4 Flyers With the Most to Prove the Rest of 2024-25 – The Hockey Writers Philadelphia Flyers Latest News, Analysis & More

There isn’t a lot of meaning in the final 25 games of the 2024-25 season for the Philadelphia Flyers. An offensive malaise leading into the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament has shuttered the Flyers to the second-to-last spot in the Eastern Conference. While six points isn’t an impossible gap to overcome, it’s doubtful they will emerge from the hoard of teams vying for a wild-card spot, especially after completing a future-focused trade with the Calgary Flames two weeks ago.

Still, there’s a lot at stake for many of the roster’s players. General manager Daniel Briere could make more moves before the trade deadline, but the offseason will likely be his time to shine. Which moves he will and won’t make could be influenced by who steps up and who doesn’t Here are four players, in particular, looking to cement their status in the season’s final two months.

The Flyers will likely look to add a goaltender this offseason. No team has had a worse save percentage than Philadelphia’s 88.13% mark over the last two seasons (the San Jose Sharks are second worst at 88.58%). Samuel Ersson isn’t the main reason for that. Between Carter Hart’s abrupt departure midway through the 2023-24 season, Ivan Fedotov’s growing pains in the North American game, Aleksei Kolosov’s lack of readiness for the NHL level, and the general struggles of Felix Sandstrom and Cal Petersen, everyone around Ersson has crashed and burned.

However, the team needs to decide what type of goaltender to pair with Ersson. Ersson’s season can essentially be divided into four parts. He was solid in the season’s first month, stopping 0.79 goals above expected from Oct. 11 to Nov. 11. Things turned sour after that, as he was sidelined for nearly a month and then struggled mightily after returning, allowing minus-9.57 goals above expected in his first seven games back.

Since Dec. 31 (a game Ersson got hurt in, although he was back just over a week later), he’s been back to top form, with a 4.64 GSAA mark that earned him a spot on Team Sweden when Jacob Markstrom went down. His overall total of minus-5.5 GSAA (according to MoneyPuck) may not be great, but Ersson has significantly outplayed Fedotov and Kolosov, even if the numbers don’t show it.

There are two questions for Ersson to answer the rest of the way. First, can he physically handle the workload of a No. 1 goaltender for two months? The Flyers won’t run him into the ground the way they all but had to last season, but head coach John Tortorella said he plans to ride Ersson once the team returns to action. Secondly, he must show he can play well while also being available. Ersson will be back next season, but this may be his best opportunity to show he can be a true starting goalie rather than just a nice tandem piece.

Andrei Kuzmenko

A 29-year-old player doesn’t have much room for improvement, but Andrei Kuzmenko could be the exception. After strong starts to his tenures with the Vancouver Canucks in 2022-23 and the Calgary Flames in 2023-24, he quickly wore out his welcome across Western Canada. At his best, he has been a legitimate high-end sniper capable of scoring at a 40-goal pace, a figure no Flyer has reached since Jeff Carter in 2008-09. At his worst, he’s a one-dimensional winger who lacks footspeed and is the epitome of a replaceable player.

Before his trade to the Flyers, it seemed that Kuzmenko was on a one-way track to a return to the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). However, Philadelphia may be the best place for him to repair his image. With Joel Farabee traded, there’s a top-nine spot open (and possibly another if the Flyers trade Scott Laughton, although that’s unlikely). As has been well-documented, he’s a former KHL teammate of Matvei Michkov, giving him at least somewhat of a chemistry boost. Kuzmenko’s first game with the Flyers went well. He picked up an assist on his opening shift and could have had a couple of others throughout the game. Kuzmenko doesn’t have much time to make a lasting impression, but he has the ability to make it count.

Emil Andrae

It was confounding when Emil Andrae was sent back to the American Hockey League (AHL) just before Christmas. In his first NHL stint of the season, he was a dominant play-driver with a team-high 60.24% expected goals share and 14-10 on-ice goal differential, plus a respectable five points in 20 games. The eye test matched, too, but the Flyers weren’t as impressed as much of the general public.

It took a month and a half for Andrae to get back, and he led the Flyers in xGF% in their final two games before the break. He was sent back to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms to see game action while the NHL team is off. But once the Flyers return to the ice, Andrae should be back with them. Though he’s still on his entry-level contract through next season, his goal for the rest of the season is simple: prove without a doubt that he belongs with the big club. His talent is evident. Now it’s time to see how well he can harness it at the highest level.

Jamie Drysdale

It’s been a weird season for Jamie Drysdale. He had the emotional high of the “Jamie’s better” chants and the big goal against the Anaheim Ducks in the Cutter Gauthier game, and he has more raw talent than he displayed at the end of last season when he was playing hurt. But hopes of him jumping to stardom in a new setting haven’t materialized. First, his expected partner to begin the season, Nick Seeler, was hurt. Then, Drysdale missed 12 games due to injury in November and early December, the worst-case scenario for someone who played just 42 total games over the last two seasons.

Fortunately, Drysdale has been healthy since then. Since a three-game point streak that started with that Ducks game, his offense has dried up (one point in his last 12 games). Eventually, his pairing with Seeler came to fruition, and they performed well, winning the xG (52.54%) and actual goals (18-14) battles. However, that’s largely come as a sheltered third-pairing.

There is a world in which Drysdale and Andrae can co-exist on the same blue line. But change is coming to the Flyers’ backend. Rasmus Ristolainen’s days in Philadelphia are likely numbered. The same goes for Erik Johnson’s days in the NHL. Oliver Bonk will push to make the team next training camp and other prospects like Ethan Samson and Hunter McDonald will be challenging for a spot before long.

Drysdale isn’t in danger of losing his roster spot or anything dramatic. But soon, it will no longer be enough for him to play just fine. If Ristolainen is traded at the deadline or still hurt, Drysdale should make a run at a top-four role. He hasn’t performed as well with Travis Sanheim, his second most frequent d-partner, and has barely played with Cam York. Showing he can perform alongside one of the team’s top two defenders would be an important step for him to take.

Flyers Prospects

Only roster players are eligible for this list, but many other members of the organization have a lot at stake over the next few months. The Flyers have already had to dip into their AHL depth more than anticipated. Helge Grans probably wasn’t on anyone’s call-up bingo card and Jacob Gaucher didn’t even have an entry-level contract at the start of the season. Yet, they’ve made it into some games with the Orange and Black.

Related: Flyers’ Matvei Michkov Making the Best of a Bad Hand

It’s not a total failure if players like Samu Tuomaala and Elliott Desnoyers don’t make it to the NHL before the season is done (or back to it, in Desnoyers’ case). But they must put themselves in a position to knock on the door in the fall. That’s especially true for Desnoyers, who is set to become a restricted free agent. With his offensive numbers down from where they were two seasons ago when he earned his first NHL cameo, he needs to show he should still be considered an important prospect.