The Philadelphia Flyers made strides as a team this past 2025-26 season, snapping their playoff drought and winning a series against the Penguins in round one. Although the sweep to Carolina might have left a bitter taste, it was a season with a lot of promise and positives. Some of those pluses came in the form of recognition by the Professional Hockey Writers Association (PHWA) and others around the league who gave some nods to Flyer players (and a coach). While the Flyers are still looking for their first winner in franchise history for the James Norris Memorial Trophy, the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy, and the Calder Memorial Trophy, here’s a recap of what a handful of players did when it came to votes for the various annual awards.

Frank J. Selke Trophy

Given to the league’s best defensive forward, and the last individual trophy a Flyer won when Sean Couturier took it home in 2019-20, this year’s award went to Montreal forward Nick Suzuki. And it wasn’t even that close, with Suzuki’s nearest competitor being over 1200 points behind him. However, Philadelphia’s Noah Cates ended up just out of the top ten with 123 point, good enough for eleventh overall. Cates set or tied career highs in goals (18), assists (29), points (47), and plus/minus (an impressive +26) over the full 82-game season.

Not to be forgotten, but another Flyer much further down the list was center Christian Dvorak. Dvorak was tied for 47th place with six other forwards, earning one point. The recognition tied him with the likes of Utah’s Lawson Crouse, Colorado’s Martin Necas, and Dallas forward Mikko Rantanen, among others. Colorado had six forward earning votes for the Selke, with Necas, Parker Kelly, Jack Drury, Valeri Nichushkin, Nathan MacKinnon, and Brock Nelson.

Lady Byng Memorial Trophy

Montreal’s Cole Caufield found out he won the award on the same day as Suzuki won the Selke, earning the Lady Byng for gentlemanly play. Caufield had the edge over retiring Kings forward Anze Kopitar, taking 45 first-place votes to Kopitar’s 38. Further down the list, Philadelphia defenseman Travis Sanheim was twenty-third in the voting with 39 points, including one second-place vote for the award. The blueliner received zero votes for the James Norris Memorial Trophy for best defenseman as the award is often given to those defenders who have much more offensive prowess. Sanheim was 36th among all defensemen in terms of points with 11 goals and 26 assists for 37 points. Also ending up with identical point totals were Carolina’s K’Andre Miller, Montreal’s Mike Matheson, and San Jose’s Dmitry Orlov.

Despite being the Flyers top defenseman, and finding himself often against the league’s best forwards, Sanheim was stellar when it came to avoiding the penalty box. In 81 games he managed just 20 penalty minutes, a very strong stat considering the amount of ice time and competition he faced on a nightly basis throughout 2025-26.

Vezina Trophy

Named after the late Montreal goaltending great Georges Vezina, the award for best goaltender went to Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy by a decent margin. The netminder was 63 points ahead of runner-up Ilya Sorokin of the Islanders, who earned eight first-place votes compared to 17 for Vasilevskiy. Further down the list, but certainly not forgotten, was Philadelphia’s Dan Vladar. Vladar ended up sixth in voting with nine points (two second-place votes and three third-place votes). The goalie had an outstanding first season with Philadelphia with a 2.42 goals-against average, a .906 save percentage to go with a 29-14-7 record. In the playoffs, Vladar was even better, posting a .922 save percentage and leading the Flyers over the Penguins in a thrilling six-game series.

Although Vladar is locked in for another year, a season like this might not have won him the Vezina, but it did earn him a sizable contract extension with the Flyers. At least that’s the speculation. Should Vladar continue to put him similar numbers the rest of his time in Philadelphia, it’s almost a given he’ll move up in the Vezina voting, or possibly end up taking some hardware home. Should Vladar win one as a Flyer, it’ll mark the fifth time a Philadelphia keeper took home the Vezina. The late Pelle Lindbergh won it in 1984-85. Ron Hextall won it two seasons later in 1986-87. Prior to that, the late Bernie Parent won it in consecutive seasons (1973-74 and 1974-75, the first year a co-winner with Chicago’s Tony Esposito).

Jack Adams Award

Tampa Bay’s Jon Cooper won this year’s Jack Adams Award for best coach. Although he didn’t guide his team over the hump in a first-round loss to Montreal, Cooper was able to get the most out of his team throughout the season. Cooper narrowly edged out Buffalo’s Lindy Ruff (226 points to 223) who some argued deserved the hardware for guiding Buffalo out of the proverbial basement and leading them to their first playoff appearance in 14 season.

Meanwhile, for all the controversy surrounding first-year head coach Rick Tocchet, the Flyers coach wasn’t ignored in voting. Tocchet got 27 points, including three first place cotes which put him in seventh place. Other Metropolitan Division coaches who earned votes included Pittsburgh’s Dan Muse (199 points, good for third) and Carolina’s Rod Brind’Amour (20 points, good for ninth). The next Flyers coach to take home the Adams will be the fifth in team history. The first year the Adams was award Fred Shero won in 1973-74. Pat Quinn won it in 1979-80, and Mike Keenan earned the trophy in 1984-85. Both Quinn and Keenan earned the award in years the Flyers went to the Stanley Cup final but lost to the Islanders and Edmonton, respectively. The last Philadelphia coach to win it was Bill Barber in 2000-01. Barber was a mid-season replacement after the team fired Craig Ramsay in December.

Stats courtesy of NHL.com and Hockeydb.com.