Will Flyers' Struggling Power Play Force Briere To Make A Trade?

In Philadelphia, some things are certain: Tourists will flock to the Rocky statue, there will be an ongoing debate as to who makes the best cheesesteaks (my vote is for Jim's), and the Flyers power play will continually look inept.

Philadelphia's power play is consistent. Trouble is, it's consistently bad, finishing last in the NHL in four of the last five years — and looking just as lost in the season's first three games of 2026-27.

Granted, it's a small sample size, but the signs look strikingly familiar. Not enough movement. Not enough faceoff wins. Not enough shots.

Which is why the home fans were booing as the Flyers missed a late power-play opportunity that could have snapped a 2-2 tie and won Saturday night's matchup against the defending champion Carolina Hurricanes.

Adding to the misery: Carolina won the game on, yep, a power-play goal from Shayne Gostisbehere. The same guy the Flyers literally traded away for nothing back in 2021. In a salary-cap move that proved disastrous, the Flyers dealt Gostisbehere along second and seventh-round picks to Arizona and got nothing back.

They have been looking for a legitimate power-play quarterback ever since.

The Flyers (0-1-2), who have stolen two points because of Joseph Woll's terrific goaltending, went 0-for-4 on the power play in their latest loss. The power play is 0-for-8 in the season’s first three games.

The power play has generated just seven shots on eight opportunities with the man-advantage in the early going. Poor puck possession has played a major role.

"Our execution is not good," Tocchet said. "We have to execute. Other teams are going through the same thing….Everyone's had six, seven, eight practices. That's not an excuse. We're going to have to fast-track this."

But how do you "fast-track" things when you have basically the same players — a now-healthy Tyson Foerster is an exception — who operated at an NHL-worst 15.7 percent of their power-play chances last season?

Veteran winger Travis Konecny is not concerned. He said the power play is "not an issue" and that the team is getting "many good looks."

Those words might not seem hollow if the problem hadn't existed for over five seasons.

GM Danny Briere didn't add a No. 1 center in the off-season — he tried to sign restricted free agent Leo Carlsson, but he stayed in Anaheim — and that has left a glaring hole on the power play and on the offense in general.

Philly has managed a total of four goals in its first three games. Alarmingly, the Flyers have been outshot 122-62 in those games. And opponents have scored four power-play goals to the Flyers' zero.

Bottom line: The Flyers have changed coaches, players and systems but the power play has remained their No. 1 weakness.

Maybe they need to find the right player to fix things.

If the offensive and special-teams woes continue, Briere may be forced to make a trade sooner rather than later. Yes, it's early. But is it too early to solve a lingering problem?

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