This former NHL coach is not ruling out the Philadelphia Flyers for this upcoming season.
This former NHL coach is not ruling out the Philadelphia Flyers for this upcoming season.
The Philadelphia Flyers are entering the 2024-25 season still as a rebuilding club. While this is the case, they showed last season that they can be a tough team to go up against, as they stuck around in the playoff race until the end of the season. Could they build off this upcoming season? One former NHL head coach believes it is possible.
Recently, on the NHL Network, Bruce Boudreau named the Flyers as the NHL club that could be a big surprise during the 2024-25 campaign.
Here is what Boudreau said about the Flyers:
"Well, they didn't make a lot of additions, but I think the Philadelphia Flyers can [surprise]. They were in the hunt. Look at, if you look at it, two years ago they were in the hunt till January, maybe till the All-Star Break. And then last year, they were in the hunt till April. I mean, I think maturity, them knowing Torch the way he is... I think they could surprise. They're going to be an enthusiastic team. They're going to be younger. They got the young Russian [Matvei Michkov] coming over... But I do believe the Flyers are on the way up. Drysdale being there for a year now and being healthy to start, I think is going to be a big addition. So, it's all of these things, to me, make it think that it's about time the Flyers got back into the hunt."
While Boudreau has high hopes for the Flyers, his one question regarding their current roster is their goaltending duo of Samuel Ersson and Ivan Fedotov.
"Well, I think they need both [Ersson and Fedotov] and somebody else, to be honest. I mean, neither of these guys actually moved the needle too much for me to be great. But I don't know them as well. I'm just knowing them when you see them on the game every now and again... But I mean, so they [Flyers] stayed with what they have, and they believe in them. So maybe they're just young goalies, and they're ready to hit the prime time right now. If they believe in them, they know them certainly an awful lot better than I do. So I got to go along with them."
Nevertheless, even with his questions about the Flyers' goaltending, Boudreau clearly views the Flyers as a club on the rise. It will be interesting to see if his prediction of them being the NHL's biggest surprise in 2024-25 comes to fruition from here.
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