Philadelphia Flyers general manager Daniel Briere and coach John Tortorella held their final end-of-season media interaction Friday at the team's training facility.
Let's go take out right away.
Has the timeline improved?
The Flyers have fared better than expected this season. Will that move up their timeline to compete for a playoff spot?
“That's a good question. Maybe it's a little too early to actually give a yes or no answer. A lot of players opened our eyes. “We realized they were probably more prepared than we thought they were,” Briere said of Tyson Forster, Bobby Brink, Cam York, Travis Sanheim, Egor Zamula and Samuel Elson. He mentioned and spoke.
“That's the exciting part. As far as we're concerned, we're not there yet. I think it's not the time to let go of some of our younger assets to try to get better faster.” I believe we're not there yet, but as far as believing we're going in the right direction, there's certainly a lot of players that give us optimism.”
“I know the expectations for next year are going to be, oh, we have to go to the playoffs. I don't even know if we're there yet. It's been a great year, but we still have a long way to go. We need to pay close attention to this next year.”
Tortorella also said the roster is still under consideration.
“I think we still need to add talent to our team. There's no question about that,” the coach said.
The coach was encouraged by the Flyers' ability to adapt to Tortorella's preferred style of play, particularly success in transition and off-the-rush, but when the games got tense late in the season, they struggled to score when controlling the puck-in. I had a hard time producing it. offensive zone.
“When you get to the last quarter or so, things change. That neutral zone closes down. That's my mindset and it's on my shoulders that you can't always play the same style.” Tortorella said. “We haven't done that and we won't do that and we're not going to get thrown around. But we need to attack more in the zone and get better at it. The game is changing. So I think we need to do more at the end of the year.”
So how do you add top talent?
The toughest part of Briere's job over the next few years will be how he plans to add high-end players when it's clear the Flyers won't have a plethora of top-five draft picks.
Of course, free agency is one option, but Briere made it clear that he doesn't believe the team is in a position to spend a lot of money on a star player this summer. They also have no intention of trading young players or assets for more than 30 veterans.
But could there be a hockey trade or two in the future, like the one that signed Cutter Gauthier and Jamie Drysdale in January?
perhaps.
“We're going to talk to different teams. The bulk of that still needs to happen through the young players, primarily through the draft,” Briere said. “I still believe we can get a very talented player (with this year's first-round pick). Other than that, it's tough. If you have talented players on your team, you don't want to trade them away. There isn't.
“If there's a trade that makes sense and we can bring in more talent and there's a way that makes sense, maybe it's a hockey trade, but we're definitely open to business and would explore that.” I plan to continue doing so.”
Could the Flyers add another player like Jamie Drysdale did this season? (Charles LeClair/USA Today)
power play problem
Nothing hurt them more than the Flyers' horrible power play, which shot just 12.2 percent, the worst in the NHL over the last three seasons.
Assistant coach Rocky Thompson has overseen the power play for the past two seasons, including last season when the team's power play percentage was 15.6 percent, the lowest in the league. However, it appears that no coaching changes are planned.
Briere said the answer has to come from inside, and that just as the Flyers focused on defense and penalty kill this season (both of which have improved significantly), moving forward with the power play will be next season. said that it would be the focus of
“We're not going to double it and get to 25%. We have to be realistic here. It's going to be small steps,” Briere said. “It may take a few years to get to where we want to go. But for now, it's going to start from within and if we have a chance to acquire talent that will come and help us, we'll I'm willing to accept that.”
Coach Tortorella said the team also employs former NHL scorers Patrick Sharp and Danny Heatley, but noted that Briere was one of the better power play forwards at the time, and that they will need to think about it as a group. Told. They may all be evaluated at some point.
But the bottom line is: “There's no way it could be as bad as this year, given the talent we had,” Tortorella said. “We're going to have a conversation. I think Rocky has great ideas. I think he's thinking outside the box. But Danny and I will talk – other people. Let's take it. … We have some people who think we need to look for another idea and discuss it. It's so bad.”
Ristolainen, Drysdale injured
The Flyers announced Thursday that Rasmus Ristolainen underwent surgery for a torn triceps tendon and will require three months of rehabilitation, but is expected to be ready for training camp. The surgery was postponed as there was hope that Ristolainen might be able to return at some point before the end of the season.
“If you have the opportunity to rehabilitate a player to extend his life, it's safer to try to rehabilitate him,” Briere said.
Drysdale “may need lower body and core surgery,” Briere said. “Jamie was pretty excited. What was impressive was that even though he was coming back from surgery he had in the offseason, was traded, and was trying to adjust to a new team, he was still able to skate at 100 percent. That's kind of the key to his game. So I'm looking forward to seeing Jamie Drysdale fully healthy next season. I think we will compete.”
In 24 games with the Flyers, Drysdale had just two goals and three assists for five points. As a player who will need to be mobile to reach his full potential, it's safe to say that his performance at training camp in September will be one of the early storylines.
Atkinson and Johansen's decisions continue.
The futures of two veteran players who will reach a significant salary cap hit are uncertain. Cam Atkinson has one season left on his contract for $5.875 million, while Ryan Atkinson, whom the Flyers needed to acquire in order to acquire a 2025 first-round pick from Colorado in the Sean Walker deal. Johansen did not play after that. His hip injury leaves him with one year and $4 million left.
Regarding Mr. Atkinson, Mr. Briere said: “We need to have more conversations internally. … Cam was really good early in the season. When you look at him and Sean (Couturier), he missed an entire year, almost two years for Sean, so we evaluate them. It's difficult. We have to be careful about that.”
“In the case of Ryan Johansen, all I can say is we don't expect him to come back. … We're dealing with him medically. The most important thing for him is I think it's about getting back to playing shape at this point. I don't think he can play hockey.”
If Johansen is unable to play, the Flyers would be open to placing him on long-term injured reserve, but they would not be able to buy him out.
According to CapFriendly, acquiring Atkinson will save the Flyers about $3.16 million in cap space next season. Atkinson's dead money cap will be approximately $2.36 million in 2024-25 and $1.76 million in 2025-26.
Atkinson was scoreless in the final 23 games of the season. There were frequent healthy scratches in the second half.
“In the first half of the season, I had a lot of energy in the tank and played well and scored goals and piled up points,” Atkinson said Wednesday. “The second half felt a little off in terms of wear and tear. I'm not going to sugar coat it like that. But I think there's still a lot of juice left in the tank.”
goalkeeper tandem set
All signs point to a tandem of Samuel Elsson and Ivan Fedotov when next season begins. Fedotov is a pending free agent but is expected to sign a multi-year contract sometime before July 1st.
Coach Tortorella has consistently praised Elson, who struggled with overload in March and April but then performed well in the Flyers' final three games of the regular season.
“Seeing the way he answered at the end, I was glad he was able to hang his hat on it,” Tortorella said of the 24-year-old.
Mr Briere said: “We put Sam Elson in a very tough position. I was really impressed with the way he handled it. I know it got a little difficult in the middle and maybe he overplayed. All in all, it was an impressive season for the young goaltender.”
Regarding the future of Carter Hart, who was charged with sexual assault in January, Briere said he has received “no direction” from the league on what to do next. Hart is a pending restricted free agent.
Michikov update
Briere was asked if Matvey Mitchkov's schedule is the same as when the Flyers selected the Russian winger seventh overall in the 2023 draft. Mitchkov has two years left on his KHL contract.
“If there's an opportunity, we'll jump on it to get him here sooner, but as far as I know at this point, it's still the same schedule,” Briere said. “He has two years left on his contract. For his part, before we do anything, he's going to have to find a way out of his contract. I mean, that's out of our control. As far as I know, we'll have to wait another two years.
“Believe me, we continue to monitor him. We take a great interest in what he's doing. He's had a great year. It was fun to watch some of the highlights. But at this point, I don't have much hope that it will be rescued sooner.”
In 47 games with Sochi in the KHL this season, Mitchkov scored 19 goals (team-high) and 22 assists for 41 points.
Reaction to coyote relocation
In the first round of the 1996 draft, the Phoenix Coyotes selected Briere with the 24th pick of the first round. Briere spent the first six seasons of his career in the desert, scoring 70 goals and 76 assists for 146 points in 258 games.
He reacted to the franchise moving to Utah.
“Sad. Sad. That's the team I was drafted by,” Briere said. “I have special memories there. I started there. I wanted them to stay and I think the fans and the city deserve better. I hope the organization never takes a step forward and goes to another level. It was tough to see them not being able to pull it off. It's sad to see that, especially for Arizona fans.”
(Samuel Elson top photo: Len Redkoles / NHLI via Getty Images)
