It feels like the Philadelphia Flyers have been in a perpetual rebuild for the last decade, but really, it’s been two separate attempts at a rebuild. This most recent edition essentially kicked off in March of 2023 when prior Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher was fired and replaced by current GM Daniel Briere.
Flyers fans might not have had much to cheer about the past ten years; however, that window of futility is beginning to close, and a new window, one of opportunity, is starting to open. The issue for the Flyers, and this could be one for their cross-state rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins, is that they don’t have those high-impact top-end young assets, which will hurt their ability to build around their young pieces.
That’s not to say that the Flyers have failed their rebuild, but their prospect pool isn’t overly impressive for a team that has been in what feels like a forever rebuild and is currently ranked 18th overall by The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler, although that was before their 2025 draft haul. Some fans might have concerns about a repeat of the Flyers’ last rebuild that Ron Hextall oversaw, but Briere appears to be more assertive than Hextall and likely won’t be so passive when it comes to building the team he wants.
Now, in fairness to the Flyers’ prospect ranking, they have graduated a couple of terrific prospects to the NHL already, in Bobby Brink and Matvei Michkov, which lowers their ranking. They also had several players age out of Wheeler’s rankings, making it somewhat premature to say that the pool is devoid of future talent.
That being said, if you look down the Flyers’ NHL roster, there isn’t a lot of talent under the age of 25, and the rebuild seems to lack the cohesiveness that some of the better rebuilds and retools have shown. When a team like the Pittsburgh Penguins emerged from the basement of the NHL standings, they did so with two significant waves of talent entering the NHL full-time in back-to-back summers.
Sidney Crosby didn’t start his NHL career alone; he was joined by Marc-Andre Fleury, Ryan Whitney, and Maxime Talbot. The following season, Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal, and Kris Letang arrived, and the Penguins remained in the Stanley Cup picture for the next decade.
The Flyers don’t seem to have such waves of talent inflows in their rebuild, which is certainly not ideal. That isn’t to say that Philadelphia can’t or won’t go through a rebuild like that.
Still, it does seem like the waves of talent are becoming fewer and farther between, which could delay the process and lead to a few more years of struggles for the Flyers before they finally turn the corner. The 2025-26 season could get ugly in Philly, as they still lack solid goaltending and have gaps all over their roster.
There will, however, be signs of hope this season as Jett Luchanko, Oliver Bonk, Alex Bump, and Nikita Grebenkin will likely all compete for NHL roster spots, which should lead to some exciting competition. Speaking of fun, bringing in Trevor Zegras from the Anaheim Ducks was one of the most entertaining moves of the summer and could make for great theater if Zegras can get close to the form he showed a few years ago.
Injuries and inconsistency have lowered the 24-year-old’s trade value, and the Flyers managed to acquire him cheaply from the Ducks. If he can return to his 2021-22 level, the Flyers will have the chance to sign Zegras long-term and make him part of their future, or trade him for a better return than what they sent to Anaheim.
The trade was a smart move for Briere, who was aggressive in acquiring the talented forward. It’s possible that the deal doesn’t work out, but since Philadelphia gave up so little (Ryan Poehling, a 2025 second-round pick, and a 2026 fourth-round pick), it was worth the risk.
The other significant move the Flyers made this summer was hiring former Flyers player and Jack Adams Award winner Rick Tocchet as Philadelphia’s new bench boss. Tocchet, who has won two Stanley Cups as an assistant, should bring some structure and accountability to the Flyers, which was missing last season.
Tocchet’s relationship with Zegras will be interesting to watch develop, as he has a history of getting through to talented players who may not be interested in playing two-way hockey. In Pittsburgh, Tocchet was respected as Mike Sullivan’s go-between when it came to Phil Kessel, and those years in Pittsburgh were some of Kessel’s best NHL seasons, with likely some of the credit going to Tocchet.
Aside from those two major moves, the Flyers stayed quiet this summer. They made only depth signings with Christian Dvorak (one-year deal), Dan Vladar (two-year contract), Noah Juulsen (one-year deal), Dennis Gilbert (one-year deal), and Lane Pederson (one-year deal). These signings won’t propel the Flyers into the playoff race, but they will strengthen the team’s depth and give some of the younger prospects more time to develop in the pro ranks.
Despite all the changes, this season will probably still be a tough one for the Flyers since they lack enough young players to step up and compete in the Eastern Conference. And that’s okay; in fact, it could work out well for the Flyers if they start to rise while the New York Rangers and Islanders begin to leave their peak years.
The Flyers are in the later stages of their rebuild, but it’s still too early to call it the home stretch, as they await another wave or two of quality prospects that will form the next core.
Photo by Nick Wosika-Imagn Images
Nope
I don’t really follow the Flyers, but what happened to Sean Couturier? Wasn’t he supposed to be like their star 1C?
Their goaltending is a nightmare too. In part because losing Hart – for completely fair reasons, mind – completely destabilized things. It feels like they are rolling the dice on one dark horse after another without giving them enough support to flourish. I’m not even confident Ersson is NHL Calibur.
Hot prediction – both Kolosov and Fedotov find their footing on better teams.
Couturier had multiple knee surgeries and back surgery and is 32 now. Probably a candidate for LTIR. And given he has been one of the only scoring threats for the team (other than Konecny) since the Giroux/Voracek/Simmonds/Hartnell era then it makes sense how Philly has gone nowhere on the ice.
Aw shoot I had no idea. I grew up in the Ron LeClair, Rod Brind’Amour, Eric Desjardins days. That was a fun Flyers team to watch.
Now those Flyers teams were hard to play against. I read people talk about “hard to play against” today and IMHO those Flyers teams should be the measuring stick: LeClair, Brind’Amour Desjardins, Tocchet, Lindros, Recchi, Langkow, Gagne, Renberg, Primeau. All tough as nails AND could score.
Keith Primeau enters the Chat.
90s NHL was peak hockey, honestly.
I’ll take some early 2000s too
Flyers will be fun to watch this year. Michkov’s shiftiness stands out league-wide to me. Really exciting player. Curious to see how Tocchet runs the group.. it is a bit of an incoherent roster. Everyone would probably feel a bit more comfortable if Danny could pick up some legit defensive help also.
Why do the Penguins keep coming up in a story about the Flyers rebuild?
This team will never compete until Couturier is a bottom6 staple pr traded to another team. If Briere isn’t bringing in Martin Necas or Mason McTavish then they should be sellers at the deadline and shooting for another top5 pick and a shot at McKenna.
Inherit by state.
The little brother became big brother with all those cups.
I think yes in that they have one the best and most dynamic young players in the game in Michkov… new head coach and probably not a contender yet so maybe a fringe playoff spot at best for next year. Philly for sure is a fun club
Couturier is not a Captain. Same failed leadership group from the Giroux era. Cut the cord. Martone, Michkov, Konecny look like leaders or future leaders. Couturier shouldn’t have more then an “A” on his chest. He doesn’t have the bite or competitiveness.
I like couturier a lot. He played/plays with great finesse in his best moments, but I agree about his captaincy… it’s just not quite the right fit (or at least hasn’t looked good yet). I think I get why they wanted to do it, but yeah, might need to move on there to get around the corner, or maybe Coots will grow into the role with some help from tocchet? Tbd
I sure hope so…
first step is to stop slapping band-aids on the thirty + year hole in goal and find/develop a franchise tender
This rebuild made the Flyers a playoff spot contender. It hasn’t made them anything close to a Cup contender.
The only bright spot of the rebuild has been Michkov.
The Flyers aren’t a playoff contender yet. It’s true they should have a deeper prospect pool considering all the draft picks they have had. Too many draft picks have been failures. Time for Briere to make this team better or go elsewhere.
They have two to three wingers and a few maybes at center and absolute question marks every spot on the roster so I’d say no.
Nope. They’re perpetuating another fake half assed rebuild without any 1C, 1D, or 1G and nowhere near enough top end talent to build around. Let alone top end talent in the right positions. They’ve ONCE AGAIN made themselves just good enough to pick in draft purgatory void of the top end talent they actually need, but NOWHERE NEAR good enough to actually compete for a Stanley Cup. Same circus different clowns.