Unlike the other professional sports leagues, the NHL has yet to undergo an efficiency revolution. There is no one way to build a team in terms or composition, style of play or concentration of talent. Without a guiding force like baseball’s three true outcomes, basketball’s corner threes and football’s explosive offense, hockey general maangers are largely left to their own devices to implement a vision.
In the 2010s there was a prevailing sentiment as whatever team LeBron James was on, or the Golden State Warriors traded titles for the decade that the NBA was a superteam driven league. That if you didn’t have at least two perennial All-NBA caliber players, there was no point in playing out the season.
No one told the NHL that because over the last 15 years, the NHL has fewer unique champions than the NBA. That’s right, between the Chicago Blackhawks (3), Los Angeles Kings (2), Pittsburgh Penguins (2), Tampa Bay Lightning (2) and Florida Panthers (2) hockey, the ultimate team sport is more star driven than the NBA.
That makes acquiring stars the single biggest imperative to contending for a Stanley Cup. Setting the benchmarks for what contender status looks like is an ever-moving target year over year as the league evolves. But one thing remains true, you need as much cost controlled high-end talent as you can compile to compete at the highest level.
When it comes to the Philadelphia Flyers in year three under Danny Briere, one thing remains clear: The team has a long way to go to look like a contender.
The Stakeholders
The value of an NHL coach is pretty limited in comparison to the other major North American sports. As an execution, not tactics sport, hockey coaches are left at the mercy of the players at their disposal. A strong coach might be able to squeeze slightly more out of a group, but for the most part, there isn’t a clearcut prevailing philosophy within the NHL that correlates with success.
Amongst the last 15 Stanley Cup champion winning teams a few patterns emerge.
Number one and most significantly, Stanley Cup winning teams are led most often by those who’ve coached before. While the insularity of the NHL coaching carousel is undoubtedly frustrating and a driving force in the trend, retread coaches have won the lion’s share of cups since 2010. Just two coaches, Jon Cooper and Jared Bednar, were first time bench bosses when they won their respective championships.
In addition, as the NHL coach turnover rate increases, we are seeing the tenure of coaches that win championships get shorter. The average coach was behind the bench for three and a half seasons when their team won the Stanley Cup. That lines up with the fact that the average NHL coaching tenure is only 2.3 years long, the shortest of the four North American sports leagues.
It’s not just behind the bench either, the average general manager of a Cup winner being on the job 3.6 years. Big picture, this means leadership groups are getting shorter than ever opportunities to build out their visions. With owners having the macro evidence of both coaches and general managers winning championships in short windows, they have justification for the frantic environment.
This also points to executives and coaches likely being finishing touches on teams that have largely done the heavy lifting already. The idea of a caretaker manager exists in soccer, someone who knows they won’t be around long enough to reap the benefits of their work, but an integral component of developing a team in the long-term.
When it comes to the Danny Briere and Rick Tocchet combo, they are seemingly in strong standing with Flyers’ ownership. But, Briere is coming up on that benchmark 3.6 years on the job and fast. Tocchet in year one has time, but he’s inherently connected to Briere’s timeline. A new general manager would want their own guy, regardless of what Tocchet may or may not have achieved.
The Physical Makeup
Getting back to the initial premise of there being no one way to win, the data is relatively consistent when it comes to physical size. Now, as the league at large gets more homogenous as skillsets blend together to optimize for the environment it makes sense that players would largely have similar physiques.
Within any large cohort, players will typically fall along the lines of a normal distribution. The average NHL player this season is 6-foot-1 and weighs 201 pounds. Therefore, it’s unsurprising that the last five Stanley Cup champions, dating back to 2021 all fall into similar boxes.
The average Cup winner checked in at 6-foot-1 and a weight of 199 pounds. So not a whole lot to glean there. That said, it is notable that for all of the gushing over the Florida Panthers physical play, their average team weight last season was 196 pounds, the lightest over the last five years.
In comparison, the Flyers do check in at 196 pounds this season. At face value, I’d have said that was a byproduct of being such a young team that a contingent of their group still had physical maturing to do and mass to put on. The curve of size from 18-22 is already big for men, then think about the jump of going from junior, college or European league hockey to an NHL team with a professional strength and conditioning as well as nutrition programs spurs growth.
How the Sausage is Made
The conventional wisdom in hockey is to tank, draft high and waltz your way to Stanley Cups on the back of superstar talent. With player mobility restricted until they reach 27 years old, there are tens of thousands of players who’ve played games in the NHL without ever reaching unrestricted free agency. With star players at such a premium, teams are going to capitalize on their value as best they can instead of losing them for nothing.
In just the last handful of years, Matthew Tkachuk and Quinn Hughes, two of the 15 best players in the league this decade were traded for massive hauls. That’s why on top of drafting well, it’s important to stockpile assets when not trying to actively compete. Then, once your team is ready to contend for cups, you have to embrace the Vegas Golden Knights’ mentality of being all-in all the time.
Despite conventional wisdom about the merits of building through the draft, that requires further depth. Overall, of the last five Stanley Cup champions, 68 percent of those rosters were acquired through trades or free agency. The addendum to the importance of the draft needs to be tied to high-end talent. With so little of it to go around and stars concentrated on a handful of teams, depth is always going to be available.
With the Golden Knights, as an expansion team the obvious outlier, the teams of the 2020s are built with stars through the draft. Tampa Bay and Colorado are headlined by a small army of future Hall of Famers. Florida had a strong foundation with Alex Barkov and Aaron Ekblad before going out swinging for Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Reinhart.
Most of all, it should only reaffirm the notion that while depth is important, stars are what win in the NHL.
The Flyers at present are 44.8% drafted players which tracks with an organization rebuilding. In the mean time it’s of the utmost importance that the Flyers give their young players ample playing time to make informed decisions. The more action their pieces get, the better situated they’ll be to supplement them with high-end talent when the opportunity strikes.
On the Roster
There are times where making the playoffs over and over again without any real hope of advancing is Sisyphian. No matter what, you know the path ahead of you isn’t going to break your way. The team simply isn’t good enough. The Los Angeles Kings have had some solid seasons the last handful of years. None of those teams could beat the Edmonton Oilers regardless of the tweaks around the edges.
That said, there is so much value in experience when it comes to players. It might be a chicken or egg situation where the better a player is, the more experience they’ve cultivated or experience makes them into better players, but the proof is in the pudding. To eventually win a Stanley Cup, a team needs to be in the playoffs, consistently.
The Lightning drafted Steven Stamkos in 2009 and didn’t win a cup until 2020. The Panthers drafted Barkov in 2013 and they didn’t win until 2024. The Avalanche took Nathan MacKinnon in 2014 and didn’t win until 2022. Meaning that your organization needs to be in the mix for the long haul. You’ll go through multiple iterations of supporting cast, coach and general manager before breaking through.
When it comes to the Flyers, they’re in the earliest stages of their window. Going into Wednesday’s game against the Utah Mammoth, they had a combined 7,534 regular season games played. Their roster has a total of 163 combined playoff games under their belt.
In comparison the average of the last five Stanley Cup winners had a total of 9216 regular season games and 966 playoff games. Now, experience isn’t everything and talent can overcome that rawness. But, based on the roster the Flyers have at present, it’s still too early on in their life cycle to make any final conclusions about their core.
The Talent Question
It’s a reasonable reaction to get defensive over prospects. The Flyers have a small army of prospects ranging from teenagers to those in their mid-20s. With so much volume, it’s only natural that not every player is going to make it. That’s just a simple matter of fact when it comes down to the nature of drafting. There are hundreds if not thousands of variables that go into the development of a player and the capacity to reach their full potential.
Since Flyers have so many players in the nascent stages of their careers, it’s only natural that the group at large still needs time. At this point, Philadelphia’s top priority needs to be high-end talent acquisition. It’s done an admirable job assembling a reasonably competitive group and based on the weakness of the Eastern Conference at large, very much can hang around in the mix for a playoff birth.
In spite of the playoffs being a plausible goal this year, until the Flyers iron out who the key pieces on their next contender are, they’ll be stuck in wild card purgatory. The last time a team from one of the two wild card spots or the 7/8 seed in the old 1-8 format won the Stanley Cup was the 2011-2012 Kings. Trying to be the once in a 15-year period team is not nearly good enough odds to divert from the current course.
The Flyers still have quite a ways to go when it comes to accruing the value needed to win a Stanley Cup. While WAR is only one metric, it’s a good snapshot way to measure the differences in value between players and teams at large. When you take every player on each of the last five Stanley Cup winners’ average WAR in a season and add them up, the Flyers are nine wins above replacement below their average.
For context, a Hart Trophy caliber season is usually worth about 4 WAR. Now, the Flyers don’t need to make up that gap with just one or two players. At the moment the Flyers are icing several players who have 0.1 as their career WAR with how little hockey they’ve played. There’s still time for the in-house pieces to make up some of that gap.
Yet, until the Flyers unlock two or three star level skaters, they’re going to have a very defined ceiling. Amongst the group Philadelphia has now, the supporting cast of a contender is coming into focus. There are enough middle six forwards and capable defensemen to start wish casting a big trade into existence.
Those big trades are increasingly becoming a defining characteristic of contemporary NHL contenders. Now, it’s imperative the Flyers keep their eye on the ball. Time is both a blessing and a curse when it comes to rebuilds. The clock is always ticking, which in the early stages means opportunities to improve the situation with little pressure. Yet, the longer it takes for a rebuild to get off the ground, the less likely it ever gets there under the current leadership.
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The Flyers took five of six points on a three-game road trip, defeating the best team in the National Hockey League on the road by a score of 7-3. The statement game — which featured an Owen Tippett hat trick and a 32-save performance from Sam Ersson — may not solidify the Flyers playoff chances, but it will prove the team is far from done.
The basics
First period: 15:02 – Owen Tippett (Denver Barkey, Cam York), 18:57 – Denver Barkey (Matvei Michkov, Owen Tippett) (PPG)
Second period: 7:17 – Parker Kelly (Zakhar Bardakov, Jack Ahcan), 10:29 – Victor Olofsson (Nathan MacKinnon, Martin Necas), 11:01 – Bobby Brink (Unassisted), 12:12 – Cale Makar (Nathan MacKinnon, Martin Necas)
Third period: 0:56 – Owen Tippett (Sean Couturier), 2:00 – Matvei Michkov (Emil Andrae, Garnet Hathaway), 10:24 – Owen Tippett (Unassisted) (SHG), 16:52 – Matvei Michkov (Travis Konecny) (ENG)
SOG: 20 (PHI) – 35 (COL)
Some takeaways
Third time’s a charm for Sam
Sam Ersson was getting his third consecutive start on this road trip. And while he deserved to have two victories in Utah and Vegas, that didn’t end up being the case. Ersson was put to the test right off the bat on an Avalanche power play when he made two key stops early. He kept Philadelphia in the game in the opening period with a career-high 17 stops in the opening 20 minutes. There were a lot of strong stops, though none topped the glove save he made roughly eight minutes in as Colorado kept coming with the Flyers looking lost as they were being outshot 9-1. Ersson was showing some mental toughness, keeping the Flyers in it until they woke up. The period had to be huge for the Swedish goaltender’s confidence, as it seemed conceivable that Ersson hadn’t made 17 saves combined in the final two months of last season.
While there was speculation Dan Vladar might be taken off injured reserve and get the start, Ersson was stellar. The goalie allowed three goals in the second, but none of them could be blamed squarely on the netminder. In the third, Ersson was terrific on Colorado’s second power play of the period. With Denver Barkey in the box, the goaltender stood tall with some excellent saves in the first minute of the Avalanche power play. Ersson also ensured the Flyers were in great shape, maintaining their three-goal lead down the stretch with a lovely stop on Cale Makar.
Tippett rips it…thrice
Owen Tippett continues to play quite well. And after a rather dominating first period by Colorado, it was the Flyers who opened the scoring with a great snipe against Colorado’s Mackenzie Blackwood. It was the sixteenth of the year for Tippett who has shown a better skill set in his tool box in recent weeks.
The Flyers didn’t have much momentum after the goal. They did get their first power play when MacKinnon took a penalty in the offensive zone. It wasn’t a smart play, and Philadelphia capitalized on the power play. Yes, you read that correctly. Philadelphia set up a great play when Matvei Michkov fed Barkey in front, beating Blackwood on the blocker side to take a rather surprising 2-0 lead. The goal was the third power play goal for Philadelphia of late, certainly a small bright spot but one that might be extremely handy down the stretch.
DENVER BARKEY GOAL IN DENVER#PHIvsCOL | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/r2KCZSDaa6
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) January 24, 2026
Early in the third, after blowing two different leads, Philadelphia took the lead. Owen Tippett buried a shot by Blackwood which was a lovely snipe on his glove side.
The dagger in Colorado’s hopes was delivered courtesy of Tippett with a short-handed goal. Tippett went full bore up the ice and beat Blackwood through the pads for a huge 6-3 lead with less than 10 minutes to go.
Tippett’s second career hat trick and a four-point night could not have come at a better time.
Undisciplined to start
Flyers winger Travis Konecny wasted no time doing something dumb. This time it was on Philadelphia’s opening shift and taking a hooking penalty. While Colorado has a great team, their power play for some reason just isn’t clicking. But why give Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar any more of an advantage than needed? The Flyers had a chance to clear but Christian Dvorak failed. A few good Ersson saves atoned for Konecny’s error.
Minutes later, Noah Cates took an interference penalty which might have looked questionable but was called. Philadelphia keeps playing with fire, yet on this second penalty kill they were again effective. Konecny nearly redeemed himself later in the first when he was able to redirect the puck to Dvorak who was at the back door. Unfortunately the shot hit the iron and not the twine. If there was any saving grace it was that the Flyers appeared to wake up from their early stupor.
The Flyers kept their noses clean for much of the rest of the game up until the third period. A dangerous trip by Emil Andrae on Zakhar Bardakov put Colorado again on the power play but Philadelphia had the majority of the great chances.
Barkey bites
Philadelphia had a strong close to the first period, with Denver Barkey being clutch with an assist and a power play goal. Barkey continues to impress on the line with Owen Tippett and Sean Couturier, being one of the most impressive play-driving trios in the league. Besides, with a name like Denver, it would be apt he gets on the scoreboard in Colorado. Perhaps his best shift was early in the second on the power play. Although Michkov and Noah Cates were causing a bit of havoc in front, it was Barkey and Tippett who were creating something out of nothing with some great stickhandling and passing between them.
Barkey hasn’t been up for a lot of games, yet the synergy he’s developed with both Tippett and Couturier is exciting. He can create offense for Tippett and himself while also being quite responsible on the other side of the puck, assisting a veteran like Couturier. Couturier was the beneficiary of a great pass from Barkey behind the net. But Couturier made just an awful pass out front which Colorado grabbed, went up ice, and tied things up. Ersson had no chance on the goal.
However, the Flyers answered that game-tying goal in a huge way. Bobby Brink was on an odd-man rush but didn’t initially score. Seconds later he did, giving the Flyers a quick response and a 3-2 lead.
Through 40 minutes, Brink was the only Flyers skater north of 50 percent in terms of Corsi For percentage at 57.14. On the other side of the metrics coin, nine Flyers skaters were under 30 percent by the same statistic. It was a rather damning indication just how well Colorado was playing. And how fortunate the team was being in a tied game through 40 minutes.
The only flaw in Barkey’s game on this night was taking a penalty midway through the third but the Flyers killed it off relatively well.
Turnover costly
The Flyers looked to have tightened up defensively in the middle period, which was necessary against the best team in the league and with the long change staring them in the face. Philadelphia looked far calmer and collected in the second. But a bad Christian Dvorak turnover resulted in Colorado’s opening goal courtesy of Parker Kelly. Kelly, a fourth-line center, managed to lift the puck over a sprawling Ersson to cut the deficit in half.
In the initial moments after the goal, Philadelphia began to move backwards in their own zone, forming a barricade around Ersson. It didn’t seem logical they could survive a shooting gallery for 31 minutes. The Avs nearly tied it halfway through the game, but flubbed on an excellent chance.
A bit of Michkov magic
Philadelphia added an insurance goal soon after Tippet’s second when Matvei Michkov perfectly deflected a shot over Blackwood for a 5-3 lead.
The goal made it a two-point game for Michkov, and his first multi-point game since Dec. 30 when Philadelphia doubled the Canucks 6-3 and he earned a pair of assists. The Flyers ended their scoring for the night when Travis Konecny fed Michkov with a pass for his second goal of the night, this one an empty-netter. A huge three-point night on what was a night of huge positives. So much so Rick Tocchet was left grinning on the bench!
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Jamie Drysdale isn’t just playing well this season — he’s beginning to establish himself as a core piece of the Flyers’ rebuild, and head coach Rick Tocchet’s comments after their win over the Avalanche quietly reinforced that.
Jamie Drysdale has been a key piece in this team’s defensive core, completely turning around his game since he was acquired from the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for Cutter Gauthier. The former first-round draft pick was thrust into the NHL as a young 18-year-old kid who did not get properly developed. That was quickly evident when he came over from Anaheim. The skills were all there – specifically his skating – but the then 21-year-old needed to put it all together.
With the help of Brad Shaw and John Tortorella, Drysdale worked on his defensive game and began to turn his career around. Now, the 23-year-old is a mainstay in the Flyers’ defensive top four, and has already 20 points – the same total he had last year – in 23 fewer games, totaling three goals and 17 assists over 47 games. Drysdale is on pace to eclipse his career-high of 32 points this season and continues to impress visually. His work along the boards has improved, and his defensive game has grown exponentially. His hard work is being rewarded by advanced stats as well.
Since coming over from Anaheim, the young defenseman’s on-ice expected goals percentage has increased from 38.6 percent to 54.9 percent this season, according to MoneyPuck. He’s averaging 21 minutes and 18 seconds of time on ice per game, which ranks just below Cam York and Travis Sanheim. His game has undoubtedly improved over the last three years with the Flyers, but what’s becoming increasingly evident is his role as a quiet leader in the room.
Rick Tocchet’s comments on Drysdale after the Avs game
After the Flyers defeated the Colorado Avalanche 5-3 in Denver Friday night, Rick Tocchet, in his post game interview, specifically called out the 23-year-old defenseman as one of a few players who spoke up on the bench during the game.
Jamie
(quote via @charlieo_conn) pic.twitter.com/0mZwLgEFAC
— PHLY Flyers (@PHLY_Flyers) January 24, 2026
The Flyers’ young defenseman is beginning to find his voice in the locker room, an encouraging development for a player viewed as a key piece of the rebuild. Head coach Rick Tocchet has clearly shown confidence in the former first-round pick, deploying him in key situations, including as the quarterback on the first power play unit.
That growth matters. As the Flyers look to build their next core of young leaders, it’s important to see guys starting to take on leadership roles within the locker room. Players like Jamie Drysdale, Cam York, and Trevor Zegras are expected to be key figures in this rebuild, and seeing them step up as they continue to mature is a positive sign.
If the Flyers are going to turn the corner from rebuilding to contending, that culture shift will be driven by this group. How players like Drysdale, York, and Zegras lead — both on the ice and in the locker room — will go a long way toward defining the identity of the Flyers’ next era.
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We’re back again for a rare bit of Friday hockey for the Flyers, as they close out their road trip with a meeting with the high flying Colorado Avalanche. This trip has been a bit of a mixed bag for them, and the Avalanche will certainly not be an easy matchup for them, but the Flyers have a chance here to show some resilience and respond well after a pretty crushing overtime loss in Utah.
Puck drop: 9:00 p.m.
How to watch/listen:
: NBCSP+
: 93.3 WMMR
Pregame reading
- Heading into tonight’s matchup against the Avalanche, we have some shuffling that’s been done to the defense pairs. [BSH]
- There’s a good ongoing question here about just how far away the Flyers are from legitimately competing, and we’re going deeper on that with recent Stanley Cup winners as our guide. [BSH]
Pregame watching
By the numbers
Philadelphia Flyers – 23-17-9 (4th in Metro)
Goals: Trevor Zegras (19)
Assists: Travis Konecny/Trevor Zegras (27)
Points: Trevor Zegras (46)
Colorado Avalanche – 34-5-9 (1st in Central)
Goals: Nathan MacKinnon (38)
Assists: Nathan MacKinnon (47)
Points: Nathan MacKinnon (85)
Projected lineups
Philadelphia Flyers
Trevor Zegras — Christian Dvorak — Travis Konecny
Denver Barkey — Sean Couturier — Owen Tippett
Matvei Michkov — Noah Cates — Bobby Brink
Garnet Hathaway — Lane Pederson – Carl Grundstrom
Cam York — Travis Sanheim
Nick Seeler — Jamie Drysdale
Emil Andrae — Noah Juulsen
Sam Ersson
(Aleksei Kolosov)
Colorado Avalanche
Victor Olofsson — Nathan MacKinnon — Martin Necas
Artturi Lehkonen — Brock Nelson — Valeri Nichushkin
Ross Colton — Jack Drury — Gavin Brindley
Zakhar Bardakov — Parker Kelly — Taylor Makar
Sam Malinski — Cale Makar
Josh Manson — Brent Burns
Jack Achan — Sam Girard
Mackenzie Blackwood
(Scott Wedgewood)
Storylines to watch
Let’s try this again…
While the Flyers started out well in Wednesday’s game against the Mammoth, a few bad lapses in judgement and breakdowns in coverage ultimately had that one going sideways on them in a big way. It was a tough sight to see unfold, both for the fact that for a long time it seemed like they had control of that game, as well as that it meant that they had quickly squandered all of the momentum they built up from that huge win over the Golden Knights on Monday. It really did seem like things were moving in the right direction for them again for a bit there, but in spite of the unfortunate blips in their last time out, the Flyers do have a chance here to find a quick reset and at least get back to a stronger process, even if they don’t correct to far and completely as to take down a team with just five regulation losses on the season. The team loves to talk about their belief and their resilience, and this will be another test of it.
No Vladar yet
While the word is that Dan Vladar was able to take a more or less normal skate with the team this morning in Colorado, it seems that he’s still not quite ready to return to action. It’s looking like it won’t be too long before he’s back in the mix, but it won’t be coming tonight.
Tonight’s start, then, will go to Sam Ersson again, and the Flyers will be hoping that he can close out this trip for them on a high note. It’s been a good week for him on the whole, as his play in Vegas was stellar, and he followed that up with a pretty good showing in Utah, albeit one that was spoiled by the mistakes of the skaters in front of him. He hasn’t been perfect, but Ersson’s been putting in some good work to get his game back on track, and here’s hoping that he can keep that moving in the right direction tonight.
Hathaway stays in
Speaking of mistakes and that came in Utah, it was, we recall, a rough one for Garnet Hathaway. It was Hathaway’s casual play with the puck when he had a clear shot at the empty net which cost them what should have been the game winner, and coming as one more thing in a season which hasn’t seen him at his sharpest, it really stung. All the same, the Flyers are sticking with their same lineup from that game, and Hathaway will be right back in the mix on that fourth line. And while it would be easy to argue that the big mistake was enough to earn him a seat for the night, a chance to reset and also to get Nikita Grebenkin back into the lineup to see what he can do, Hathaway’s veteran status has earned him more money in the back (in the parlance of an old coaching staff), and he’ll get more runway to immediately try to respond to that poorer showing. We’ll see what he’s able to do with it.
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Philadelphia Flyers winger (or hybrid center if the term still applies) Trevor Zegras has been a huge addition to the team this season, having stepped in immediately as their leader in both goals and points. But this month, Zegras hasn’t looked quite as efficient or consistent as he has in previous months. For example, heading into the Columbus game Wednesday night, Zegras sees himself sitting with just four goals and three helpers for seven points for the month. He still has three games in January to bump up his stats for the month, but given his current pace, he’ll be lucky to hit 10 points. It seems a noteworthy decline from the 15 points he had in December and the 12 points he had in each of the first two months of the season.
It could be just a lull of sorts for Zegras, given the condensed schedule and the grind that comes with squeezing in 82 games in an Olympic year. He has points in just four of the 12 games thus far in 2026, and points in just one Flyers victory this month when he had a pair of goals against his former team in Anaheim back on Jan. 6. So while it’s difficult to lay blame for the team’s woes at the feet of its leading point-getter and best playmaker all season, Trevor Zegras hasn’t really been visible the last few weeks. It’s no surprise that since Zegras has found himself in a bit of a funk, the Flyers have been struggling a lot more. On Monday night after the Flyers highly lackadaisical 4-0 shutout loss to the Islanders, Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet called out Zegras, stating his game has been “slipping” over the last couple of weeks and he wasn’t “pushing the pace.” As if that wasn’t enough, Tocchet criticized Zegras’s effort when coming back into the defensive zone and his coverage. If Zegras didn’t realize his game wasn’t quite stellar, he certainly knows now.
There could be a few reasons why Zegras has struggled recently. We’ll take a look at them in no particular order.
The fatigue factor
Zegras hasn’t missed a game all year, averaging 18:39 of ice time and being on the team’s most productive offense lines. That might not seem like a lot to handle for a forward, especially one who is turning 25 in March. However, barring a catastrophic season-ending injury (or Tocchet gluing his backside to the pressbox) Zegras will be playing his largest amount of games since 2021-22 when he played all but one game for Anaheim. So this will be his first season in the last three where he should see at least over 75 games played. Zegras played just 57 games last year, and just 31 games the previous year. That works out to just over one full season (88) out of 164 possible games.
While it would be wrong to directly compare the situation of two rather injury-plagued years to the problem Flyers captain Sean Couturier had being out for essentially two seasons, they could be a few similarities. Like Couturier in the first half of the 2023-24 season, Zegras seemed good in the first half of the season but has hit some bumps of late. Perhaps it’s due to the fact his body might not quite be used to the grind of an 82-game schedule. Granted, the Flyers travel schedule is generally far more friendly than teams like Anaheim and other Western Conference teams. It’s just that regardless of whatever training or off-season conditioning a player can do coming off not one but two injury-plagued seasons, nothing compares the body for an 82-game regular season other than playing most of the 82 games. When you haven’t done that the year before and the year before that, it’s not great. So perhaps Zegras’ body is hitting the skids somewhat. Not to the point of being completely banged up and injured. But just not quite seasoned enough to handle the season.
Of course, Zegras should get a huge lift when he, like a number of Flyers, can rest and recuperate for three weeks during the Winter Olympics. He should be ready with a full tank of gas when Philadelphia starts the second gauntlet beginning with Washington on Feb. 25. At least that’s the hope or best case scenario.
Shooting enough?
Some might argue Zegras would get out his slump simply by shooting the puck every chance he got. In October, Zegras started off slow with only 16 shots. November was a revelation as Zegras popped off with 39 shots that month while December was a bit slower with just 31 shots. However, January has been an eye-opener for all the wrong reasons. Thus far, heading into the Wednesday game against Columbus, Zegras has 25 shots. That wouldn’t seem bad except that seven of those 25 shots came against Buffalo on Jan. 14. So the winger has 18 shots in January outside of that Sabres tilt. He’s been held to under three shots in nine games since the start of 2026.
It seems like that dip has translated into how Zegras has done in the first three months versus what he’s done this month. Here’s a table showing the on-ice shooting percentage for seven Flyer forwards from October to December and what each of those seven have done using the same metric for January alone.
Player On Ice Shooting Percentage (October to Dec. 31) Player On Ice Shooting Percentage (January) Christian Dvorak 12.93 Sean Couturier 11.54 Trevor Zegras 12.31 Owen Tippett 11.29 Travis Konecny 12.15 Travis Konecny 10.17 Noah Cates 10.50 Trevor Zegras 9.86 Owen Tippett 10.21 Matvei Michkov 9.80 Matvei Michkov 9.87 Christian Dvorak 9.68 Sean Couturier 9.61 Noah Cates 8.20
As you can see, for most of the season, Zegras has been solid when it comes to that statistic. Yet he’s dropped somewhat in January, roughly a 20 per cent decline this month versus the first three months of the season. Meanwhile you can see the rise in the same statistic in Sean Couturier and Owen Tippett in January, which is probably in no small part to the emergence of Denver Barkey, even if Barkey is having a tougher time of late. But simply put, Zegras isn’t doing as much now as he did previously.
As for the quantity of shots this season, Zegras finds himself ranked one-hundredth in the league heading into Tuesday’s schedule with 111. He’s third on the Flyers (Tippett and Konecny are ahead of him). Yet the quality of those 111 shots have been above-average. According to NHL Edge, Zegras ranks quite high in various metrics. He’s in the 85th percentile regarding shots on goal in total, and in the 86th percentile regarding the number of mid-range shots. But when it comes to high danger shots, Zegras has 31, which is good for the 71st percentile.
Regarding shooting percentage, Zegras in all locations is at 17.1 per cent, placing him in the 84th percentile. In the mid-range category, he’s at 18 per cent, good enough for the 85th percentile. But the high-danger range sees a drop somewhat at 25.8 per cent, which puts him in the 77th percentile. He’s still above average in shooting percentage in the high-danger areas, but it doesn’t quite measure up to the overall and the mid-range shooting percentiles.
Those overall, high-danger, and mid-range percentiles for goal scoring also tell a similar tale. With 19 goals in all locations, Zegras is in the 91st percentile. He’s in the 92nd percentile with mid-range goals. But when the high-danger zone is calculated, he’s in the 80th percentile. Again, it’s not a horrible thing to be in the top 20 per cent of the league for high-danger goals. But the high-danger area hasn’t been as kind to him as the numbers suggest it should be.
Time for new linemates?
As you are well aware, Zegras has found himself with Christian Dvorak and Travis Konecny for the majority of the season. Originally he found himself with Dvorak and Owen Tippett, but with Tyson Foerster’s injury throwing everything into a bit of a mess, Philadelphia changed things up. The line was stellar for several weeks after forming, and were carrying the load for a lot of victories in December.
Like anything else, it might be time for Tocchet to consider altering the lines again. Or at least strongly considering doing just that coming out of the Olympic break, particularly if the losses before Milano/Cortina begin adding up. Fans would love to see Zegras and Michkov together and see if both can somehow help the other find their game again. Michkov has been looking a little better of late. Perhaps he can light a fire under Zegras the rest of the way. However you slice it, Zegras could probably use a new line combination to see if some synergy can be found with two new linemates. It might not help two of the other three top Flyer lines who seem to be playing fine. But sometimes you have to get some of your key guys going any way you can.
So, can Zegras get out of this?
It appears Trevor Zegras is going to be a Philadelphia Flyer for a while to come — unless Flyers general manager Danny Briere can land one of the better top centers in the league through trading Zegras, he will be a Flyer for many years. Whether it’s from not playing a full season in about three years, or just hitting a wall that he needs to play his way through, Zegras should be happy to know the three-week break in the schedule should be more than enough to have him clear his head, reset, and be ready for the last roughly two dozen games. Ideally, Zegras would have a few multi-point games before the break and can go in on a bit of a confidence high. Right now a lot of things aren’t working for him. He is going to need to put in the work to right his ship. Otherwise the Flyers’ playoff chances will be sinking a lot quicker than they currently are.
All stats courtesy ESPN, Natural Stat Trick and NHL Edge
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Travis Konecny scored a hat trick, and Dan Vladar made some great saves to keep Philadelphia in it, but in the end the Flyers had too many passengers on this night in a 5-3 loss to host Columbus on Wednesday evening.
The basics
First period: 0:38 – Charlie Coyle (Mathieu Olivier, Zach Werenski), 9:03 – Travis Konecny (Cam York, Noah Juulsen), 19:40 – Kirill Marchenko (Zach Werenski, Adam Fantilli)
Second period: 1:58 – Erik Gudbranson (Cole Sillinger, Charlie Coyle)
Third period: 4:08 – Travis Konecny (Christian Dvorak, Jamie Drysdale), 15:14 – Travis Konecny (Travis Sanheim, Christian Dvorak), 16:32 – Sean Monahan (Damon Severson, Kent Johnson), 18:54 – Mathieu Olivier (Cole Sillinger) (ENG)
SOG: 25 (PHI) – 31 (CBJ)
Some takeaways
Vladar back on the radar
Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar made his first start since leaving two weeks ago after one period against Buffalo. And with five games left before the Olympic break, it was imperative he help steer the Flyers back closer to a playoff spot. Well, the Flyers looked as foolish starting off as they did against the Islanders on Monday. A bad giveaway along the boards by Trevor Zegras resulted in a quick turnover. Charlie Coyle took a short pass and simply beat Vladar who didn’t have much of a chance. Another game, another occasion the opposition opened the scoring.
Vladar settled the team down somewhat after that, making a good stop on a shot by defenseman Damon Severson. But late in the first the Flyers got outworked when Owen Tippett was tossed off the puck and lost his stick. The result was a two-on-one that Vladar again had very little chance on as Kirill Marchenko drove it home on the one-timer. And Columbus struck again early in the second as they did in the first, as this time defenseman Erik Gudbranson blasted one from the point that Vladar couldn’t see through some bodies until it was too late.
Also in the second, Vladar had his mask knocked off but the play continued. Fortunately a shot from a bad angle was low enough to not do any damage, though it irked the Flyers who weren’t happy with the shot. On the whole it wasn’t a great return for the netminder. Then again, the skaters in front of him didn’t really offer a lot of support.
Vladar’s biggest save of the evening was early in the third when he stretched across and got an incredible glove save on Adam Fantilli, robbing him of a goal. Officials reviewed the play to see if it crossed the line but replays indicated Vladar’s glove crossed the line. Vladar made another remarkable save minutes later to keep the game within reach, this time stoning Boone Jenner.
The Great#PHIvsCBJ | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/sV46L7Kz5h
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) January 29, 2026
Some push back, but not enough
The line of Zegras, Christian Dvorak, and Travis Konecny were called out by head coach Rick Tocchet this week. Tocchet said the trio were cheating for offense and, as a result, were beginning to get burned more and more. After another bad giveaway early, the line redeemed themselves somewhat midway through the first. Travis Konecny wristed a shot through Columbus goalie Elvis Merzlikins to tie things 1-1.
The line kept looking for more, but late in the first, a bad turnover in the offensive zone ended up being a two-on-one the other way. Travis Sanheim took a hooking penalty to prevent what looked like a likely goal. The Flyers were able to kill it successfully. And after killing it, the line went to work again, nearly taking the lead when, on the power play, the unit featuring Konecny and Zegras had prime chances with Merzlikins essentially on his back. But neither time could they put it home.
Following the third Columbus goal, the Flyers had another chance courtesy of Sean Couturier and Tippett. But Couturier’s shot from the side was stopped by Merzlikins with a high pad save. Overall it epitomized most of January for the Flyers, with opportunities staring them in the face but them being simply unable to score.
New defensive combos
With the news that defenseman Emil Andrae wasn’t going to be in the lineup against Columbus, the pairings got mixed up slightly. Noah Juulsen was Andrae’s replacement and got on the scoresheet early, getting a secondary assist on Konecny’s opening goal. It marked the 18th goal for Konecny against Columbus in 31 career games. And his 19th of the season!
With the Flyers left with just five defenseman so early in the first (more on that below), obviously the pairings got tossed out the window and were made on the fly for the rest of the way. It also certainly didn’t help that the quintet would be used more on the front end of a back-to-back with the Bruins waiting for them tomorrow night. Drysdale led all Flyers blueliners with a rather mammoth 26:46 while both Travis Sanheim and Cam York logged over 23 minutes each.
Denver Barkey, Matvei Michkov meh
The Flyers first decent chance of the night took place moments after Coyle’s goal. Winger Denver Barkey didn’t get the pass from Owen Tippett to put it behind Blue Jackets keeper Elvis Merzlikins. Merzlikins then proceeded to push Barkey away from him without taking a penalty. Meanwhile minutes later Matvei Michkov came in on a breakaway but was one-upped by Merzlikins. The Mad Russian showed some fight midway through the game when he got into a minor scuffle with Adam Fantilli after a whistle.
The Russian winger also nearly cut the deficit in half late in the second on a power play. But Michkov’s low shot was kicked out by Merlikins’ pad. Like most of the Flyers opportunities on this night, close but no cigar.
Too many passengers, not enough TKs
Although the Flyers weren’t exactly scoreboard watching during the game, they had to have known just how important this game was. With the Islanders romping the Rangers, Philadelphia needed a big effort to at least get the two points. But after two periods of play, there were three players who were over 40 per cent regarding Corsi For percentage: Zegras, Konecny, and Michkov. The same trio were responsible for six of the 13 shots the Flyers had over two periods. Seven different players were under 25 per cent heading into the second intermission. In short, there wasn’t a lot of help from a vast majority of players despite knowing wins are required.
Speaking of Konecny, he scored again in the third to make it a 3-2 game four minutes into the third.
The winger, who took a shot off the leg late in the second and was hobbling to the bench, then ended up tying the game with his third of the night. Getting his stick for a tip-in with under five minutes to go, Konecny willed the team back into the game to tie it at three goals apiece.
Have a DAY, TK.#PHIvsCBJ | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/AxVR7TzMNX
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) January 29, 2026
Konecny and Vladar deserved much better outcomes on this night. But two players don’t make a team. Sadly, the Blue Jackets minutes later ended up going ahead. This time for good.
Breaking news! Rasmus Ristolainen is hurt
Stop me if you heard this before. Defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen wasn’t on the bench just five minutes into the game. Ristolainen took a shift but then went down the hallway. Given his knack for dealing with recurring injuries, it didn’t seem all that surprising he would be hurt. When asked during a stoppage what happened, Tocchet said Ristolainen fell but didn’t elaborate further. Ristolainen fell awkwardly behind the Flyers’ net seconds into the contest and looked to be favoring something. He left the game after having just 1:01 of ice time.
The Flyers made the news official prior to the start of the second period that he wouldn’t return after suffering a lower-body injury. The notion Ristolainen would be possibly trade fodder at the deadline was a long shot to begin with. Now it appears to be a non-starter.
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The Flyers went into Boston looking for redemption after heroics from Travis Konecny and Dan Vladar were wasted in last night’s loss to Columbus, and well, they didn’t find it. Rick Tocchet also shuffled the lines, finally giving Trevor Zegras a look at center, which didn’t go too well. Despite injury scares, both Konecny and Rasmus Ristolainen remained in the Flyers’ lineup, but they lost yet another player mid-game.
The basics
First period: 9:49 – Viktor Arvidsson (Casey Mittelstadt, Frasier Minten), 10:30 – Pavel Zacha (Morgan Geekie, Jonathan Aspirot)
Second period: 2:27 – Fraser Minten (Casey Mittelstadt), 3:16 – Travis Konecny (Unassisted), 16:12 – Casey Mittelstadt (Andrew Peeke, Fraser Minten), 18:40 – Tanner Jeannot (Andrew Peeke, Sean Kuraly), 19:05 – Nikita Grebenkin (Travis Konecny)
Third period: 16:30 – Marat Khusnutdinov (Charlie McAvoy, Jonathan Aspirot) (EN), 18:19 – Matvei Michkov (Denver Barkey, Owen Tippett)
SOG: 36 (PHI) – 27 (BOS)
Grebenkin pops in increased role
Let’s start with a positive. With Zegras moving to center, a spot opened alongside Christian Dvorak and Travis Konecny on what has been the Flyers’ top line this season. Enter Nikita Grebenkin. Grebenkin has bounced in and out of the lineup, spending most of his time in fourth-line minutes with occasional spot duty higher up. On this night, however, he was given a big opportunity with better linemates to work around.
After the Flyers fell behind 2–0, it briefly appeared that Dvorak had pulled them within one following Grebenkin’s hard drive to the net, however the play was waved off due to goaltender interference. Grebenkin stayed aggressive, though, creating another chance by driving the net again and drawing a penalty on Hampus Lindholm. It was a welcome change to see a Flyers forward consistently get pucks on goal, especially after a handful of early odd-man rushes failed to even produce a shot.
Grebenkin’s impact carried into the middle frame. He helped set up the Flyers’ first goal by firing a shot off the rush and crashing in on the forecheck. With support from Dvorak, the pressure forced a Bruins turnover that Konecny buried. Then, with under a minute remaining in the period, Grebenkin was rewarded with a goal of his own, finishing the rebound of a Konecny breakaway to cut Boston’s lead to three.
Grebs is there to clean it up.#PHIvsBOS | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/g2W1o6PD7g
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) January 30, 2026Another blowout
A rough stretch for the Flyers continues. For much of the season, a frequently cited stat was how well the Flyers responded after losses, but that trend has flipped. In January, they have allowed five goals against in half of their games, and after suffering a six-game losing streak earlier in the month, their current skid now sits at three. The bounce-back ability that defined the early part of the season has disappeared, and it is starting to bury them in the standings.
The Flyers have been outscored 15-6 (with some empty net goals) this week and are losing in embarrassing fashion. These embarrassing, blowout losses and long losing streaks were supposed to be an area of improvement under the Tortorella years, and was a driving force behind the decision to bring Rick Tocchet in. Instead, the same issues have continued to resurface. The defensive breakdowns continue to plague this team, and the stifled offense is only exacerbating the team’s issues.
Checking in on Z at C
Perhaps the most intriguing storyline surrounding this game was the decision to play Trevor Zegras at center. There had been plenty of questions about whether he would ever get game reps down the middle, and amid a cold stretch, he was finally given that opportunity. Centering Matvei Michkov and Bobby Brink, the line was underwhelming at best. They logged the fewest five-on-five minutes, were clearly outplayed, and finished with a 22 percent Corsi-For rating. They were on the ice for a goal against and owned just 12.9 percent of the expected goals generated in their minutes. They were by far the Flyers’ least effective line tonight.
It is worth noting that this came in the second half of a back-to-back, and Zegras is also in the midst of a lull, so the circumstances were far from ideal. Still, he did not show much in this outing, and the trend is becoming increasingly concerning. Perhaps the Olympic break will provide a reset for Zegras, who, along with Dan Vladar, had been a major driver of the Flyers’ winning record earlier in the season. With Tyson Foerster out of the lineup and Michkov’s sophomore slump, a dip in Zegras’ offensive output led to Konecny having to carry the team on his back offensively.
It will be interesting to see whether Tocchet gives Zegras another look at center after how poorly this experiment went, but with the Flyers in need of answers down the middle, letting it play out a bit may not be the worst option. It is not as if Zegras, or the team, had been playing particularly well with him on the wing of late anyway.
Konecny continues to put on a one-man show
Following his hat-trick in a losing effort against the Blue Jackets, Konecny continued his hot streak by opening the scoring in this one. Konecny found open space and the puck found him after solid work along the boards from Grebenkin and Dvorak.
TK’s red hot.#PHIvsBOS | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/DxZA6jqXiK
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) January 30, 2026
It was Konecny’s 21st of the season, putting him on a 33-goal pace, which is the career high that he set in the 2023-24 season. He has really stepped up lately, surpassing Zegras as the team’s leading point scorer. Konecny was also a major factor in the team’s second goal, tracking a wide shot from Nikita Zadorov that flew out of the zone, beating Andrew Peeke in a foot race and getting not one but two grade-A chances on Swayman before Grebenkin cleaned up the rebound.
It’s great to see Konecny stepping up as a leader with his play of late and willing these games to be competitive at all, but the Flyers need more from their other forwards. If this team is going to stay in the playoff hunt, Konecny’s line can’t be the only one to threaten offensively.
Ersson struggles, leaves with injury
It is no secret that Sam Ersson has struggled this season. He entered the game with a .860 save percentage, a number that dipped further after this outing. While he did make several impressive saves on high-danger chances, a couple of the goals he allowed were soft. Just as it began to look like Ersson might be turning a corner, any positive momentum was brought to a halt.
To make matters worse, Ersson then left the game, with Vladar taking over to start the third period. The injury appeared to occur late in the second, when Ersson moved left to right with a couple of bodies around the crease as he attempted to make a save.
Data referenced via Natural Stat Trick.
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