{"id":412303,"date":"2026-01-17T07:44:28","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T07:44:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/412303\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T07:44:28","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T07:44:28","slug":"philadelphia-flyers-must-alter-roster-usage-to-avoid-long-term-stagnation-the-hockey-writers-philadelphia-flyers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/412303\/","title":{"rendered":"Philadelphia Flyers Must Alter Roster Usage to Avoid Long-Term Stagnation – The Hockey Writers – Philadelphia Flyers"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Philadelphia Flyers<\/a> are in the midst of a five-game losing streak, which has led to them falling out of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Nonetheless, they\u2019ve exceeded preseason expectations<\/a>, and it has many fans excited for what could be on the horizon.<\/p>\n

The rationale is logical. If this young Flyers group can be in the mix for a playoff spot, they could be a contender within the next two or three seasons.<\/p>\n

But this argument isn\u2019t taking one key detail into account: how the Flyers are winning games. You see, the team\u2019s veterans are the ones getting big minutes\u2014not the young guns. If Philadelphia continues to shelter its young players, stagnation is more likely than legitimate improvement.<\/p>\n

Flyers Are Winning Through Their Veterans<\/p>\n

The Flyers have seven forwards averaging at least 16 minutes of ice time per night and four defensemen averaging at least 20. They are the following, sorted by ice time (descending):<\/p>\n

Forwards: Travis Konecny, Trevor Zegras, Christian Dvorak, Tyson Foerster, Sean Couturier, Owen Tippett, Noah Cates<\/p>\n

Defensemen: Travis Sanheim, Cam York, Jamie Drysdale, Rasmus Ristolainen<\/p>\n

If you throw starting netminder Dan Vlada\u0159 into the mix, this is the group that is dictating the outcome of the 2025\u201326 season. An extended core, if you will. Anyone else isn\u2019t getting enough ice time to have a true impact.<\/p>\n

The problem comes with these players\u2019 ages. By the end of the regular season, eight of the 12 players will be at least 27 years old. Jamie Drysdale and Tyson Foerster will be the two youngest at 24.<\/p>\n

In other words, almost everyone is in or beyond their prime. Drysdale and Foerster may have more room for growth, and Cam York and Trevor Zegras could take another step<\/a>, but that\u2019s really about it. Not to mention, Vlada\u0159 is having an outlier campaign\u2014who\u2019s to say it\u2019s sustainable?<\/p>\n

These players are being deployed as the extended core. If they stagnate, the team stagnates. Based on aging trends, that\u2019s quite likely<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Flyers Must Cater to Martone and Michkov<\/p>\n

The Flyers aren\u2019t going to contend for championships if that group is the \u201ccore.\u201d That\u2019s why the team has been rebuilding these last few seasons\u2014you need superstars, of course<\/a>. To win the Stanley Cup, you must cater to these superstars. In the Flyers\u2019 case, those two are Porter Martone and Matvei Michkov<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Related: Flyers\u2019 Struggles Against Lightning Show How Far They Have to Go<\/a><\/p>\n

That\u2019s the problem at hand. At least right now, head coach Rick Tocchet<\/a> doesn\u2019t seem interested in catering to one of those hopeful superstars: Michkov. Instead of Tocchet adjusting his north\u2013south, defense-first system, the 21-year-old has had to completely alter his game to fit in.<\/p>\n

When Martone makes his NHL debut, it\u2019s possible that he\u2019s a better fit for this system<\/a>. But at the end of the day, you need both players\u2014your two best players\u2014operating at maximum efficiency. Anything less, and your odds of winning a Stanley Cup fall to almost zero.<\/p>\n

\"RickRick Tocchet, Philadelphia Flyers (Amy Irvin<\/a> \/ The Hockey Writers)<\/p>\n

The first step for progress here is changing the deployment. That means getting Michkov and, eventually, Martone super involved.<\/p>\n

The second step is making sure they are being catered to. That doesn\u2019t mean letting them go rogue, but you mustn\u2019t stifle their impact.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a reasonable concern to have, though, that Tocchet may be unwilling to do either of these things<\/a>. After all, it would essentially redefine the Flyers\u2014the current \u201ccore\u201d is a collection of two-way guys (something Martone and Michkov are not). Asking the coach to deviate from that may not go over well.<\/p>\n

If the Flyers don\u2019t alter their deployment, it\u2019s reasonable that long-term stagnation is ahead. Is the head coach willing to comply without forcing Martone and Michkov to deviate from what makes them great?<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Philadelphia Flyers are in the midst of a five-game losing streak, which has led to them falling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":236797,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5112],"tags":[1468,5,509,4,1467,56,5205,701,1446],"class_list":{"0":"post-412303","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-flyers","8":"tag-flyers","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-matvei-michkov","11":"tag-nhl","12":"tag-philadelphia","13":"tag-philadelphia-flyers","14":"tag-philadelphiaflyers","15":"tag-porter-martone","16":"tag-rick-tocchet"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115909327818804929","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=412303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}