Official season prediction following the release of the Flyers opening slate

Short baseball break for a hockey post. Jett Luchanko was on the opening night roster and, at 18 years and just under two months old, will be the youngest Flyer to ever take the ice when they open Friday night in Vancouver:

🔶 It’s a new era of Orange. 🔶

Our program for the opening evening 2024-25 has been determined. #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/EGe9PwlR7K

— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) October 7, 2024

Official Flyers Prediction: Somewhere between 86 and 89 points and right in the playoff bubble. It will look similar to last season, when it was all about last place until the end.

Why? Well, it’s essentially the same team as last year, minus Carter Hart, but plus Matvei Michkov at the helm. Luchanko is an absolute wild card at his age no matter how many games he plays, and one wonders if youthful newcomers will be enough to offset the loss of the man we thought would be the franchise’s goaltender for years to come . I don’t think people talk about it enough. The reason the Flyers were so competitive early last year and before the rebuilding plan is because Hart posted a .906 save percentage and 2.80 goals against average in 25 starts, while Sam Ersson posted a Scored 0.919 and 2.30. It was the best half-goalkeeping run we’ve seen here in a long time. When Hart was charged with sexual assault as part of the Hockey Canada investigation, Ersson was forced to take on the No. 1 role and a heavier workload, and his numbers dropped over the spring. Ivan Fedotov, Ersson’s replacement this season, will hopefully have settled in as he only played three games last year and was put in a difficult situation.

What else has improved compared to last year? A healthy coot contributes more. A healthy and settled Jamie Drysdale? The same. They hope that the children Bobby Brink and Tyson Foerster can also take the next step. Include Cam York since he is only 23 years old. But with no free agent acquisitions, you’re looking to your own development pipeline to make the improvement. Let’s remember that this team lacked top-level offensive talent last year, and the only addition of top-level offensive talent comes in the form of a 19-year-old Russian who doesn’t speak English and will carry the weight of the world on his shoulders. They didn’t go out and make a free agent appearance because they couldn’t. They’re still paying Kevin Hayes, Cam Atkinson and Tony DeAngelo $7.5 million to play for other teams, Cal Petersen has another expensive year ahead of him, and there’s the complaint about Ryan Johansen and the ongoing problem with Ryan Ellis, you probably forgot about this point.

This was never a one-year Flyers rebuild. Danny Briere had a lot of cleaning to do. Still does. But that doesn’t mean you go into the season with a Negadelphia attitude; You go in knowing there is still a lot of work to be done. We should all look forward to Michkov Mania and the continued development of the young players while moving closer to a clean cap and the possibility of signing free agents for the 2025-2026 season. Maybe we’ll enjoy something like the 2016-2017 Sixers season, where there were no expectations but the team had some fun wins and gave us a glimpse of the future. Rookie Joel Embiid, with Ben Simmons on the horizon. I think this is the best case scenario for this Flyers season. They were ahead of schedule last year and no one should be disappointed if the results on the ice look similar this year. There are many positives to focus on and they are moving in the right direction.