Pelletier Starting to Prove His Worth to Flyers

In what has been another dreadful hockey season in South Philadelphia, the fanbase has continued to express their frustration, and with the recent departure of John Tortorella, one can only wonder where do the Philadelphia Flyers go from here?

There has been a slim amount of success for the 2024-2025 Flyers, but there is still some to celebrate. The most obvious example is an impressive rookie season for Matvei Michkov, who arrived to the NHL only one year after he was drafted in 2023. 

One player who has certainly stood out recently was a player fans were hoping had something to prove. Jakob Pelletier got off to a rough start to his career in Philadelphia after the trade with now former teammate Andrei Kuzmenko from Calgary for Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost.

The pending RFA had a lot to prove and show why he was the kind of player GM Danny Briere wanted to go after. However, Tortorella had other ideas by putting Pelletier on the fourth line consistently with players like Nic Deslauriers and Rodrigo Abols while only getting minimal minutes. 

Sure, Pelletier isn’t an elite talent, but his skillset shows he has what it takes to stick in the NHL in the top nine and not being stuck on the fourth line. Prior to Tortorella being let go, Pelletier was averaging 8:46 of ice time throughout the first 12 games as a Flyer without any time on the power play or penalty kill. 

He’s not only been impressing fans with his motor and offensive scoring, but interim head coach Brad Shaw as well. Since the Flyers made a coaching change, Pelletier has improved vastly under Shaw and even has five points in his last eight games while averaging over 12 minutes of ice time per game. 

“I think that he’s shown that he can provide offense,” Shaw said last Friday. “I think it’s always going to be a challenge for him on the checking side because of his size. His body position has to be exemplary, his stick has to be fantastic, his reads have to be a step ahead a little more than a bigger guy. That’s going to be his challenge. Can he do it? I think so.”

It’s no secret that the Flyers need all the help that they can get right now with their rebuild, but Pelletier clearly has talent and can help their team down the line. He’ll certainly receive an extension, but the question is what is his true worth? 

For Pelletier, he is rising to the occasion and proving his value, but despite his recent point streak, it shouldn’t cost the Flyers too much. He is only making $800k at the moment, and that will certainly increase some. No one should still expect him to break the bank, so a nice contract for Pelletier with an increase in salary and some security could be in the works. 

Next year, the competitive Pelletier will look to push for an even higher role with the organization. There is plenty of opportunity for him to play on the penalty kill and perhaps some power-play minutes. 

After just being acquired this year by Briere and the Flyers, and showing plenty of improvement under a different head coach, Pelletier will continue to impress and show why he is a consistent NHL player with a chip on his shoulder.