Owen Tippett Should Be An Untouchable For Flyers

One Philadelphia Flyers player you haven’t heard in trade rumors is Owen Tippett.

If there is an untouchable player on the Flyers — and there might not be — Tippett best fits that description.

Tippett is the kind of player the Flyers craved throughout their existence. He’s physical, strong and last season showed a scorer’s touch. He looked like an impact player and last season looked like the beginning of a successful career.

The 24-year-old is coming off a breakthrough season. He had career highs in games played (77), goals (27) and assists (22).

“He’s a pretty fun player to watch,” center Sean Couturier said. “I haven’t seen such a good shot in a while from a young guy.”

The Flyers acquired Tippett in March 2022 as part of the Claude Giroux trade to Florida.

Tippett is 6-foot-1, 207 pounds. He was the Panthers’ 10th overall selection in the 2017 draft. As the Flyers rebuild, Tippett might be one of the foundational parts on which they can depend.

Eight of Tippett’s 27 goals were on the power play and you can see him growing into a larger role in that capacity.

“He steps on the ice, he’s dangerous,” coach John Tortorella said about Tippett late in the season. “We know he’s a good player. More importantly, I think he thinks he’s a good player. 

“For any player, it doesn’t matter what we say. He’s got to take it. He’s got to have that swagger.

“Tipp has a lot to learn still but the improvement from where he was in camp for me when I was first introduced to him … to where he is now mentally, I think he’s made tremendous strides.”

Confidence Is Key

That confidence seems to be growing.

“This year was a big step for me in realizing my true identity and what kind of player I can be,” Tippett said after the Flyers’ final home game.

At a recent news conference, Flyers general manager Daniel Briere talked about the young players who made strides this past season.

“I mean it’s exciting and you don’t know sometimes, you look at last year where a guy like Tippett got the chance to play more and showed what he was capable of,” Briere said.

Tippett has grown into a power forward type, a guy who can ram the puck to the net and who can score goals from in deep. He has the frame and size to be an effective force down low.

“All year, he’s [Tortorella] been emphasizing that,” Tippett said at break-up day.

“Once I got more comfortable and used to playing that style of game is when things took off. I know I have the capabilities to do it. Now that I know that’s what I kinda need to do, it’s just a matter of being consistent at it.

“It’s all situational. There’s so many different things that happen each and every shift and throughout a game. There’s certain times where you can take it to the net and certain times where that’s not the right play, maybe there’s another play to be made.

“I think it’s all situational but at the same time it’s one of those things that you can add to your game and once you know it’s a mindset then it becomes a consistent matter.”

The Important Minutes

Tortorella also relied on Tippett enough to get him on the ice in crucial situations.

“The more situations you get in and the more comfortable you become in those situations, helps obviously … with confidence and you play those kind of big minutes, the last minute of periods and games, it goes a long way and you become more comfortable in those situations,” Tippett said.

“It helps a lot with just overall confidence and just knowing you’re trusted at times. It goes a long way in the overall aspect.”

Tippett said he doesn’t any particular goal for next season.

“Just knowing I was kinda scratching at the surface there of 30 [goals], obviously it can be a goal and it’s one of those things where I want to improve each and every year, whether that be 30 goals or something else, that’s something you can look forward to as a next milestone,” Tippett said.

“For me, this year was a big stepping stone on just kinda realizing what kind of player I needed to be to have success.

“I think I was able to find that and obviously with that comes confidence. So going into the offseason it helps to have that confidence and be able to build off that.”

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