothing materializes. The same can be said about DeAngelo, but with only one year remaining on his contract, they can just wait until the trade deadline.
With Provorov and Konecny, 2 core players since they stepped foot onto the ice, they are equally important at their respective positions. Without Provorov, there is a steep drop-off on the backend and without Konecny, this offense is even more bereft of talent. They are still young, maybe have yet to hit their primes, and are under friendly-ish deals with term, which is always a boon for teams. They could expedite this rebuild in a flash but both Konecny and Provorov proved their worth to Tortorella and if he’s got a say, he might reconsider.
I can still see Provorov and the Flyers parting ways but Konecny is far too valuable right now to let go. On top of the fact that Cam Atkinson and Sean Couturier should make their returns – and you can’t trade those contracts – you’d have to imagine Konecny is staying put as they’re not going to go full-tank like Chicago or Anaheim.
Ivan Provorov played in all 82 games, Travis Sanheim played in 81 games, Nick Seeler played in 77 games, Rasmus Ristolainen played in 74 games, Tony DeAngelo played in 70 games, Cam York played in 54 games, and Justin Braun played in 51 games. This was the core of the defense and they were generally healthy all season long. They got 14 games out of Egor Zamula, 2 games out of Ronnie Attard, and 1 game out of Adam Ginning.
Cam York was sent down immediately during training camp after a disappointing start but found his way back onto the team and played top pair minutes with Provorov. His entrance in the lineup spelled the end for Braun, who is set to retire at some point in the offseason.
If you pluck Provorov out of this backend, you’re leaving a massive hole that needs to be patched up by in-house options. The Flyers will most likely not be aggressive this summer in terms of additions but they have several prospects who could and should step up when the time comes. York averaged 19:39 TOI on the season, including over 20+ minutes a night from March to the mid-April. He tallied 20 points in 54 games, was a power play quarterback, and with NHL experience under his belt, he should be in store for a big season in 2023-24.
Travis Sanheim isn’t going anywhere and that has a lot to do with his 8-year contract kicking in at the start of 2023-24. He struggled to replicate his second half from last season that earned him the Barry Ashbee Award and his contract extension but had games where he was extremely noticeable, aggressive, and using his intangibles to good use.
Rasmus Ristolainen and Nick Seeler were the biggest surprises this season, considering how most wanted them run out of the city last year. Tortorella did something that other coaches never tried – identified roles for his players and used them in situations they were best at and in the best positions to succeed. On his best day at this point in his career, Ristolainen is a #4 defenseman. However both he and Seeler proved to be vital players in the 5-6 range if the Flyers ever do shore up their top-4. Ristolainen proved he can still play some top-4 minutes as he was paired up with Sanheim in latter half of the season and Seeler played relatively well with DeAngelo. Not to mention their shot blocking, hitting, fighting, and gritty play that earned them their stripes.
If we take out Provorov then the Flyers are left with at lest 4 locks in Sanheim, York, Seeler, and Ristolainen. DeAngelo is up in the air because you can make an argument for both sides. If Brière and the Flyers don’t want to bring in players to block out the prospects then one has to wonder if Ronnie Attard, Emil Andrae, and Egor Zamula make the jump next season. There should be at least one spot open but in the off-chance there’s 2, look for in-house options rather than free agent signings, unless a depth piece they sign surprises during training camp.
Once again these types of comments are pointed at specific individuals that we are going to be talking about ad nauseam. However these comments scream “veteran players” who were benched and/or scratched and it doesn’t help that those specific players had a dip in production for well over a month at minimum.
Being told you’re the problem, or even having that insinuated is never going to roll over well but the leaders on this team had to take that stuff head on, considering they weren’t doing what they were supposed to do. Goals and points aside, there was no effort, hustle, determination, or fight and there were countless examples from a game-by-game basis of coasting. The coaching staff was fed up, they said what they said, they did what they did, and now they all have to reassess what’s best for this team moving forward.
The Athletic’s Charlie O’Connor also had a few juicy tidbits from Monday.
The Flyers are in an interesting position where they have mentioned on record that it’s going to take a few years before anything of relevance actually takes shape. Which then puts them in a decent spot heading into the offseason because they don’t have the pressure of trying to attract free agents or having to dump a contract as soon as possible – as Chuck Fletcher tried with van Riemsdyk before the draft.
Brière has urged patience, he won’t tear it all down in one season, but the culture is changing – if it already hasn’t – and the players that will remain are going to be a testament of their accountability, leadership, and wherewithal to be able to withstand, learn from, and appreciate Tortorella’s hard-nosed approach.
As fans, I think we know what changes are about to take place just based on the verbiage and being able to read a room. Nevertheless, there is finally a plan in place, it’s in motion, and they will be tackling these issues head on and with a different approach than their predecessors.
