Could The Philadelphia Flyers Be A Playoff Team Next Season?

Looking at the Flyers 2022-23 season, the idea of the team even coming close to the Playoffs seems like a joke, but it's not out of the picture.

Now this is completely hypothetical and extremely unlikely but as fans, we can dream.

The Philadelphia Flyers gave a glimpse of a possible winning future for the organization and fans, in the latter months of the 2022-23 regular season but it was to little to late. As the Flyers were just 12 points out of a playoff spot in the month of March, which would have been one of the craziest playoff berths in recent history.

Now with that in mind, the Flyers have an extremely young solid core that they can build around, and add to, in order to create a playoff calibre team. The difference between a Stanley Cup contender and a playoff contender are completely different, obviously the end goal is to win a cup but a playoff appearance is a step in the right direction.


The Flyers could add some solid depth to their lineup this summer with such a stacked draft, especially with the talks of possibly moving up and taking the Blue Jackets No. 3 pick. Which could bring in talks of Leo Carlsson, Matvei Michkov, Adam Fantilli (if he were to unlikely drop, all guys who could really help turn a struggling organization around.

Not to mention, the Flyers have an elite talent in Cutter Gauthier already in their system — If the Flyers have a good draft and off-season the Sweden native could appear in orange and black next season instead of playing at Boston College for his last year. As well, the Flyers could trade for some key players who are trying to move cap. For example, the Boston Bruins are in a cap crunch and need to move bodies. A guy on their chopping block is 28-year-old Tyler Bertuzzi who could fit in well with Travis Konecny. This is a realistic pick-up as the Flyers could be dumping Kevin Hayes onto the Columbus Blue Jackets opening up space.

Now in other concerns, with great offence comes great defence, which the Flyers are lacking. If Danny Briere can move some pieces around and upgrade Philadelphia's defensive core, it would turn things around in a hurry. Additionally, with all the rumours surrounding Tony DeAngelo and Ivan Provorov, things are bound to change with the Flyers defensemen. Aswell, dumping Ryan Ellis onto another team like the Arizona Coyotes, opens up a lot more options. Some defensemen the Flyers could possibly look into could consist of former Flyer Luke Schenn who is a UFA, Scott Mayfield who is also a UFA this summer, Ethan Bear RFA but could be apart of a deal, Joel Edmundson who is a possible trade block piece for the Montreal Canadiens, and Erik Karlsson, who without a HUGE retain in salary will not be picked up by anyone.

Speaking of Flyers defenseman, Travis Sanheim who struggled this season defensively, is due for a career year. After signing a hefty contract, Travis has lacked on the back end. With no where for Sanheim to go with his contract holding a NMC, I wouldn't count out him out for next season, as I think he truly has it in himself to improve.

The return of Cam Atkinson and Sean Couturier, will be not just a big moral boost for the team in general, but a huge help production wise. Both of whom are returning from lengthy injures, Cam Atkinson hasn't played since April 12, 2022 and Sean Couturier who only played 22 games in 2021-22, hasn't seen regular season action since December 18, 2022.

Here is a look at what the Flyers lines could possibly look like heading into the 2023-24 season:

T. Bertuzzi - L. Carlsson - T. Konecny
C. Gauthier - M. Frost - O Tippett
J. Farabee - N. Cates - C. Atkinson
S. Couturier - S. Laughton - B. Lemieux

Here is a look at the possible defence pairing for the Flyers next season, now these are completely «what if's» but I am starting with the basic one and then move some things around:

I. Provorov - C. York
T. Sanheim - R. Ristolainen
N. Seeler - J. Braun

L. Schenn - C. York
T. Sanheim - R. Ristolainen
N. Seeler - E. Bear

S. Mayfield - C. York
T. Sanheim - J. Edmundson
N. Seeler - E. Zamula

J. Edmundson - C. York
T. Sanheim - E. Karlsson
N. Seeler - E. Zamula

All of this, tied together with an amazing young franchise goaltender in Carter Hart. The team could be a lot stronger than people may think, or I'm being way to optimistic and the team crashes and burns. Either way it's okay to dream, leading into my next point.

When putting a Flyers lineup like this in picture, it really gets you excited about the true possibilities the future holds for this franchise. Remember the Flyers don't have an incompetent General Manager running things anymore, it is a new front office who isn't afraid to make big moves or try new things. A true Flyers playoff berth could be closer than some think. It doesn't mean the rebuild is over, actually far from it. But it's huge steps in a positive and hopefully successful direction for years to come.