At 27-32-8, the Philadelphia Flyers are 27th in the NHL and once again one of the league’s worst teams.

Head coach John Tortorella impressively managed to bring the Flyers to the brink of a playoff spot last season, only for the team to suffer a rash of injuries, lose a key player in Sean Walker to a trade, and crash and burn out of the postseason picture.

Expectations were higher this season, of course, with star rookie Matvei Michkov essentially serving as a 1:1 replacement for the aging, ineffective Cam Atkinson, who was bought out by the Flyers in the offseason.

The problem for Tortorella is that, one way or another, he and his team fell decidedly short of those expectations.

At forward, Travis Konecny, the Flyers’ main proprietor of offense, has five goals in 30 games in 2025. Owen Tippett, still battling inconsistency in the offensive zone, is on pace for the least prolific full season of his Flyers career. Tyson Foerster is producing at a rate virtually identical to last season and was a healthy scratch earlier this year.

On defense, Travis Sanheim and Cam York are producing far less offense than they were a year ago. The latter was recently benched by Tortorella, and his eyebrow-raising comments about a lack of communication from the coach echo those made by Sean Couturier after his bizarre benching last season, which came shortly after being named the Flyers’ captain.

Players like Emil Andrae and Egor Zamula have stagnated or leveled off, though Jamie Drysdale is starting to put the pieces of the puzzle together.

Accounting for the vast regression and apparent turmoil with some players, Tortorella’s message still seems to be striking a chord with the Flyers–the wrong one, though. When you play the wrong notes, the music turns from a song to noise.

Could, or should, Rick Tocchet return to the Flyers?

If the Flyers wish to go with a new voice and head in a new direction in the offseason, not much is preventing them from doing so.

Tortorella’s contract is set to expire next summer, while Vancouver Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet, who signed a two-year contract after replacing Bruce Boudreau, is up this summer.

The Flyers would owe Tortorella very little at the expense of moving forward. And if the Flyers want Tocchet, they'll have to strike quick.

That's because Tocchet, according to Canucks insider Rick Dhaliwal, is no guarantee to extend his stay in Vancouver, either.

“Here’s what I can say: the Canucks are trying to extend him. They do like the guy and they want him back,” Dhaliwal said on “Kyper and Bourne” Wednesday. “But as [Canucks GM] Patrik Allvin says, it takes two to tango. Maybe Tocchet’s taking his time. So, let me throw this at you: Tocchet’s franchise goalie has got four injuries in his last 11 months. His franchise defenseman could leave in two years. His franchise center is on pace for 50 points and signed for seven more years.

“I know the media’s getting to Tocchet. He made a couple of comments the last two games, it tells you the media’s getting to him. . . It’s been a really trying year. He’s had to babysit Miller, Pettersson, the feud. Media’s all over him now, and if this team doesn’t make the playoffs, what’s gonna happen then? He’s got a decision to make, Rick Tocchet. I’m really surprised there’s 18 games left in the regular season and he’s not signed.”

Tocchet, a former Flyers captain played a total of 11 years in Philadelphia, was teammates with Flyers GM Danny Briere under Tortorella on the Phoenix Coyotes, and has spent a number of years working alongside successful NHL coaches, such as Mike Sullivan, Rick Bowness, and Jacques Martin.

A three-time Stanley Cup champion–once as a player and twice as a coach–Tocchet, like Tortorella, knows what it takes to win. The Flyers won’t sacrifice that valuable experience without being able to replace it.

The Canucks boss has reached hockey’s pinnacle more recently than Tortorella, and the reigning Jack Adams Trophy winner’s best coaching job might still be in progress.

Despite a rift between Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller blowing a hole in the hull of Vancouver’s locker room and losing captain Quinn Hughes and starting goalie Thatcher Demko for large parts of the season due to injury, the Canucks are still alive in the playoff race.

In fact, the Canucks are actually in a playoff spot at the time of this writing, even with a player like Pettersson only on pace for 52 points, which would be the fewest he’s scored in a full season in his entire professional career.

Rather than argue with Pettersson on the bench or yank him from the lineup, Tocchet’s conservative approach with Pettersson has seen the former 100-point-scorer start to trend upward with four goals and six points in his last five games.

“I always tell guys, you can have an average first two periods, but rise to the occasion, which [Pettersson] did. Good for him.” Tocchet told the media after the Canucks’ recent win over Chicago. “That’s what we need from him when things are just kind of neutral, that he can just elevate his game.”

This is an approach that would work well with Michkov, for example. Today’s stars respond to coaching differently than they did even 10 years ago.

If Tocchet wants the Flyers job in the summer and the two sides agree there’s a mutual fit, the organization has a ton of ammo to freshen the atmosphere and begin to build a more competitive roster.

A new voice could lead the Michkovs, Konecnys, and Sanheims and reel them back in, while three first-round picks in 2025 can be weaponized to build towards the future and/or acquire a building block for the present.

DETROIT — On Sunday afternoon at Little Caesars Arena, the Red Wings played their way to a convincing 3–0 victory over the visiting Vegas Golden Knights.

Petr Mrazek backstopped the victory with an 18-save shutout, while Detroit got the offense it needed from from three youngsters.  Albert Johansson (who walked tidily around Knights goaltender Ilya Samsonov for the game's opening goal) was the oldest goal scorer of the night at 24, which Lucas Raymond (22) and Marco Kasper (20) adding third period insurance markers to put the game out of reach of a weary Knights team that had lost in a shootout a night prior in Buffalo.

"Looking up at the end of the night at the scoreboard was a real good thing for our team, considering the opponent, the type of game they play," said coach Todd McLellan after the game.  "So it was a pretty good night for a lot of our players and should give us some confidence."

Here's more on how the Red Wings played their way into the shutout win.

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Mrazek Getting "Swagger Back," Continues to Stake Claim to Crease

It wasn't a high volume night in net for Mrazek, but he did everything asked of him, including a few moments of brilliance when Vegas applied pressure and created chaos around his crease.

"His performance was excellent," said McLellan.  "They didn't have many shots, but they had some good ones that got through traffic, and it was last minute–type saves and then the scramble in and around the paint.  I thought he handled it well."

Obviously, the bottom line is unimpeachable for Mrazek, though there were moments when he was slightly less than convincing.  Over his career, Mrazek's worst form seems to include a proclivity for 'swimming' in his crease, struggling to track the play and losing his relationship to his net.  That wasn't the case Sunday afternoon, but at times there was an uncertainty to his game—peaking over his shoulder to make sure a puck hadn't squeaked through.

In the third, a Mark Stone slapper that didn't look especially dangerous slipped through him, nearly gifting the Knights a goal.  Mrazek came up slowly following that sequence and had to be attended to by a trainer, but he stayed in the game.  After the game, he joked that he "got it in a spot where you don't want to know where I got it," temporarily incapacitating him but nothing serious.

He's now made three straight starts and is clearly McLellan's first choice in net following his return to Detroit at the deadline.  Of the decision to stick with him, McLellan said, "He's given us some confidence...You just feel it on the bench. When a save is made, the energy that's on the bench right now with Petr in the pipes...we sense that, we feel it, so we chose to go with him again."

Mrazek himself said that his sense of comfort has grown with the continuity he's gotten since coming back to the Red Wings.  Before his current run of three straight starts (and two wins), Mrazek hadn't played since Jan. 27 with the Blackhawks.  "Playing those three games in a row definitely helps...[I] haven't been playing for a while before, and once you're playing, you're getting your confidence back, your swagger back, so I've felt every game that I've played, I've felt better and better," he said after Sunday's shutout.

It's hard to imagine McLellan would turn away from Mrazek heading into Tuesday's game in Washington, considering the coach stuck with him following Friday's loss in Carolina and was rewarded Sunday for doing so.

Kasper, Johansson Keep Playing Way into More Confidence

Both Marco Kasper and Albert Johansson scored for the Red Wings Sunday, but in both cases, the goal alone fails to encapsulate the scope of their influence on the game and the result for Detroit.

The Red Wings second line—Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat on Kasper's wings—was by far its most consistently dangerous Sunday afternoon.  Per MoneyPuck.com, the trio played 13:05 together at five-on-five, accruing a 2.033–0.381 edge in expected goals and 1–0 advantage in actual goals.

Kasper effectively clinched the game with just under nine minutes to play, when he re-directed home an Erik Gustafsson pass to make it 3–0 Detroit, but he could easily have had scored another (perhaps even two) based on the chances he found for himself.  

In moving from Dylan Larkin's wing on the top line (where he looked completely at home) to the 2C hole with Kane and DeBrincat, Kasper continues to show the intelligence and maturity in his game.  He was involved in everything for his line—killing plays and winning back pucks in the defensive zone, transitioning the puck from end to end, and, of course, actually finishing chances in the O zone.  In so doing, he's shown a natural understanding of what has to change in moving from wing back to center and in adjusting to his new linemates.  Whether on Larkin's wing or centering his own line, Kasper has been a live wire every night for Detroit.

"I'm just trying to do my best wherever, whatever spot I'm put in, and every time I step on the ice, I'm trying to be the most competitive player on the ice—win all my battles, skate hard, and just do the right things," Kasper said after the game.  He certainly did the right things Sunday afternoon, and that's no exception to his recent run of form.

Meanwhile, Johansson showed off a goalscorer's hands in weaving his way around Samsonov and tucking home the puck, but again, the goal itself was just the start of what he did well.

After the game, McLellan gushed about the 24-year-old D man's performance, saying, "His game tonight was outstanding.  There were so many little things that he did when we didn't have the puck in our end—breaking up plays, good read and react type stuff, situations where there was something dangerous about to happen and he was right there to kill the play.  Obviously his goal was a very nice goal, a poised goal, so those are all good things.  His overall play, I don't think there's anybody in the hockey world that would walk into the arena and go, 'That guy's a rookie.'  So just his poise, his growth, his confidence, competitiveness, all the things that are really hard to measure...I think have made him a really good player for us."

Johansson finished the night with 21:49 of ice time, trailing only his partner Simon Edvinsson's 22:37.  Those are minutes he earned and minutes he won for his team.  In keeping with McLellan's assessment, he looks a completely different player to the one who very much showed his youth early in the season.  No matter how the season ends for Detroit, Johansson's emergence since McLellan's takeover is a tremendous positive to take from the campaign.

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The Golden Knights were held off the scoreboard for just the fourth time this season Sunday, when they dropped a 3-0 decision to the Red Wings in Detroit.

It was the first time Vegas had been shutout since Jan. 9, when the New York Islanders blanked the Knights 4-0 on their own ice.

The four shutouts are tied for the third-highest number of times the Golden Knights have been blanked in a season. They were shutout four times during the 2019-20 season, five times last season and seven times during the 2021-22 campaign.

The loss came on the second leg of a back-to-back after the Golden Knights squandered a 3-2 lead in Buffalo, and had a chance to put the game away if not for Tomas Hertl passing to Jack Eichel rather than chucking the puck into an empty net. The Sabres tied the game with 14 seconds left and won 4-3 in a shootout.

After a scoreless first period, the Red Wings got a goal from Albert Johansson to make it 1-0, a lead they'd take into the locker room for the second intermission. Lucas Raymond made it 2-0 early in the third, while Marco Kasper all but iced the game midway through.

Vegas netminder Ilya Samsonov stopped 24 of the 27 shots he faced.

"We let one get away yesterday, and I hope it's a learning curve for our team," Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. "After the game, I was still salty about it, but it's not easy to win in this league, and that's why you put games away. Because the next night you are on the fourth (road game) in six (days), you're on the road against a team in playoff position

"We knew we were a tired hockey team, (Detroit) knew we were a tired hockey team, we were going to need a spark somewhere. And maybe the first shot of the game, I think it was (Victor) Olofsson hit the post. Maybe, if that goes in and gives us a little something to get excited about."

Here are three takeaways from Sunday's loss:

NO POWER: For the first time since Dec. 3 - and just the second time this season - the Golden Knights didn't get one power play. Vegas thrives on the road with a man advantage, ranking first in the league with a 31.1% conversion rate (23 of 74). It certainly could have been effective considering Detroit has the league's worst penalty kill - both overall and at home. Vegas came into the game with at least one power-play goal in 17 of its previous 25 games.

"I would have liked to see a score, even the game, and maybe do something positive offensively," Cassidy said. "Draw a penalty, get on the power play, something to get us going, to get us excited. There wasn't a lot of room out there. And then we did, we got a break with (Ivan) Barbashev. We had a good chance, (Mark Stone) right after that. We had some looks ... but not a lot of looks. But Barby's would have been the one, maybe get us in the game."

REST AND RECOVERY: The Golden Knights have now played 11 games in 22 days, since the 4 Nations Face-Off break, the last four on the road. And while six of the 11 were at home, the Knights are looking forward to coming home from the East Coast tour and back-to-back games in Buffalo and Detroit and taking a few days off from games. Vegas is expected to have Monday off before practicing Tuesday and Wednesday and resuming their schedule on Thursday at T-Mobile Arena.

"Well, anytime you get off the road, you get a breather. It's good time," Cassidy said. "When you come off the road in a long trip, turn around and play on a, let's say it was Tuesday, we went through that I think the first year a few times, I thought it was difficult. That's why our home record actually suffered. We'd get back and we didn't have any juice. So hopefully we take care of some family business tomorrow and Tuesday, and whatever you usually do at the end of a road trip, and we're excited to play again."

UP NEXT: Vegas' three-game homestand will be against Eastern Conference teams Boston, Detroit and Tampa Bay - a trio the Knights are now 1-2-0 against this season. They won in Boston, but lost in Tampa and Detroit. The Knights, who are 3-0-0 when playing with three days off between games, have lost 16 of 29 (13-12-4) to Eastern Conference teams this season.

Los Angeles, CA — The Los Angeles Kings (36-20-9) secured the win against the Nashville Predators (25-33-8) in a close 1-0 game at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday, March 15. 

One of the standout players for the Kings was goaltender Darcy Kuemper, who kept the Predators out of contention for a goal, making 24 saves and maintaining a 9-0-2 home record for Los Angeles.

Throughout most of the game, while Nashville maintained a steady defense against Los Angeles with 21 blocked shots, the Kings kept the game moving. 

In the first period of the game, the only penalty came from Nashville — hooking penalty against right wing forward Adrian Kempe. Though Los Angeles were granted a power play off of that penalty, they weren’t able to convert any of their shots to the Nashville net.

The second period rolled around, and the Predators granted the Kings two more power plays — tripping and high-sticking, respectively. Despite the efforts of Byfield and left wing forward Warren Foegele, the Kings were unsuccessful in converting on any of their power plays. Meanwhile, the LA took two penalties  — illegal check to the head and hooking, respectively — though Nashville were also unable to convert any of their penalty power plays. 

As the third period slid by, neither team made any progress towards any goals. Neither team took any penalties. Ultimately, the game went into overtime and progressed the game forward.

As the game flew into overtime, both teams moved up and down the Kings’ home ice, trying to make space for one of these players to step up and drive the puck into a net. Right wing forward Quinton Byfield slapped a wrist shot into the Nashville net, and finally secured a goal onto the scoreboard, giving Los Angeles victory over the Predators, 1-0.

Despite the hustle up and down the Kings’ home ice, throughout the game while Nashville had taken more shots at the goal, the Kings made more aggressive plays on the ice, and made greater strides in the end. 

Notably, with this win the Kings made this game their fifth consecutive win in a row, while at the same time Byfield’s goal at the very end makes this game his sixth in a row where he scored for Los Angeles. The Kings use this victory as momentum for them as they hit the road in order to take on the Minnesota Wild.

By Rory Arthur, The Hockey News Intern

Every year there are a handful of breakout players who take a step up in their production and take on a bigger role for their respective NHL teams. Some of these players blossom into superstars and get their plaudits for it. But some fly beneath the radar, growing into key roles without receiving a ton of mainstream attention. Here’s a look at five such players in 2024-25.

1. Aliaksei Protas, RW, Washington Capitals

The hulking 6-foot-6 Belarusian winger has blasted past his career highs this season. Protas had 13 goals in 169 NHL games across his first three seasons for Washington. This year, he already has 29 goals through 67 games, as well as 30 assists. And when you take into account that 54 of his 59 points thus far have come at even strength – ranking him eighth in the NHL, which is just two points behind Connor McDavid – you get a player who’s gone from being a bottom-six forward to a top producer for the Eastern Conference-leading Capitals. 

Aliaksei Protas keeps on rolling 🔥⁰
Already building on career-best marks in points and goals this season, the @Capitals forward picked up his first NHL career hat trick and three short-handed points to lead the league in goals and overall scoring as NHLPA Player of the Week! pic.twitter.com/wOFp8HpkDj

— NHLPA (@NHLPA) March 14, 2025

2. Jackson LaCombe, D, Anaheim Ducks

The 2019 second-round pick has really taken off for the Ducks this season, especially since the calendar flipped to January. Since the start of the new year, LaCombe has 21 points in 30 games and is regularly playing 24-plus minutes a night. The 24-year-old has become a top-pair defenseman as the Ducks have turned in a winning record in the 2025 portion of the schedule. LaCombe’s best game came in Edmonton on March 4, when he put up three assists and was a plus-5 in the Ducks’ 6-2 win.

3. Kent Johnson, LW, Columbus Blue Jackets

Johnson’s biggest moment of fame occurred at the 2022 World Junior Championship when he scored the golden goal for Canada. Now in the NHL, the 22-year-old fifth-overall draft pick from 2021 is having a breakout season in Columbus. Despite missing a handful of games with a shoulder injury in the fall, he’s already surpassed his career highs in goals and points in just 50 games.

Kent Johnson with one of the cleanest goals of the year.

Effortless 360, no look, perfect placement on the backhand. What a goal. pic.twitter.com/qQirHXaF9h

— Nasher (@TheNasher61) February 5, 2025

One big part of Johnson’s success has been a full-time move to the wing, as evidenced by him not taking a single faceoff this season after spending time at center in past seasons. This has allowed the highly skilled forward to showcase his scoring ability without having to stress over the two-way responsibilities of a center.

4. Simon Edvinsson, D, Detroit Red Wings

Edvinsson may not have the flashy point totals of others on this list, but the Swedish defenseman has quietly emerged as a solid top-four D-man in Detroit. The Red Wings love to slowly integrate their prospects into the NHL club by giving them plenty of time with AHL Grand Rapids, and that was the case for the 6-foot-6 blueliner’s first two seasons. But in 2024-25, the mobile Edvinsson has solidified his spot, playing almost 21 minutes a game for a team fighting for a wild-card playoff berth, and he’ll be a key player if Detroit can get over the line and make it into the post-season. 

5. Pavel Dorofeyev, LW/RW, Vegas Golden Knights

Dorofeyev has broken out as a goal-scoring machine in Vegas this season, especially on the power play. The Russian winger is second on the team in goals with 27, including 11 on the man advantage, using his big one-timer from the right wall as a weapon to beat opposing goalies. He’s also shooting more accurately this season, as he’s registering three shots-on-goal per game in 2024-25, up from around two shots per game last year. Dorofeyev has embraced his role at the top of Vegas’ lineup.

Pavel Dorofeyev's got goals in three straight games! ⚔️#NHLStats: https://t.co/vYezETy2Iw

📺: @Sportsnet or stream on Sportsnet+ ➡️ https://t.co/4KjbdjVKjdpic.twitter.com/LC3FCthWbo

— NHL (@NHL) March 15, 2025

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The Buffalo Sabres bounced back from a off a 7-3 loss to the Red Wings in Detroit on Wednesday with a 4-3 shootout victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday afternoon, but the loss of another forward has required the club to recall forwards Isak Rosen and Brett Murray prior to their four-game road trip beginning in Boston on Monday.

Center Jiri Kulich was checked by Golden Knights forward Brett Howden midway through the second period. Peyton Krebs sprung to his teammate’s defense, dropping the gloves with Howden, but received an instigating minor and misconduct. Kulich did not return to the game and on Sunday, head coach Lindy Ruff said that Kulich is in concussion protocol.

“Kulich is not feeling as well today,” Ruff said. “It’s a day-by-day (thing) to see where he’s at.”

Sabres Disastrous Defensively In Defeat To Detroit 

Rosen Sent Down Again Without Getting An Opportunity

Dahlin Refutes Assertion Of Wanting Out Of Buffalo

Ruff indicated that center Josh Norris received treatments on the unspecified injury that saw him miss the Vegas game and that he will travel with the club, as will winger JJ Peterka, who is feeling better after missing two games with a lower-body injury, but hesitated from saying he would play on Monday.

“He hasn’t practiced, but I got a really good report on him,” Ruff said. “I think it’s possible (he’ll play against Boston), but based on him only skating this morning, we’re just worried how that goes.”

Rosen was sent down to the AHL Amerks earlier this week and scored his club-leading 27th goal to tie the game in the third in a 4-3 shootout victory over Providence on Friday. Murray is second on the club in scoring with 23 goals, and played two games for the Sabres last season.

Follow Michael on X, Instagram, and Bluesky @MikeInBuffalo

The Philadelphia Flyers have shown flashes of strong play in the past two seasons, but they're still not likely to make the Stanley Cup playoffs this season. Still, in this cover story from THN's 2023 "Prospects Unlimited" issue, longtime Philly scribe Wayne Fish profiled the Flyers' impressive-looking future:

A NEW ERA OF ORANGE

By Wayne Fish

Everyone connected to the team was holding their collective breath. This was going to be their moment of truth. Would the Philadelphia Flyers, a team steeped in tradition and historical success, actually use a high first-round draft pick on a prospect they knew would not be playing in the NHL for several years? Could they go against their usual conventional wisdom of selecting a player who figured to help them quite soon, the way 2015 first-rounders Ivan Provorov and Travis Konecny did when they joined the NHL in 2016-17 as 19-year-olds?

This scene unfolded on June 28, the first night of the 2023 NHL draft at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, and new GM Daniel Briere had a big decision to make. Should he go for a prototypical Flyer such as, say, the rugged Ryan Leonard, who might be ready to compete in the NHL in a year or two? Or go with a prospect such as Russian-born whiz kid Matvei Michkov, who was already committed to playing the next few years in his native country?

The Flyers, mired in the second-longest non-playoff drought in their history – three years – knew choosing the second option would put their commitment to a total rebuild directly into the critics’ spotlight. Briere didn’t seem to care. With the blessing of new president of hockey operations Keith Jones, Briere decided to use the No. 7 overall pick on Michkov, a clear sign the Flyers are all-in on this franchise overhaul.

Further proof of this approach involved the trades, releases or departures through free agency of several other established veterans during the off-season. The Flyers parted with center Kevin Hayes by sending him to the St. Louis Blues, then shipped Provorov to Columbus in a three-way deal with Los Angeles.

They attempted to trade defenseman Tony DeAngelo, but when there were no takers, they simply bought him out from the second year of a two-year contract (he later signed with Carolina). And winger James van Riemsdyk, who had spent more than half of his career in Philadelphia, was allowed to leave via free agency and signed with Boston. Another defenseman, Justin Braun, retired from his NHL career to play a final year or two in Germany.

All these moves were made to open up bigger roles for some of the Flyers’ up-and-comers, such as defenseman Cam York, left winger Noah Cates, center Morgan Frost and right wingers Owen Tippett, Wade Allison and Tyson Foerster. Chuck Fletcher, the former president and GM of the team, was let go back in March. He had started this regeneration process, but the feeling seemed to be that things weren’t moving along quickly enough nor was there enough commitment to the rebuild. Briere, who had been a special advisor to Fletcher, was hired with a clear mandate to speed up and be more comprehensive with the process.

Plus, there were even changes at the very top of the organization. Dave Scott, former chairman of Spectacor and governor of the Flyers, decided to retire and was replaced by new CEO Daniel Hilferty at the end of the season. At a May press conference, Hilferty helped announce the team’s new motto, “A New Era of Orange.” The key word there being “new” for the team with the third-highest points percentage in league history.

Like many NHL teams, the Flyers were victims of enjoying one good season during the pandemic and then believing they were back to legitimate contender status. Back in the first shortened campaign of 2019-20, the Flyers finished the regular season on a hot stretch, having had a nine-game winning streak end just before all professional sports were shut down in March 2020. Somehow, they made it all the way to Game 7 of Round 2 before losing to the New York Islanders in a winner-take-all game. Things went downhill from there. Injuries and uncertainty behind the Flyers’ bench conspired to keep the team out of playoff contention since.

Veteran coach John Tortorella, an honest evaluator of talent young and old, was brought onboard last season to start the process of who should stay and who should go. He has helped to make some significant player-personnel moves, but there’s a sense there’s still more work to be done. While Flyers fans have a tendency to be impatient, the people in the organization insist there can be no shortcuts.

“I think patience is a key word,” Jones said. “It’s going to take some time. We have a plan. We (the leadership group) are going to get together and really work on that plan, and it’s probably going to take a little while. But we do have a little bit of time. The team made some strides last year. Two years ago, this was not a fun team to follow. I was in the same boat as the fans, covering it closely (as a TV analyst). I know our fans and have had many conversations with them. And that (failure) was not acceptable.”

Under Tortorella, the Flyers appeared to take a step in the right direction last year, and Jones wants to continue on that path. That could involve the development and possible promotion of prospects such as Elliot Desnoyers and Emil Andrae. “But we have more work to do,” Jones said. “How quickly we can get that done, it’s ultimately going to be about the players. Having some players in good health is a major plus for us, (Sean) Couturier and (Cam) Atkinson. But we’re in a position where we want to build certain areas of our team and continue to keep the strengths that are there, but there are spots that need a lot of work.”

Like with any rebuild, there has to be a lot of help in the pipeline, and that’s what the Flyers have been working on. Officials insist there’s no timeline on when the team might return to legitimate contention. The Flyers’ AHL affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, made the playoffs for the first time last season since 2018. The decision to endorse Cutter Gauthier, the 2022 draft’s fifth-fifth-overall pick, in his plan to return to Boston College for a second year of NCAA play was an easy one.

From a personal standpoint, Briere knows all about “bouncing back” from the depths of the NHL. He signed with the Flyers as a free agent back in 2007, just after the team suffered what was arguably the worst season in franchise history. It took only one year to turn things around, and the Flyers went to the Eastern Conference final in 2008, losing to Pittsburgh. Two years later, the Flyers were in the Stanley Cup final themselves.

Last season, the Flyers were operating without top players Couturier and Atkinson (both sidelined by major surgeries). That may have rushed players such as Cates and Frost. This year, barring any injury setbacks, the Flyers should be in a position to employ their prospects more prudently, allowing the youngsters to see how it’s done from a different perspective.

“On the ice, it’s a big change,” Briere said. “We put a lot of stress on guys like Noah and Morgan last year because of that. I’m sure it was great for their development having to face top-six players all year long. But it’s going to be nice to give them a little bit of help and strengthen that position a little bit. Let them breathe a little bit.

“Experience-wise, I think it’s going to be great for their growth as well. On the ice, adding those two guys (Couturier and Atkinson) in the locker room is huge. Last year, we had a lot of young guys. Those (veteran) guys are going to help.”

One of the big off-season signings was bringing in veteran defenseman Marc Staal. He’ll help with the transition by tutoring some of the younger players. “You want to give the young guys a chance, and ‘Torts’ did a tremendous job of that last year,” Briere said. “But at the same time, you don’t want to put them in a position to fail. That’s the part that we have to gauge. Put them in positions so that they can grow.

“That’s exactly why we added a guy like Staal. We felt to help some of our defensemen after losing Provorov, adding a good veteran who can help cool the temperature at times. Understanding where he fits in, but at the same time, helping out our young D-men. There’s a lot of change. A lot of young guys stepped up last year, mostly on offense. Hopefully, we can see that a little more on the defense. At the end of the day, the players are going to decide that. We’re not just going to force them back into the lineup. We’re going to give them a chance to get their confidence back.”

On Saturday night, with a 4-2 road victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Ottawa Senators reached the midpoint of the month with the best record in the NHL for March — and it's not particularly close.

After a five-game slide around the NHL’s 4 Nations Face-off break, the Senators have been crafting their own version of March Madness with a 7-0-1 record, which translates to a smooth .938 points percentage. The only blemish is a small one; surrendering a point in the skills competition to the Washington Capitals, the best team in the NHL.

This streak has been a season-saver. On the final day of February, the Senators were on a five-game losing streak and trailed both the Detroit Red Wings and the Columbus Blue Jackets by four points for the two wild-card spots.

What a difference a couple of weeks can make.

Now, the Senators are six points above the playoff line, sitting as the top wild-card team with 77 points, five points ahead of the New York Rangers (72 points). The Montreal Canadiens, currently the best non-playoff team, sit just behind with 71 points, making Tuesday's game in Montreal another important matchup.

But every game in this run has been big, which is part of what makes it so impressive.

Throughout their seven-season playoff drought, the Senators have had hot streaks before, but this is the time of year when victories are hardest to come by, so this one stands out by a significant margin.

For the first time, this generation of the Ottawa Senators is winning big games under the pressure of actually having something to lose. 

And there's been no shortage of in-game resilience, either. For instance, a glance at the graphic above reminds us they trailed the lowly San Jose Sharks and Chicago Blackhawks but managed to come back and win.

They looked dead and buried against the New York Rangers before rallying from a 3-1 third-period deficit to win in overtime. And in their last four victories, the Senators managed to fend off deficits or momentum swings that might have overwhelmed other versions of this team from the past.

It goes without saying that now is not the time for the Senators to indulge in the "look how well we're doing" exercise we're doing here. The Blue Jackets and Red Wings have plummeted in March – prime examples of how quickly things can change.

The Ides of March — March 15 — became infamous in Roman history as the day Julius Caesar was assassinated by a group of senators. The phrase has since come to symbolize a warning about impending danger or a potential turning point.

After a big March 15 win in Toronto, Ottawa fans are hoping the only thing that gets "assassinated" in the second half of the month is the Senators' long playoff drought.

By Steve Warne
Site Editor at The Hockey News Ottawa

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