Ladies And Gentlemen, Please Welcome Your 2022-23 Philadelphia Flyers
367 days ago, the 2021-22 Philadelphia Flyers season began, and it figured to be a franchise-defining one. The Flyers were coming off an aggressive off-season, looking to return to their fairly impressive 2019-20 heights. Claude Giroux was entering the final year of his contract. Head coach Alain Vigneault had something to prove. It really could not be understated how big of a season it was for the Flyers.
And therefore, it really can’t be understated how badly the Flyers bombed it. They did so on multiple levels, too. Not only were they terrible last season, finishing fourth worst in the NHL, but their failure (and other factors) has also set them up poorly for the 2022-23 campaign and beyond. Injuries took their tool across the roster and may wind up ending the career of last summer’s biggest acquisition after four games in Orange and Black. Fan confidence has cratered. The organization could not be more different than it was one year ago, let alone three.
No one is expecting the Flyers to be successful in 2022-23 in terms of winning games or making the playoffs. But that does not mean the Flyers are tanking — in fact, GM Chuck Fletcher is adamant they aren’t. For now, they’re just counting on new head coach John Tortorella to help usher some of their young players into prominent roles, helping them reach new heights or at least return to old ones.
The team may not be anything special as a whole. But that does not mean there aren’t players with a lot to play for. Players you should probably get to know them before the Flyers begin their season tonight. So, here is the 2022-23 Flyers roster, listed in order of points scored last season — in three sentences or less.
#11 RW Travis Konecny — 21-22: 16 G, 36 A, 52 PTS in 79 GP
So much of the 2019-20 season seems so long ago, but perhaps nothing seems more foreign than the fact that Konecny led that team with 24 goals. While his finishing touch has left the last two seasons, he’s still been more than productive as both a playmaker and a play-driver. If the Flyers are as bad as a lot of people think they’ll be, Konecny (under contract through 2024-25 at a $5.5 million cap hit) could be a nice sell-high candidate.
#77 D Tony DeAngelo — 21-22: 10 G, 41 A, 51 PTS in 64 GP
DeAngelo picked up right where he left off from the 2019-20 season, scoring 51 points in 64 games with the Hurricanes while running their PP1. Of course, there was that whole “didn’t really play in 2020-21 because of just how big of an off-ice problem he was” thing. He seems like a good stylistic fit next to Ivan Provorov, who is good, but not Jaccob Slavin (DeAngelo’s primary partner last year) good.
#89 RW Cam Atkinson — 21-22: 23 G, 27 A, 50 PTS in 73 GP
Atkinson was basically the lone 2021 off-season acquisition whose 2021-22 season wasn’t either riddled with injury or underperformance. He was a solid sharpshooter and penalty killer, a rare combination. He might be most valuable as a John Tortorella translator for the rest of the team after playing for the Blue Jackets during Tortorella’s entire time in Columbus.
#25 LW James van Riemsdyk — 21-22: 24 G, 14 A, 38 PTS
van Riemsdyk was Philadelphia’s lone iron-man last year, a fact most of the fanbase could not care less about. What they will care about is fuming when van Riemsdyk is flipped at the deadline for assets after the Flyers couldn’t move his contract in the offseason since he should actually have value as a pure rental middle-six scoring forward. JVR deserved better in his second stint in Philadelphia.
#86 LW Joel Farabee — 21-22: 17 G, 17 A in 64 GP
After a spectacular sophomore NHL season in 2020-21, injuries and the lack of a quality center presented a massive roadblock for the 2018 1st-rounder. Farabee underwent disk replacement surgery in the offseason but that shouldn’t affect his season. It’s a huge one for Farabee to prove his highly touted IQ can make him a two-way force in the first season of a six-year, $30 million extension.
#13 C Kevin Hayes — 21-22: 10 G, 21 A, 31 PTS in 48 GP
Hayes could not have endured a tougher 2021-22 campaign — he lost his brother during the 2021 offseason and underwent multiple surgeries throughout the year. But the last one appeared to get him right, as Hayes scored 22 points in his final 28 games, a 64-point full-season pace. With Sean Couturier out to start the year, Tortorella’s already high bar for Hayes will only be raised.
#9 D Ivan Provorov — 21-22: 9 G, 22 A, 31 PTS in 79 GP
Provorov is what he is at this point — a solid defender who can handle top-pair minutes, but only if he plays alongside a capable puck-mover. The Flyers hope they’ve solved that problem after two wasted seasons for the former No. 7 pick with the DeAngelo trade. Perhaps the bigger storyline is whether Provorov can move into a leadership role in a locker room with room for someone to step up.
#6 D Travis Sanheim — 21-22: 7 G, 24 A, 31 PTS in 80 GP
Sanheim was one of the few positive stories of last year’s team, carrying Rasmus Ristolainen on his back, at least by analytics, to give the Flyers a solid second pair. Putting up 31 points on the back end with minimal power-play time is nothing to scoff at. Sanheim is a very good player, but do the nearly capped-out Flyers have room for him in their future with LD prospects Cam York and Egor Zamula knocking on the door?
#21 C/LW Scott Laughton — 21-22: 11 G, 19 A, 30 PTS in 67 GP
Laughton is the type of player capable of helping any team — he can play multiple positions, kill penalties, and score at a nice clip. What he probably can’t do, however, is what the Flyers are asking of him — have a consistent top-six role. Other than the 2019-20 season, in which Laughton played just 49 games, last season was the most efficient scoring campaign of his career — but even then, he scored at just a 37-point pace.
#54 D Egor Zamula — 21-22 (AHL): 4 G, 25 A, 29 PTS in 58 GP
Zamula took a huge step forward offensively last year after tallying just 6 assists in 25 AHL games in 2020-21. Even more importantly, he’s bulked to 177 pounds. Nick Seeler‘s spot next to Braun on the third pair feels like it’s his for the taking.
#74 RW Owen Tippett — 21-22 (FLA/PHI): 10 G, 11 A, 21 PTS in 63 GP
It’s easy to see potential in Tippett, who was a highly touted sniper in junior who creates a ton of chances in the NHL. A 20-goal season feels like a fairly safe bet, if only because someone has to score for the Flyers. He almost certainly won’t replace Claude Giroux‘s production, but at least he’s also a ginger?
#14 C Sean Couturier (IR) — 21-22: 6 G, 11 A, 17 PTS in 29 GP
There might not be anything more important to the Flyers’ short and especially long-term future than what Couturier looks like when — and thankfully, it sounds like it will be when, not if — he returns from a back injury suffered just before the start of camp. It’s not hard to feel comfortable about a player just three seasons removed from a Selke who has been money in the bank for 70-plus points every full season he’s played since 2017-18. But he also hasn’t played since last December and turns 30 in less than two months, opening the door for what looked to be a solid extension to potentially become a total albatross.
#61 D Justin Braun — 21-22 (PHI/NYR): 6 G, 12 A, 18 PTS in 69 GP
No, this isn’t a copy-and-mistake from last year’s version of this article — Braun is indeed back on a bonus-boosted one-year contract after being moved to the Rangers at last year’s deadline. This season is year three of the Flyers trying to keep Braun in the third-pair, PK specialist role he’s still capable of handling at this point of his career. Asking anything more out of the 35-year-old just isn’t reasonable.
#57 RW Wade Allison — 21-22 (AHL): 10 G, 7 A, 17 PTS in 28 GP
Whether it’s college or the pros, Allison has always been a solid player — when he’s been healthy. Injuries limited Allison to just one NHL game after a strong audition to finish the 2020-21 season (7 PTS in 14 GP). He’s a physical, goal-scoring, and energetic winger, with fan favorite/cult hero potential written all over him.
#58 C Tanner Laczynski — 21-22 (AHL): 7 G, 10 A, 17 PTS in 28 GP
An injury to Patrick Brown left the 4C job open, and the likely favorite Laczynski did enough to claim it. Laczynski looked solid in bottom-six duties in 5 NHL games in 2020-21 but injury limited him to just one NHL contest a year ago. He scored pretty well at Ohio State, but who knows how much that matters now with his college days over two years in the past.
#48 C Morgan Frost — 21-22: 5 G, 11 A, 16 PTS in 55 GP
This is as clear of a make-or-break year as you’ll ever see. Frost is no longer waiver exempt and will get every chance to establish himself as a full-time NHLer with Couturier out and the Flyers not exactly slated to be Cup contenders. Frost is an offensive player first and foremost, but Tortorella will undoubtedly set a defensive bar Frost must also reach to stay in the lineup.
#55 D Rasmus Ristolainen — 21-22: 5 G, 11 A, 16 PTS in 66 GP
The Flyers made a massive bet on the massive defender hoping that they could develop him better than the Buffalo Sabres did. And Ristolainen has developed — from a fairly high-scoring, flawed 5-on-5 defenseman to a low-scoring, flawed 5-on-5 defenseman. If the Flyers decide to trade Sanheim at the deadline, it could expose Ristolainen’s five-year, $25.5 million extension as the successor to the ill-fated Andrew MacDonald contract of 2014.
#44 LW Nicolas Deslauriers — 21-22 (ANA/MIN): 8 G, 5 A, 13 PTS in 81 GP
If you’re going to be bad, you might as well be fun. No, that doesn’t excuse the confounding four-year, $7 million deal for Deslauriers, who is little more than a traditional grinder/enforcer. But if you just acknowledge his underlying numbers will be among the game’s worst, he should throw some hits and punches that make however many fans fill the Wells Fargo Center get on their feet.
#49 LW/C Noah Cates — 21-22: 5 G, 4 A, 9 PTS in 16 GP
Cates has long been a fairly well-liked Flyers prospect — he doesn’t possess a massive amount of upside but flashed the smart instincts and talent that have made him a near-sure NHLer for a few years now. However, the Flyers have decided to gamble a bit on Cates by moving him to center, which he played at times in college but has no professional experience at. It could add another arrow to his already solid quiver — or be the beginning of another poor player development story.
#38 C Patrick Brown (LTIR) — 21-22: 4 G, 5 A, 9 PTS in 44 GP
Brown is unfortunately out to start the year with a back injury. However, his age and limited upside mean the Flyers are probably best off if Brown isn’t a lineup regular even when he returns. He is a respectable spare forward and solid penalty killer, though.
#47 D Ronnie Attard — 21-22: 2 G, 2 A, 4 PTS in 15 GP
Attard may be the biggest surprise to see on this roster. He definitely looked raw at times last season, which was expected, but also flashed some top-four upside as he started to settle in during the season’s final two weeks. It would be a major surprise if Attard stays up the entire year, but it would certainly be a pleasant one.
#24 D Nick Seeler — 21-22: 1 G, 2 A, 3 PTS in 43 GP
Seeler is the defense equivalent of Brown, but he’ll almost certainly play a somewhat regular role with Cam York sent down to start the year. He is a run-of-the-mill third-pair defenseman who isn’t afraid to step up for his teammates. It still feels safe to say his fight with Seattle’s Jamie Oleksiak in the second game of 2021-22 will be his Flyers’ high point.
#42 RW Hayden Hodgson — 21-22: 1 G, 2 A, 3 PTS in 6 GP
Hodgson is a great story — last season was his first so much as on an NHL contract, let alone playing in the show. Sure enough, he scores a goal and an assist in his first NHL game. Yes, he’s been compared to Nashville’s Tanner Jeannot, but just turning out to be a full-time NHLer is a pretty high bar, one the Flyers should be thrilled about if the 26-year-old clears.
#79 G Carter Hart — 21-22: .905 SV%, 3.16 GAA, -6.6 Goals Saved Above Average in 45 GP
Last season marked a step back in the right direction for Hart, in part because of just how bad he was in 2020-21 and in part because he deserved better from the team’s defense. For the first time in his career, he doesn’t have a veteran backup behind him. Despite his struggles the last two seasons, Hart still has one of the highest upsides on the Flyers roster.
#33 G Samuel Ersson — 21-22 (AHL): .893 SV%, 2.96 GAA in 5 GP
An injury to his good friend and fellow Swede Felix Sandström opened the door for Ersson, who then beat 32-year-old Troy Grosenick for the backup job. You might as well throw out last season for Ersson, who did have a .911 save percentage in the SHL the year before. Only the Rangers and Blue Jackets have more back-to-backs than Philadelphia’s 15, which isn’t exactly ideal for a team with nine games of NHL goaltending in the organization outside of Hart.
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All Salary Cap Information via CapFriendly; GSAA via Moneypuck.com; Non-NHL Stats via Elite Prospects
