Flyers Files Observations: When’s Enough, Enough?

We’re back for another edition of Flyers Files observations, my weekly look at the Philadelphia Flyers, what is trending, what is noteworthy, and my reactions.

Things have only gone from bad to worse for the Flyers. The losses are piling up, the play is near unwatchable, and it’s getting late early for everyone involved.

Here’s this week’s Flyers Files.

From Ovation to…This?

To fully understand the magnitude of how the Flyers have started this season, you have to go back to May 9.

Sure, the result of their second-round series against Carolina was expected. They got swept. They really didn’t have much of a chance. But forcing overtime in two more games in that series and playing all the way through to the finish, trying to drain any further wins out of a near two-month sprint to the finish, was admirable.

The fans made that clear. That standing ovation at the end of Game 4 was a huge thank you. Thank you for the run you just went on. Thank you for making Flyers hockey respectable again. Thank you for showing us what the future could hold.

But the standing ovation also came with a contingency: we’re holding you to that growth and that this is only scratching the surface on the future.

So as the Flyers opened up the 2026-27 season with a 7-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, it was surprising. This is how you welcome everyone back after your unlikely playoff run?

More than that, it just felt like a page out of a book that you were supposed to have put on the shelf to collect dust. There were a few thoughts going through my head watching that debacle from the press box.

After the second period, with the game well in hand for Pittsburgh with a 5-0 margin, I told another media member that had this been the 10th game of the season after a solid first nine games, and then followed up with another good eight or nine-game stretch, nobody would care or worry about it. Those nights happen.

But watching that, I was also having flashbacks to some historically bad performances during the 2020-21 season, the 56-game intra-division weirdness that was particularly miserable for the Orange and Black. And the overwhelming thought I had was that games like that were supposed to be a thing of the past. You should be better than that, especially after making the playoffs last season. You should certainly be past the unwatchable stage, and past potential nightly embarrassment.

The Front Office Shoulders This Too

And that’s where it’s really all eyes on the New Era regime. Sure, one coaching change was already made, with Danny Briere deciding it was time to end the John Tortorella era late in the 2024-25 season. But now the seats are heating up again. All of them.

Danny Briere and Keith Jones have held their positions officially since May 2023. This is their fourth season heading the front office. And a lot of the questions they faced when they took the job are largely unanswered. Patience was required at the beginning to clean up certain things. But it can run thin quick, especially when the players that you have started to hinge your entire tenure as general manager are not performing.

And at this point, it is largely Briere’s team. Ten players have four years or more on their contracts. Of the ten, eight were signed during Briere’s tenure. Only Sean Couturier and Travis Sanheim were under long-term deals prior to Briere taking over.

When you look at the players Briere did extend for the long haul, you’ll find a group of veterans leaving a lot to be desired. Whether it’s this offseason’s new deals for Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale or the long-term deals given to Owen Tippett, Christian Dvorak, Travis Konecny, and Cam York over the previous years, no one is stopping the bleeding that is on in full force for the Flyers.

It’s why the accountability for a start like this must be shared. Sure, you can do the easy thing, remove Tocchet as the head coach, and try again with a new bench boss to see if the season can be salvaged, but are you solving all of the issues? Are you just prolonging the inevitable?

What Happened to the Vets?

Speaking of veteran players Briere rewarded with long-term deals…where are they? What happened?

When Briere spoke in the offseason, his comments about a step back seemed out of the blue in July. When he clarified before training camp, he made clear that it focused more on the pressures of young players taking a step and not being complacent.

“Those are the things that keep me up at night, worried that coming back they'll think it's a little easier than they realize,” Briere said. “They’re going to be a big part of our team. So if that happens, we could have a setback. And that's kind of what I meant by that after seeing what happened with Matvei. But at the end of the day, I'm hoping that they don't take it lightly and they come out swinging again and they have a great second year pro.”

Briere didn’t say anything about the guys who have been here for the last four, five, six years and counting or who have significant time in the league. They are equally responsible, if not more, for this start.

Sure, it’s been a struggle for Porter Martone. Sure, Alex Bump got sent down. But when so much of the game moves through your center play and your defensive play, those are the guys leaving much to be desired.

You committed to Jamie Drysdale and Cam York, who have primarily been paired together. You committed to Christian Dvorak and Trevor Zegras and Noah Cates, all who were slated to be your centers this season. They haven’t delivered. Hell, they’re among the group that just look like they forgot how to play the game.

That’s where this needs to start. Of course, you want Matvei Michkov and Martone and Tyson Foerster and Denver Barkey and Bump to be the ones who grow. But you were hopeful of their growth while expecting that the returning veterans would at least be what they’ve been. So far, they’ve been miles away from that.

Will there be changes on the horizon? Only time will tell, especially as the losses pile up, now eight straight to start the season. By the end of the weekend, 10 games will be in the books. In another two weeks, the month of October will essentially be over for the Flyers, a total of 15 games complete. At some point, the flood is going to burst through the dam and it will be too much to overcome for somebody. Maybe multiple people. We just have to see if it hits that breaking point and what the casualties are as a result.

Kevin Durso is Flyers insider for 97.3 ESPN. Follow him on social media @Kevin_Durso.