Philadelphia Flyers
Flyers’ Preseason Playoff Odds Among NHL’s Worst
Don’t look now, but the Philadelphia Flyers are getting no respect from the hockey community this preseason, as evidenced by their surprisingly low odds to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Advanced analytics website MoneyPuck, in particular, is very low on the Flyers.
According to MoneyPuck, the Flyers have the ninth-worst odds of qualifying for the playoffs this season, clocking in at just 24.7%. For the sake of comparison, only the Utah Hockey Club, Washington Capitals, Calgary Flames, Montreal Canadiens, Chicago Blackhawks, Anaheim Ducks, Columbus Blue Jackets, and San Jose Sharks have a worse chance of reaching the postseason.
Further to that point, the Flyers actually have the eighth-best odds of winning the draft lottery and acquiring the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, coming in at a meager 4.5%.
Unsurprisingly, the Sharks are the clear leaders of the pack in this regard, starting the preseason with a 14.5% chance of having the No. 1 pick for a second straight season.
Although Flyers fans would surely want to see that the Orange and Black earned more respect around the league after an impressive 2023-24 season, it is also easy to see why the hockey community and analytics sites are down on the team.
The last two months of the season were unforgiving, and rather quite punishing, for Philadelphia, whose goaltending and defense struggled considerably down the stretch amid injuries and fatigue.
Additionally, the main makeup of the team remains virtually unchanged.
Veteran defenseman Erik Johnson assumes the mentorship role of the recently retired Marc Staal, while Ivan Fedotov slides in as the full-time understudy to the talented but unproven Sam Ersson in goal.
The Flyers also made a swap at the forward position, buying out struggling veteran Cam Atkinson and replacing him with rookie sensation Matvei Michkov. While Michkov is undeniably an upgrade over the aging Atkinson, it’s too early to quantify how much of an upgrade he really is before he appears in some games at the NHL level.
Aside from those tweaks, the Flyers have not changed at all, while teams like the Capitals and the New Jersey Devils made a substantial number of offseason transactions in an effort to compete for the Stanley Cup immediately.
The St. Louis Blues (27%) and the Pittsburgh Penguins (33.6%) are the two teams immediately above the Flyers in terms of chances to make the playoffs.
We can easily make the playoffs if they want to . I just don’t know the route they will take to get the final 2 major pieces for our cup in 3 years .
its a highly competitive tankathon last several years . The Chicago thing with them dumping all their players was a joke . There have been several teams effecting results constantly
we coulda easily made playoffs last year . They pulled couturier after the National game against the rangers when rempe and nick had that big fight .
it’s been the same MO. TORTS gets them humming good 👍 in Jan and Feb then rolls it over by design. I just think the major part of the tank is over I have no idea the path they will take to get the 1c. But I don’t think we can make it look bad enough now to get back in lottery again
so I would say he’s going to try and play this year for most part . Which means we should easily get in playoffs . Rangers are a lock . Hurricanes may take a step back but in . Devils will be back . Capitals and penguins are DONE. Not sure what blue jacket look like and what their mindset is . Fanitelli will dictate that
everyone is clueless on what we are doing . In another year we are going to shock people that we are not just playoff bound but a CONTENDER.
watch Erik Johnson for clues . He rolled over by design at end of last season . If couturier goes back on wing at all u know they want lottery again . But I doubt it . I think we play hard from this point on which means make the playoffs but short stint
personally I don’t care . It’s business . I want the cup . So I want my power wing and 1c whatever route we take for our cup in 3-4 years . I want the cup . Whatever needs to be done
So, what do we think will be their record and point total this season? I had been thinking they would take a slight step backwards from last season, but I am encouraged by Michkov’s play in pre-season and expect players like Foerster and Tippett will be more productive. Goaltending is still a bit of a question. I’m thinking a slight improvement to 40-30-12 for 92 points, just on the cusp of a playoff spot.
So, there is still a media bias to a Crosby led Penguibs team that didn’t make the playoffs the last 2 seasons along with their core players all being hear 40 with absolutely no prospects in the pipeline?
Every time so called experts talk these days, so m e stupid talk.