The '25-'26 Philadelphia Flyers thread

[VoteForKalas]

Flyers went out fighting, but were overmatched in many ways: offense, speed, PK, PP and puck possession and movement. Lots of good signs, but lots of work still to do.

[phillychuck]

Flyers are a good defensive team that can’t score. Carolina’s offense, even against a good defense, was too much for them. They need to add offensive punch (and fix the power play) and possibly play a system that permits their few talented players to “cheat” at least a little for offense. Michkov healthy scratch in game 4? I read that he might be injured, but didn’t see a follow-up. If Tocchet scratched him healthy he needs to be fired immediately...his handling of one of their two or three best offensive players was abysmal this season.

[zambonir]

If Tocchet scratched him healthy he needs to be fired immediately.

Maybe call into WIP with that sort of thing. Michkov just didn't show up for most of the playoffs (except the game after he got benched), and was constantly getting knocked off the puck or making turnovers. Injury to Tippett should have been an opportunity for him but instead Bump took it (even tho he screwed up himself).

I'm more annoyed at the Michkov scratch because now I have to deal with the fan outcry on my birthday than I actually am annoyed at the Michkov scratch.

Dude was the worst player on the ice in Game 3. Painfully bad. Don't want to get scratched? Don't be the worst player on the ice.

— Charlie O'Connor (@charlieoconn.bsky.social) May 9, 2026 at 5:49 PM

I do concede this may yet end badly. Hopefully not. Have a good off-season, come out of training camp with a bigger role and better linemates. But if it does go badly, Tocc won't get fired because A) he was great this year, including with the culture he said was more important than anything else and B) his bosses are on the same page with him.

[phillychuck]

z, I get your point, I’m not doing a WIP rant here (or at least I’m not intending to). The basic question is what is the organization’s priority this season...I don’t think it should have been winning a game or two vs Carolina. Their #1 priority should have been developing their young talent, that was Tocchet’s job, and by any measure he failed miserably doing that job by prioritizing trying to win. He bears at least half the responsibility for this (Michkov bears his share as well). He was never in Michkov’s corner, and he destroyed the value of arguably the franchise’s most important asset. One could argue that if he had played Michkov all year a decent amount of time he would have been better by the end of the year than he was.

And using the supporting point that the bosses of this incredibly, for-5-decades-inept organization are on board with what you’re doing is not convincing. If anything, I’d say that doing things “the Flyers way” is prima facia evidence of incompetence. .

[bigegypt0417]

The organization's priority is to win when given the opportunity to win...that should always be the priority since you're never guaranteed to get back to the postseason.

Tocchet took a fairly terrible team and got them to almost 100 points and a first round win in the playoffs.. he did all that with a young, thin roster.

If michkov can't take some personal responsibility and put himself in a position to take the role as the "guy" then that seems to be out of the hands of the coach.

[LegoDoom]

Of course Michkov didn't show up for most of the postseason. He was barely allowed to play.

[zambonir]

I just don't think this is exactly the same old Flyers culture. If anything Briere sees himself in Michkov, He got benched - and sent down to the AHL - plenty. And it's hard to say they aren't committed to developing young talent when you look at the players who've been on the ice, or the fact that benching Michkov also allowed Luchanko to get a taste of playoff hockey.

I think the priority of the series was showing the players what it will eventually take to win against a team like Carolina, just as the season was about building a foundation for future playoff runs. MIchkov ultimately had a decent season and probably learned a lot. I don't buy that he deserved more minutes especially in the first half, or that a couple of healthy scratches is any worse than the Phillies benching Bohm this week. Neither thing is the apocalypse except online. If he's as unhappy with his minutes as his stans ("Michov's Minions," Al Morganti calls them) are and demands a trade, that would be bad, but still as bad a reflection on him as the organization. Ditto if the Flyers decide to move on from him and they don't get good value.

In that current Phillies thread you mentioned Marsh might get mad if Crawford gets more slack than he does. That has always obviously been the case with the Michkov situation. The locker room knows if someone is being coddled, or if someone like Grundstrom gets benched again even though he's outworking more talented players (which still didn't stop Hathaway from several deserved nights off).

[LegoDoom]

I don't know what Michkov deserved or didn't deserve, but I do know that he shouldn't be on a non-offensive line and have limited minutes. Z and Martone can't play defense, either, but Tocchet didn't have an issue with playing them (although he did wind up yelling at Z). This isn't WIP and there are non flyers fans that think Tocchet is terrible.

[zambonir]

do know that he shouldn't be on a non-offensive line and have limited minutes

I agree about the non-offensive line part but I'm still not sure he was better than the four wingers who got more so-called Top Six ice time than he did. Two of whom only got onto the roster at the end of March. Foerster wasn't good in the playoffs either but does have a more well-rounded game; Martone indeed has plenty of warts but his physicality and north-south style was more called for.

Also cant really say he was on a checking line. Cates isn't necessarily a worse offensive center than Dvorak or Couts (back when Abols was the 4th line C) and both he and Michkov were on a PP unit. And then things were just scrambled (Zegras moving back and forth from C, Barkey at C). The biggest change though, was that in the playoffs the Couts line was the second line, so really the third and fourth lines were both "offense" lines and got less ice time.

[LegoDoom]

I thought Michkov looked fine on the PP in the playoffs.

Couts was the best player on the Flyers in the playoffs by a mile. If you consider the bottom 2 lines as offensive, then they didn't have a defensive line

[phillychuck]

I don’t care, really, that Tocchet took a non-playoff team and made them a bottom tier playoff team. Tocchet has shown historically that he can’t turn a team into a cup contender, and the failure to develop Michkov is, to me, just another sign of Tocchet not being able to maximize his good players, especially offensive players, wherever he’s been the head coach. He has tunnel vision about hockey, everybody plays defense and you win. He’s created a Flyers team in that image which has a ceiling of a 100-point first or second round loss team. You have to have an offense (and a power play) if you’re going to win in the NHL today. Wait for Tocchet to bury Martone, too, next season. He doesn’t play much defense either. But neither do most of the top-20 scorers in the NHL, either. I just completely disagree with his philosophy and goals. I like him as a person and he’s a good interview, but this team will NEVER win at a high level with him coaching. You just can’t win that many games 2-1.

And those crediting Tocchet with the improvement, if they hadn’t signed Vladar, how many points do you think they would have earned? Not many more than last year In my humble opinion...

[LegoDoom]

I don't think that will happen with Martone. He has too good of a shot and can fix a lot of PP issues. I still don't think he can skate, but has great hands and a great shot.

Michkov is a totally different player and probably someone that Tocchet doesn't understand.

[zambonir]

And those crediting Tocchet with the improvement, if they hadn’t signed Vladar, how many points do you think they would have earned? Not many more than last year In my humble opinion...

There's some truth to that. And some irony. Torts and Tocc are pretty similar coaches, Torts is just more of a dick. And has faced the same playoff ceiling as a coach since he had a group of elite players early in his career (and the good fortune to face the Flyers in the Conference Finals lol). The hard work, defense and close locker room all started under Torts (if also partly in the Dallas Green, us-against-him way).

I would also argue that Tocc's coaching resume was hindered by dysfunctional organizations every time, but, well....

I still think the path they're on is the correct one though. By the time this group of young players has shaken out alongside some other guys who aren't even here yet, Tocchet probably won't even be the coach. If he is, that will mean things went every well (or he could get fired the way Dallas fired DeBoer and Vegas fired Cassidy for doing very well but not well enough).

Speaking of I wonder if Torts has already earned his new Vegas deal.

[dicemen99]

Once again, all this angst about a developing player that has performed very inconsistently, and at times, very poorly.

Everyone so worried that’s he’s so soft that he can’t take being sat on the bench when he deserves it, yet every time this happens he seems to respond well, so maybe he has more crust than you give him credit for.

The playoffs came, the physicality ramped up exponentially and the bottom line is that the Flyers currently still at a point where they are getting pushed around the ice in these situations and Michkov is not going to thrive.

Lego, you are constantly comparing the opportunity that Martone received compared to Michkov - did you actually watch the games? Sure, he made a couple of mistakes as a 19yo in his first playoff action, but, damn, he made his presence noticeable in a good way throughout the 10 games. His ice time was earned. Michkov, on the other hand, looked like he didn’t belong most of the time. Not entirely unexpected from a young player.

Just because Michkov has the talent for a very high ceiling doesn’t mean he’s going to get there quickly. And throwing him in when he’s not ready for the situation won’t get him there any faster.

Chuck - learning to compete is just as important for a young team as just getting them ice time. A lot of players learned a lot about what it’s like to compete for a Cup in this series. Including Michkov.

[bigegypt0417]

The idea these players psyche is that delicate is really odd.

If you want to blame tocchet.. great.

But as usual...the desire to make a point comes at the price that the coach gets credit for making the flyers a playoff team all because the team signed a goalie pretty much this whole board thought was a terrible signing.

[LegoDoom]

Lego, you are constantly comparing the opportunity that Martone received compared to Michkov - did you actually watch the games?

Are you serious? Michkov's minutes speak for themselves and I could write a thesis about how bad Martone's skating is. The fact that he goes behind the net on a forecheck with no chance at skating back to cover is horrendous... yet let's give him the most opportunities and ■■■■ on Michkov.

[zambonir]

Yeah you can't really separate what Vladar brought to the team from what the team brought to Vladar, which Tocchet gets some credit for. He was the MVP and bailed them out many times. But he also benefitted from the system (both initially and when they changed it after the break) and grew with the culture, as much as he also contributed to it.

And apparently Dillabaugh is pretty good at his job, despite there being many years of evidence since 2015 otherwise?

[LegoDoom]

But as usual...the desire to make a point comes at the price that the coach gets credit for making the flyers a playoff team all because the team signed a goalie pretty much this whole board thought was a terrible signing.

The Penguins were a playoff team and they sucked. This is such a bad argument.

[LegoDoom]

The PP needs to be fixed at the blue line. The Flyers don't have anyone that can handle that role. Drysdale is good. Sanhiem is decent. Tippett tries his best. It's too bad that they didn't have someone like Ghost.

[LegoDoom]

Put Michkov and Z on the half boards. Martone and Couts in the middle. This isn't that hard.