Jamie Drysdale sets the new playoff floor: ‘I think that is going to be the standard now’

Jamie Drysdale made his feelings known about making it to the playoffs for the first time in his career. His confidence in this team shows two important things: the locker room truly believes in this team, and the floor in the minds of the team has risen going into this training camp.

“I think within the locker room, the confidence is there, and the chemistry is there as well,” Drysdale said at the Circle of Champions event at Scotiabank Pond in August.

The Flyers have turned the corner mentally and have a supreme belief in themselves and feel positive about what they can accomplish this season, which gets underway on September 30 at home against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

One thing that should be very encouraging is the vocal leadership coming from the young players like Drysdale, and last season wasn’t enough for them.

“Once you get that sniff, it’s a cliché, but I think it’s very true,” Drysdale said. “It was my first time making the playoffs, and I think that is going to be the standard now; and I wouldn’t want it any other way.” 

This isn’t just a throwaway line a few weeks before training camp; it’s a psychological reset happening before the team starts the physical work of training camp. Once a young team experiences something like the playoff run from last season, the old floor of making improvement isn’t enough anymore. The question is, do the Flyers have the firepower to sustain that level moving forward?

The Flyers’ young core and how they make the jump to the next stage in their game is central to answering this question. General Manager Daniel Briere has thought about this too. He’s openly talked about the impact that the young forwards, Porter Martone, Denver Barkey and Alex Bump made in the season, and his concern that this not be misread as the hard part is behind his budding stars.

“I understand that the expectations are going upwards,” Briere said. “But you worry about them kind of going through a similar transition that Matvei had to go through in his second season.”

This is a real concern for a team that had to answer questions about Matvei Michkov and the perceived sophomore slump that he was mired in, especially early in the season. The young players have Michkov’s example to draw from, something he didn’t have when he was working through it alone in a new system. This training camp is a chance for Michkov to sharpen his leadership skills as well.

Possibly the biggest relief coming into training camp is that the situation between the pipes has found some much-needed stability with Daniel Vladar having a breakout season for the Flyers, which ended with him finishing sixth in the Vezina Trophy voting last season. He was truly the beating heart of this team last season. As an insurance policy, the Flyers traded for Joseph Woll, showing just how critical clutch goaltending is in Rick Tocchet‘s defensive system.

With the goalie situation not being a concern coming into training camp, the focus turns to the backcheck and how big of a jump the defensemen can take in this aspect of the game. The playoff series in Carolina exposed this weakness, especially against a team that aggressively traps as the Hurricanes did. If the Flyers can choke off an aggressive forecheck, it will make their transition game that much stronger and keep the pressure off Vladar.

As with any young team, finding success together is hard, but repeating that success is even harder. It’s on the Flyers coaching staff to make changes and make sure to keep teams guessing. Certainly, the second training camp for Tocchet will be about building on that confidence that Drysdale spoke of and gelling as a team in advance of a season that is incredibly important for many careers.

The Flyers took a huge developmental leap forward last season, and coming into this season with a higher floor seems to be sitting well with this team. Despite the unanswered questions, this Flyers squad appears to be mentally ready for the challenges this season will bring.

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