Philadelphia Flyers Have a New Core

With the 2022-23 Philadelphia Flyers season now in the books, we’re looking at the new offensive core.

Led by now veteran Travis Konecny and his career high 31 goals, the Flyers have established a new core heading into year two under John Tortorella.

When asked about the youth on the roster, Scott Laughton had this to say:

I think probably right off the top of my head is Tipper [Tippett]. I think he took a massive step, was dominant for a lot of games, especially when TK was out and kind of took over that role for us. Frosty takes a huge step, scores 20 goals or close to, I think, and plays some good hockey for us. And Catesy [Cates] plays out of position, plays center all year, and plays against the top guys. I thought he did a hell of a job. So, there’s three guys that kind of come to mind. And then you have Yorkie [York] on the back end that I thought looked very good again, poised with the puck and makes plays, and very skilled and looks like he can run a power play. So, you have those pieces come up and they’re not super young, even Foerster comes up and looks really good. So, they’re not super young, but it’s tough to get going in this league and I think they did. And yeah, time will tell.

Owen Tippett

Owen Tippett broke out in a major way as he would smash his previous career high in goals.  Scoring 27 goals in his age 24 season, Tippett’s confidence grew immensely as the season progressed.

He also learned what type of player he could be:

“I think for me, this year was a big stepping stone and just kind of realizing what kind of player I needed to be to have success. I think I was able to find that. Obviously, with that comes confidence. Obviously, going into the offseason, it helps to kind of have that confidence and be able to build off that”, Tippet said during exit interviews on Friday.

Heading into next season, I think it’s safe to say Owen Tippett will be relied upon to score lots and lots of goals. A player many Flyers fans weren’t thrilled with purely because he was the return in the Giroux trade.

Drafted 10th overall in in 2017, Owen Tippett should be a mainstay in the Flyers top six for years to come.

Noah Cates

Although maybe he doesn’t get the credit he deserves, Noah Cates had as good a season as any Flyer. In his first full season in the NHL, Cates would establish career highs in every statistical category. HE even drew comparisons to Sean Couturier from teammates like Travis Konecny.

Lastly, Catesy, it’s just really impressive what he was able to do. I bring him up last because I played with him, and I had an opportunity to play like half my games with him and just see what he can do. For him to remind me that much of Coots in his first season is really, really impressive.

Based on Evolving Wild’s analytic model, they think Noah Cates should win the Selke Trophy. No, not the Calder Trophy..THE SELKE. Just wow.

Selke:
N. Cates / Faksa
Bergeron / B. Tanev / D. Ryan

— EvolvingWild (@EvolvingWild) April 14, 2023

Maybe the most impressive part of Cates’s rookie season was that he played out of position as a Center with his natural position coming on the Left Wing. While Cates’s offensive game should continue to improve I think most fans would be perfectly fine if Cates turned out to be a solid shut down player who can produce 40-45 points a season in the Flyers bottom six for years to come.

Morgan Frost

Morgan Frost came into this season with perhaps the shortest leash amongst Flyers fans as it’s felt like we’ve been waiting for Frost to show us the offensive talent we’ve been told about for years.

Drafted 27th overall in 2017, Frost scored twice in the Flyers first game of the season, giving fans hope that this would be his much anticipated break out year. Frost would go somewhat cold (no pun intended) during the next month or so however, and fans were once again ready to give up on the 23 year old.

Flyers defenseman, Tony DeAngelo had this to say about Morgan Frost:

I think that you see the skill that a guy like Frosty – he could probably even take another big step, I would think. His ice time probably fluctuated throughout the year. I know he was down a little bit, and he was in and out, whatever the case may be. Then when he started to play consistently – I was just reading something, maybe one of you guys had it up actually, I read all this stuff just so you guys know – 41 points his last 50 games? Or last 60 games, whatever the case is? Something like that. If you’re putting out numbers like that, with his skill, and playing with good guys, and playing on special teams – I think there’s another even level for him to get to.

Let’s exclude the first two months of this season, which were brutal as Frost would score just 5 points in his first 22 games. This means Frost would score 41 points in the remaining 59 games he’d play for the season. That’s 16 goals and 25 assists. That’s second-line center production.

The best part of all this is that this was Frost’s first full season as an NHLer. I believe that under John Tortorella, Morgan Frost will only improve. Can he become a first line scorer? I still need to see it to believe it with Frost but the signs of improvement are absolutely there.

As is, I think it’s finally safe to pencil Morgan Frost in as the Flyers second line center for next season.

Joel Farabee

Joel Farabee’s 2022-23 season started with uncertainty. Back in the summer Farabee felt a pinch in his neck during one of the first off-season workouts. Less than two weeks later, the then 22 year old Farbee, would undergo disc replacement surgery in his cervical region. He’d join Jack Eichel and Tyler Johnson as the only other NHL players to ever have the surgery.

Needless to say Farabee’s first offseason preparing to play under John Tortorella was not off to a great start. Due to miss at least the first month of the season, Farabee surprisingly returned to the lineup for opening night and played in all 82 games. His first 82 game season as a Flyer.

Even during a season where Farabee would be playing catchup for most of the year in terms of conditioning and even playing comfortable in the sense of not worrying about getting hurt again, he was able to produce a new career high in assists and points.

Farabee is as tough as they come and I’m not sure enough people realize how shitty the hand he was dealt this season truly was. But Farabee would persevere. Which I believe is what you want from a young, core, maybe even future captain of a player. You want mental toughness and the ability to overcome life’s obstacles.

Having a young player with these qualities and skill is a recipe for stardom.

Tyson Foerster

I wanted the Flyers to draft this kid back in 2020. Big bodied kid with a bomb shot. Sign me up any day. I saw Foerster in camp last summer and during his interviews he oozed confidence and rightly so.

He came into camp in phenomenal shape. He’d outgrown his baby fat and had clearly been doing the prep work for the upcoming season. I was excited but knew he’d have to impress to make John Tortorella’s roster out of camp.

Tyson Foerster was given his chance with the Flyers after impressing in Lehigh Valley where he finished the season as the Phantoms leader in points with 48.

During Foerster’s eight games with the Flyers he would go on to score three electrifying goals and total seven points.

Foerster is a player that I am absolutely looking to make the Flyers roster out of camp next season. It could be tough considering they’re loaded on right wing but he’s given Tortorella something to think about heading into the offseason.

Could he have made players like Travis Konecny or Cam Atkinson expendable? We’ll see. At the very least, he’s given Flyers fans something else to look forward to.

Throughout the player exit interviews, members of the team spoke glowingly of the young core that’s formed for the Flyers, giving Flyers fans reason to look forward to next season, something maybe we have not been able to do of late.

Jim Iacovone is the Founder and Site Manager for HW Hockey
Listen to High and Wide Radio on Apple Podcasts or Spotify
For more Flyers coverage, follow and subscribe to High & Wide Hockey on Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube!