With the NHL playoffs in full swing, there’s little to talk about in Flyer land. The club is currently weighing its options to fill their head coach vacancy, but it may be awhile into the summer before they settle on a new bench boss. In the meantime, I thought it’d be a fun exercise to make some bold predictions about how this summer could shake out for the orange and black.
We’ll try to keep the predictions semi-realistic here; I italicized “could” in the above sentence because I don’t need people calling me an idiot online. So without further ado:
3. The Flyers Will Select C Anton Frondell 4th Overall
According to Tankathon, the Flyers hold a 9.5 percent chance at the top overall pick in the draft lottery, but can fall no further than 6th overall. In this exercise, the Flyers stick with the 4th overall pick and select Djurgårdens IF’s Anton Frondell.
Ranked number 1 among all international skaters by Central Scouting, Frondell possesses all the skills Philadelphia needs. Both big and cerebral, Frondell is the type of player that excels playing in tight spaces, can play center or wing and turned in literally one of the best scoring seasons an under-18 skater has ever had in the HockeyAllsvenskan, a league akin to the AHL in terms of quality. He doesn’t even turn 18 until May, with plenty of time to grow into his 6’1″ frame.
Centermen with a combination of this kind of size and skill don’t come around very often. He’s undoubtedly my pick for the Flyers in Los Angeles this June provided he doesn’t sneak into the top three.
2. Flyers Will Sign Goaltender Jake Allen
Let’s not sugarcoat this; the Flyers goaltending has been atrocious the last couple of seasons. Philly posted an .872 team save percentage, the lowest in the NHL in 2024-2025. They were tied with the Senators for the league’s worst the year before as well.
Sam Ersson will certainly be in the equation next season, but isn’t likely a solution as the everyday starter. A 1A/1B tandem is more likely and it remains to be seen if Ivan Fedotov or Aleksei Kolosov will be a part of the plan moving forward. So enter Jake Allen.
Allen, 34, should certainly have a good amount of suitors because the goaltending market is looking quite barren this summer. Nevertheless, Allen is coming off a quality season with New Jersey, posting .908 save percentage in 31 appearances.
Others options to pair with Ersson could include Ilya Samsonov, Anton Forsberg, Vitek Vanecek, Dan Vladař and former Flyer Alex Lyon. However, none of these players represent a clear cut upgrade and own varying degrees of upside.
It’ll be interesting to see what they do here.
1. The Flyers Will Trade for Trevor Zegras
There’s been smoke around the Flyers and Zegras before so let’s say it gets done this summer. Of course, the Flyers have plenty of draft capital to reach a deal, but the price has reportedly been on the higher end in the past.
Despite this, I’d imagine Zegras still has plenty of suitors if the Ducks decide to make him available. The 24-year-old’s production has dropped due to injuries in the last two seasons, but he can still play both wing and center, in addition to being a scoring threat anywhere in the offensive zone.
Adding a youngish player that can play center with an appetite to recoup the ability that made him a 60 point player in 2022 and 2023 should be appealing to a Flyers team that should be searching high and low for talent.
