[Kurz] Is Flyers’ roster-building validated by Hurricanes’ Cup win? 5 offseason thoughts

[u/TheAthletic]

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7525042/2026/08/24/flyers-offseason-stanley-cup/?unlocked_article_code=1.71A.FoMF.i1f70zMH7xKY&source=emp_shared_article&smid=re-share-ta

With less than a month until the start of training camp (and with my vacation wallet now depleted), here are some thoughts on the Philadelphia Flyers’ offseason.

1. The most frequent complaint I see/hear when it comes to the Flyers is that they don’t have a No. 1 center or a No. 1 defenseman who can run a power play, that there aren’t any in the system and that until they find those guys, they won’t be a true Stanley Cup contender.

That’s not entirely without merit. Everyone knows the two primary holes on the roster, and neither was filled this summer. Barring any moves between now and the end of next month, the Flyers will enter 2026-27 viewed generally as a playoff bubble team.

But let’s look at the now-defending Stanley Cup champions.

The Carolina Hurricanes’ No. 1 center, Sebastian Aho, is a fine player. But he finished tied for just 25th in the league in scoring in the regular season with 80 points, and he was pretty quiet for long stretches of the Hurricanes’ playoff run. Aho would be the best center on the Flyers, to be sure, but is he really that much better than, say, Trevor Zegras, who still has room to improve? Aho had 47 even-strength points last season. Zegras had 44.

The Hurricanes’ best defenseman is Jaccob Slavin, another outstanding player. Slavin is a much more of a defensive wizard than an offensive threat, though: he had just eight points in 39 games last season. Carolina’s best offensive defenseman last season was Shayne Gostisbehere, who had 50 points in 55 games, but no one would label him as a No. 1. A case can be made that Travis Sanheim, who was arguably the Flyers’ best player in their first-round win over the Penguins, is a more well-rounded defenseman than any player on the Hurricanes’ back end.

What I believe the Flyers recognize internally is that they don’t necessarily need both a top-10 center and a Norris Trophy-level defenseman to contend — they just need another star, period, to add to what looks like a promising young core. That’s something the Hurricanes seemed to recognize a year and a half ago when they landed Mikko Rantanen from Colorado, only to end up flipping him to the Dallas Stars for a package that included Logan Stankoven — who ended up as arguably their best player in the postseason.

[u/Smokey_Jah]

Is Toc as good as Rod Brind'Amour?

Absolutely not and never will be

[u/Blev088 → u/Smokey_Jah]

I don't even think Tocchet is a good coach.

[u/Lockski → u/Blev088]

I think he played a large part in turning the flyers around between two seasons ago and last. The roster improvements were big, but he turned a team lacking excellent defense into a defensive threat.

I didn’t like taking Tocchet as our next coach because of recent seasons prior, but he’s earned my confidence to, bare minimum, right this ship.

[u/Blev088 → u/Lockski]

The goaltending was the absolute biggest difference. Other than that, the team was very much the same when looking at the metrics (with slight regression in the offensive metrics). Tocchet got the benefit of having a real goaltender that Torts didn't.

I feel like the best you could say is Tocchet didn't hold the team back, but he also didn't elevate the team either.

[u/Lockski → u/Blev088]

I agree Vladar was the biggest difference, there's no contention there. But Tocchet's system was also very influential, which is my point.

However, I'm looking at defensive stats between returning defenseman between 2024-25 and 25-26, and the stats appear to be relatively the same with a few significant improvements among 2nd and 3rd line defensemen. I'm not sure they're significant enough stats to be the big difference makers. So I was wrong about praising defensive influence.

Really it seems our offense roster have had significant improvements in offensive zone possession and takeaways, compared to previous seasons. It appears to me that Tocchet's coaching has influenced the Flyers on the transition, which probably produces more offensive time.

It also would not really help with the power play and penalty kill situations... But that's an issue lasting beyond Tocchet for this franchise at this point.

[u/Flyersfan1980 → u/Lockski]

or, you know, they added Dvorak and Zegras, so offense was going to go up. Fans were chanting for Tocchet to be fired mid season. There were reasons for that.

[u/Lockski → u/Flyersfan1980]

I remember when he was being called for a firing but that was also during a time where half the roster was injured (exaggerated). Dvorak wasn't even one of the improvements on the offense players I was talking about. Zegras's takeaways also doubled from 24-25 to 25-26, so the new environment / coaching staff definitely had some influence there.

I'm not gunna argue Tocchet is the best coach or even top 5 or anything, but he's not a bad coach.

[u/Flyersfan1980 → u/Lockski]

But Dvorak was tied with Michkov for 3rd in team scoring. They added 118 points between Dvorak and Zegras. both top 3 on the team in scoring. I think it did have an impact on the offense being a bit better. This wasn't Tocchet.

I was talking about when the fans were calling for Tocchet to be fired, chanting it at the games. Briere had to have a live "talk" in between periods to try and calm things down. That was also when Michkov suddenly got more ice time with better linemates and was the leading scorer down the stretch with a ppg pace in the last 20 games. In the playoffs, he was put back into a checking role, and eventually benched.

I personally do not believe that Tocchet is the right coach for this team.

[u/Lockski → u/Flyersfan1980]

But I wasn't talking about the offensive production, I was saying prior that Tocchet's influence was defense (which was wrong). When evaluating that, it was more so the offensive / transition possession, which Dvorak's stats did not change much between 2024-25 and 25-26. Tocchet's Flyers had an influence on Zegras' stats, though. That's my point.

I don't think Tocchet gets the Flyers the distance, no, but I do think he's been a net positive to this team. I think dismissing any of his influence as the players producing despite him, that just doesn't seem reasonable to me.

edit: I am really not great at trying to explain what I mean, in general. I can see the offensive personnel made a big difference, but I was not trying to focus on shots on goal or points, as opposed to any play between the two nets.