Offseason Review: Philadelphia Flyers

Now that the dust has settled on a wild NHL offseason, let's take a look at how each team did in regards to drafting and free-agent signings. Today, we'll look at the Philadelphia Flyers.

As is tradition, the Flyers missed the playoffs last year after handily making them in 2020, going so far as to earn themselves the status of dark horse contenders before losing in the second round to the New York Islanders in 7 games. Although not much changed on the Flyers roster between their second-round exit and the start of the 2021 season, they nonetheless dropped out of the playoffs in an East Division that had them competing with the likes of surefire playoff teams such as Pittsburgh, Washington, Boston, and the Isles that stopped their run short a year earlier. Star goaltender Carter Hart had a fairly significant sophomore slump, and backup Brian Elliot couldn't pick up the slack. That said, the Flyers consistently make the playoffs every other year, so the team should be able to stand pat and still be competitive, right? Let's find out.

Free Agency:

Spoiler: they didn't do that. This may have been one of the busiest offseasons for Philly in recent memory. There were big trades and big signings, which both show that GM Chuck Fletcher is getting serious about his team's ability to compete while their window is open. Nothing made this more apparent than the two trades made by the Flyers before the draft. First, The team's 2nd overall pick from 2017 Nolan Patrick, as well as 24-year old defender Philippe Myers were sent to Nashville in exchange for defenceman Ryan Ellis. Patrick was later flipped to the Vegas Golden Knights. A few days later, Robert Hagg, the Flyers' 1st-rounder in 2021, as well as a 2023 3rd-rounder were sent to the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for Rasmus Ristolainen. Both of these players are right-shot DMen, a valuable commodity in the NHL these days. Clearly, Fletcher believed his defence wasn't up to snuff last season and made some big moves to fix that issue. One day later, the Flyers made another trade, sending Jakub Voracek to Columbus in exchange for Cam Atkinson. Atkinson is 32 years old but about as sure of a thing as you can find in the NHL in terms of goal-scoring. He hasn't scored less than 20 goals in his career when playing over 60 games in a season and has on occasion cracked the 30 goal plateau, with his best year seeing him pot 41. If goal-scoring was a concern in Philly, it shouldn't be any longer.

The Flyers weren't done there. They went out and signed Keith Yandle to a one-year contract after the defenceman was bought out by the Florida Panthers. This will hopefully allow Yandle to continue his "Iron Man" streak of consecutive games played, currently the second-longest in NHL history at 922 games without being injured, suspended, or scratched. He is 43 games away from breaking the all-time record, set by Doug Jarvis at 964 games. The Flyers also signed former Sharks' goaltender Martin Jones to a one-year contract, ostensibly as a backup for Hart, and picked up depth centremen Nate Thompson and Derrick Brassard, also on one-year deals. 

Following that, Philly re-signed a few key players including Carter Hart to a three-year contract, plus Travis Sanheim and Connor Bunnaman to two-year deals and Samuel Morin for one year, and just yesterday Sean Couturier was signed to a massive 8-year contract at $7.75 million AAV. The Flyers also picked up DMen Nick Seeler and Adam Clendening as well as forward Gerald Mayhew on one-year two-way deals.

Grade: A; This was a big summer in Philadephia, and the Flyers are officially all-in on this roster being the one to bring a Cup back to the City of Brotherly Love. The team is now right up against the salary cap and may struggle to keep some players next offseason, but as it stands right now this is an extremely deep and competitive roster.

Draft:

The Flyers gave up their first-round pick in to acquire Ristolainen, and therefore had to wait until the second day of the draft to make any selections. With their first pick this year, 46th overall, the Flyers drafted Samu Tuomaala, a forward out of Finland. This 5'10" right-winger's game is all about speed, and he pushes that factor to its limit, sometimes to his own detriment. He gathers the puck in stride and picks up speed using crossovers ala Connor McDavid. He can get off a wicked-fast wrist shot while in motion, a skill that he loves to utilize. However, should a play not materialize, his foot speed can pull him out of position for a quick backcheck. 

Their next pick, 78th overall, was used to draft goaltender Alexei Kolosov. The Belarus native may ring a bell from his performance for his national team at the World Juniors a couple of years ago, where he put up a 1.49 GAA and .930 sv% in 3 games played. He has been a steady backup for Dynamo Minsk of the KHL putting up consecutive .910 and .911sv% for the team. Also, when competing for the Belarus Cup, Kolosov has achieved GAAs of 1.33 and 1.00 in three games each, and sv% of .949 and .960. Those are impressive numbers. He will be back with Dynamo next season, as well as tending goal for the Belarus Olympic team in Beijing in February.

Grade: B; There wasn't much fanfare around either of these picks by the Flyers, but it's hard to generate much excitement when the team is missing a pick in the first round. Regardless, both of these players have tangible skills that could blossom with some development time, and either one has the potential to turn into a steal down the road.

Overall grade: A-; The Flyers went all in this summer and built a roster that is unquestionably better and more experienced than the one from 2021. There are no mincing words here, this team is looking to contend for a Stanley Cup, and anything less will be seen as insufficient. This is looking to be a very fun season in Philly. 

What do you think of the changes the Flyers made this summer?

Photo credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports