Preseason hockey is here, and with only one game remaining before the season opener on Friday, Oct. 11 against the Vancouver Canucks, it’s time to preview the potential 2024-25 Philadelphia Flyers lineup.
This will be the third year for veteran head coach John Tortorella, and one of the most important as they are looking to continue to grow as a team.
Below are my projected lines for the Flyers.
Forwards
Tyson Foerster – Sean Couturier – Travis Konecny
Owen Tippett – Morgan Frost – Matvei Michkov
Joel Farabee – Scott Laughton – Bobby Brink
Noah Cates – Ryan Poehling – Garnet Hathaway
Extras: Nicolas Deslauriers, Olle Lycksell
Defense
Cam York – Travis Sanheim
Jamie Drysdale – Nick Seeler
Rasmus Ristolainen – Egor Zamula
Extras: Erik Johnson
Goalies
Sam Ersson
Ivan Fedotov
LTIR: Ryan Ellis
Departures:
Carter Hart, G (UFA)
Cam Atkinson, RW (TB)
Marc Staal, D (retired)
Ryan Johansen, C (UFA)
Victor Mete, D (UFA)
Felix Sandstrom, G (BUF)
Denis Gurianov, RW (KHL)
It’s not ideal, but depending on how both Ivan Fedotov plays, the Flyers may rotate in Alexei Kolosov behind Ersson. Flyers GM Danny Briere has made it known before that he does not want to use LTIR if possible, however Ryan Ellis’ contract is always a factor until it expires in 2027-28. Currently, the Flyers are very healthy heading into the season, which is something that has not happened in a few years now.
The biggest question mark is the surprising play of Jett Luchanko, the 13th overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft. The 18-year-old has turned some heads including the head coach, and thus made it very difficult decision for Briere and company.
“We’re just going to let it play out,” Tortorella said on Monday. “He’s had a very good camp. Just let him play. He’s going to play some more exhibition games. Very exciting as far as what you see right now.”
The bottom of the lineup has plenty of depth and edge to their game, which is going to make the Flyers a tough team to play against yet again this year. Despite a surprising season that fell just short of the playoffs last year, Philadelphia played with a lot of tenacity and a large part was due the depth brought by Garnet Hathaway and Ryan Poehling.
Despite no movement in free agency, this team will have a different feel to it than last year, thanks to the arrival of one Matvei Michkov. Michkov arrives in South Philadelphia only one year after drafting him seventh overall in the 2023 NHL Draft. The key this season will be to see Michkov’s impact and discover who on the roster is capable of playing alongside him and matching his skill level and pace of play.
This is going to be one of the most anticipated seasons for Philadelphia in quite some time, which is one of the most encouraging signs in recent memory. Last year, the theme was bringing the culture back to Philadelphia. This year, the theme is to continue to build from the 2023-24 season, and learn from their mistakes.
What went wrong? Besides the glaring obvious which Tortorella even admitted by playing Ersson too much, the turnover rate was not in their favor, and avoiding a season collapse in April.
It will be another chance for Tortorella to get his team to find an extra gear, but only time will tell if they took last year’s costly mistakes to make improvement in those areas and have playoff hockey in South Philadelphia for the first time in four seasons.
