Flyers to Carry Lessons from Playoff Run into Next Season: ‘They Didn’t Realize How Special It Was’
May 2, 2026; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Philadelphia Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet walk off the ice after their loss to the Carolina Hurricanes at Lenovo Center. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-Imagn Images
For the past five seasons, the Philadelphia Flyers were cleaning out their lockers in April, and now they are cleaning them out a month later in May. In a season where the Flyers defied all odds and made their way into the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, they brought meaningful hockey back to the city of Philadelphia. Now the expectations have changed for Daniel Briere and the front office.
They extended their season into May, which is huge. With a team that had a 3.8% chance of making the postseason in mid-March, the Flyers completely turned it around; this surprise is the start of something big coming. Now, the locker room is full of players who know exactly how bad they want to be there.
“I think once you get a taste of it, it’s addicting. You want more of it,” Christian Dvorak said at locker cleanout day on Tuesday. “I think it’s only going to help us be even hungrier, even during the offseason training and getting ready for next season.”
Rasmus Ristolainen emphasized the same urgency. He made his first playoff appearance in his 13th year in the NHL.
“You got a little taste, and now, you want to get there every single year,” Ristolainen said. “Before, you didn’t really know what to expect. Now [you have] a little taste. So obviously, that should be the ultimate goal every season. And obviously, then advance as long as possible.”
“The players knew how special it was to play in the playoffs in Philadelphia,” Briere said Thursday. “They didn’t realize how special it was.”
A big concern the Flyers dealt with in the second round was the injuries, which were impossible to ignore. Noah Cates missed Games 3 and 4 with a lower-body issue he suffered in Game 2, and the biggest blow to the Flyers that series was to Owen Tippett. After the clinching Game 6 against the Penguins, he reported he was playing through a sports hernia, and although he skated and practiced during the second round, he announced on Tuesday via a release from the team that he was dealing with internal bleeding. Coach Rick Tocchet announced more injuries after Game 4, but the full injury report became public on Thursday:
Cam York suffered a rib injury, and Dvorak fractured his rib. Emil Andrae will need surgery for a fractured wrist, Alex Bump suffered a sprain of the MCL, Garnet Hathaway suffered a fractured fibula, Travis Konecny fractured his rib and got a nasal fracture, and Trevor Zegras sprained a ligament in his elbow.
“Three quarters of the team had something going on,” Daniel Vladar said Tuesday.
Anytime an injury comes up, it’s hard, and in the playoffs, it becomes even more challenging to navigate. Despite all of that, the injured Flyers still gave it their all throughout the entire series.
Vladar was the Flyers’ best player in the postseason, but his mistake in overtime of Game 4 led to the Hurricanes winning the series. He still owns up to the mistake he made in Game 4, which allowed Carolina to score the game-winning goal, and he says he has watched the clip over 150 times.
“I get more and more mad every time I watch it,” Vladar said. “It is another fire in me that will be driving me forward.”
With this big step in the right direction, Tocchet framed the pain as a bit of a growth spurt. No one outside of the organization had high expectations for the young club going into the playoffs, but they let everyone know they weren’t just excited to make it in. They were overpowered by the better team in Carolina, but that’s expected for a young team. They noticed their struggles, such as scoring just five goals over the four-game series, and that is what they will improve on heading into next season.
“We don’t have Connor McDavid,” Tocchet said when asked about scoring more goals. “We don’t have Nathan MacKinnon or [Cale] Makar, you have to think of other ways to score as a team.”
Another concern, not just in the postseason but throughout the regular season, has been the power play. Tocchet said that the power play is a five-six year problem. It’s a talking point every year. The Flyers had the worst power-play in the NHL this year, and when you carry that over into the postseason with no way of fixing it, the problems don’t suddenly diminish.
“I’ve already talked about it with the coaches,” Tocchet said, “we might just have a dedicated half-hour power-play practice on one rink before the practice even starts.”
And that leaves both accountability and optimism throughout the building. No one is going to get angry at the young guys for making mistakes early, which included the struggling Matvei Michkov. Michkov has dealt with a lot of adversity in the playoffs, including two healthy scratches, as the 21-year-old struggled in his first NHL postseason. Michkov knows that he only wants to get better.
“It’s almost like a vengeance tour, and I love that,” Tocchet said. “I think every player should have some kind of motivation.”
“I was trying to help on defense, and what the coach told me,” Michkov said. “What the coach told me to do, what I was trying to do. It was first playoffs for me, and it was not easy. I’m not happy at my game in playoffs. Team expects me to score and make plays.”
Michkov skated twice after the interviews with him and Tocchet, and is going to train harder and harder this offseason. He was upset he couldn’t deliver for the fans.
“I saw a lot of kids wearing my No. 39,” Michkov said. “I’m ashamed I could not score for them in the playoffs. Thank you, fans, we play for them.”
The Flyers veterans stuck up for Michkov, knowing that he’ll only become better.
“It’s only his second year in the league”, Sean Couturier said. “He’s going to learn from this past year. Knowing him and knowing his character, he’s going to be motivated to prove everyone wrong next year.”
“The pressure that’s put on him is higher than anyone else has had,” Travis Sanheim said.
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The next issue regarding the team is the offseason. The front office will change the way they think for the first time in a while. With around $40 million in cap space, the Flyers will have a lot of room to sign potential free agents or make trades of any sort. They do have some key free agents they have to take care of first.
Both Zegras and Jamie Drysdale are restricted free agents. The Flyers will have to match any offers they receive from other teams if they want to keep them. Zegras and Drysdale took massive steps forward in the previous season, and it is key to bring them back.
“Personally, I would love [to stay in Philadelphia],” Zegras said. “I would love to stay here for a long time. I love the fans. That would be enjoyable.”
Briere made it clear that they wouldn’t make many changes in the offseason.
“We’re still in a growth part of the rebuild. What has changed is the experience our guys have gotten,” Briere said. “You can’t buy experience for 19, 20, 21 year olds.”
So for the players, this period of recovery will be short. Some will represent their countries in the World Hockey Championships, and others will stay and train during the summer, but for now, the offseason begins. After a memorable season that Flyers fans and players will never forget, they know that they are ready to compete again. They are still rebuilding, but they are no longer trying to prove they belong in the playoffs. They want to be a playoff team that stays in the Eastern Conference conversation for a long time.
Andrew Glover
Andrew is in his first year covering sports for Philly Sports Reports. He is a podcaster and a digital content creator. Right now, he is in his second semester at Temple University pursuing a degree in Media Studies and Production. He has a certificate in Broadcast Journalism from the Connecticut School of Broadcasting in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.
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