The Philadelphia Flyers missed the playoffs by 13 points in 2020, this despite making any number of moves to (theoretically) improve their roster.
Probing no fluke, they missed the playoffs by a whopping 39 points last season. including losing a godawful dozen games in a row.
Broken pieces of the puzzle remain coming into 2022. Those who bet online know that Philly is staring down the barrel of a rebuild.
A low bar was set in terms of their futures. Can the Flyers at least surpass these minimal expectations, or will they again be one of the NHL’s worst teams?
Let’s check the latest NHL picks, stats, injury reports, and NHL predictions. We’ve plenty of NHL expert picks for you to consider.
Off-season Changes
It was certainly an eventful offseason for the Flyers. Hoping to acquire ex-Calgary Flame Johnny Gaudreau (and then watching him sign with the “hometown” Columbus Blue Jackets), the Flyers made some other moves of note
New coach John Tortorella could lead to a major reversal of culture. Tottorella has a track record that’s great in the areas that Philadelphia has struggled mightily in these past few seasons, notably discipline and defense.
They also added defenseman Tony DeAngelo via trade, trying to boost their power[-play unit that ranked dead-last in efficiency, a measly 12.6 percent. DeAngelo had the most power-play points (20) on the Carolina Hurricanes last season.
Team Strength
There weren’t a whole lot of strengths with the Flyers this past season, but the offense could potentially be an area of improvement.
They have proven veterans in Cam Atkinson, Kevin Haye, and James van Riemsdyk, to name a few players. They’ve been able to get the puck in the back of the net, though there might be concerns about declining production since they’re all over the age of 30.
The same goes for Sean Couturier, a very skilled forward who comes off of a rough season with the team (back surgery this past February).
There’s a lot of potential scoring with this team, but the veterans are going to have to produce. Overs might make sense in terms of the NHL betting odds.
Team Weakness
There weren’t that many worse teams in the league when it came to stopping the puck. Philadelphia surrendered 3.59 goals per game, the sixth-highest average in the league.
They allowed 34 shots on net per contest, fourth-highest figure in the league. This is a team that desperately needs to solve its defensive issues if it hopes to start stringing wins together during the 2022 campaign Goalie Carter Hart went 13-24 (3.16 goals against average) last season.
Luckily, their new coach has specialized in defense over his career.
Outlook
This was a historically bad team a year ago, with long losing streaks and severely lacking defensively. Hiring a new coach and helping the power play could help boost the Flyers’ NHL odds down the road. but won’t take them anywhere near the playoffs in 2022-23.
It is all about a rebuild. Tortorella had immediate impacts on his previous teams, and he’s tasked with a big job in Philly.
In the NHL picks, expect that the Flyers should be close to their low number, perhaps a ‘limbo over’ their projected point total of 73½.
