As the final buzzer sounded on the Flyers Saturday night’s 6-3 drumming at the hands of the Buffalo Sabers, whatever little chance Philadelphia had to make the post-season withered away with it. However–as we know–the Flyers aren’t close to contending anytime soon.
That doesn’t mean this year hasn’t brough the club some clarity on some younger players and their futures with the team though. Let’s take a closer look at them, as their been quite a bit of positives in a season that hasn’t yielded many:
Morgan Frost
The crafty 23-year-old has 42 points in 75 games played as of this writing and his creativity with the puck as a distributor is a skill the Flyers need more of as they navigate their rebuild. According to Natural Stat Trick, 20 of Frost’s 24 assists have come at even strength, a testament to his ability to create for others around him. Aside from this, the young centermen has also shown a penchant to get off a plus wrist shot when given a bit of a time and space like Saturday against Buffalo.
With teammates like Owen Tippett and eventually sharpshooters like Tyson Foerster and Cutter Gauthier flanking him over the next couple of years, Frost should be able to continue to improve his game even further offensively next season.
While his work away from the puck and board work remains a work in progress, in addition to seeming like areas John Tortorella would like to see him improve, Frost should always be able to find his way back to the level with his good, albeit raw physical skill-set.
Prediction for 2024: Slick, playmaking second line centermen
Owen Tippett
Unlike Frost, Tippett’s ascension this season has been “louder” so to speak, as the coaching staff clearly enjoys his style of the play and have echoed those setiments throughout the season. His skating his taken a noticeable step forward from last year, and it’s helped the 24-year-old blow past defenders to create scoring chances. His 23 goals this season ranks second of the team, trailing only Travis Konecny, with 16 of those taillies coming at even strength play.
According to Natrual Stat Trick, no line combination has played more this season together than the trio of James Van Riemsdyk, Morgan Frost, Owen Tippett for Philly, playing a shade over 250 mintues together as a line combo. While Van Riemsdyk isn’t apart of the team’s plans moving forward, there is a good chance that Tippett and Frost will be. Clearly, the two play best with one another as one can see above and the two players each having career seasons in 2023 drives home that fact.
Prediction for 2024: Top6 sniper
Noah Cates
It hasn’t mattered what the Flyers have asked Noah Cates to do this season, he has done it and for the most part, has done it well. Cates’ stick-on-puck and forechecking remain his best assets and it leds forcing the oppistion to making less than ideal decisions with the puck. According to Money Puck, the 24-year-old leds all Phily skaters in takeaways this season with 55 to just 11 giveaways. Moreover, he quickly earned the trust of the coahcing staff this season too, as Cates’ rountely takes on heavy defensive zone assignments. The Minnesota native ranks second among all Flyers forwards starting their shifts in the defense zone, starting his shifts close to 17 percent of the time in that end of the rink. Only Scott Laughton (19.4%) starts his shifts in the defensive zone more often than Cates among the forward group.
In an ideal world, Cates would best serve the Flyers playing his natural left wing side, but knowing that they have another player who can step in at center and play well just adds more versatility to a group that desperately lacks it in their current form.
Prediction for 2024: Swiss Army Knife, bottom 6 center/wing
Cam York
The smooth-skating York has shown he can also be versatile this season, speading much of his time playing on his off-side with Ivan Provorov and Travis Sanheim or with Rasmus Ristolanien on his natural side. Early returns suggest that he’s played best with Sanheim, as their ability to create shot-attempts from the back-end plays to each players’ strengths. Despite having just three asissts on the man advantge this year (all primaries), York has been able to showcase his wealth of puck-moving acumen both on the powerplay and at even sthrength often season. He’s been evenly deployed in all three zones this year, displaying his smarts both with and witohut the puck on his stick.
John Tortorella’s staff laid down the gauntlet early this season for York when he was send down to Lehigh Valley to begin the year. Since his recall, he’s been a regular contributor to the top6 defense group and with plenty of room to grow his game.
Prediction for 2024: Heady two-way, Top4 defensemen
