Flyers Now Must Build on Valuable Playoff Experience

There were many times during the dog days of the Philadelphia Flyers’ 2025-26 season that you could view as the breaking point on any playoff hopes. At the Olympic break, they faced long odds. Even a small sample of success upon returning at the end of February didn’t change the outlook ahead of the trade deadline on March 6.

As of March 18, the Flyers had 3.8 percent odds to make the playoffs. There were 16 games left in the regular season at that time. But all along, the message wasn’t about the playoffs itself, but playing meaningful games for the experience.

A sweep of the California teams proved to be a pivotal moment, a trip of bonding and inserting themselves back into the conversation. Then Porter Martone arrived. Then Tyson Foerster came back.

It wasn’t all smooth sailing. The Flyers lost back-to-back games on March 31 and April 2. They lost again on April 9 after winning three straight games to get back into playoff position. But the stars aligned and the Flyers had the opportunity to control their own destiny at the end and did, defeating the Carolina Hurricanes in a shootout on April 13.

Nearly four weeks later, with a six-game series win over the Pittsburgh Penguins now on their resume, the Hurricanes were the ones to end the Flyers season with a four-game sweep in the second round. After playing close to 20 virtual playoff games just to make it, the Flyers got an additional 10 in the Stanley Cup Playoffs to see what it’s like, valuable experience for the bevy of under-25 players on the roster.

As much as the experience is valued, to play a playoff team loaded with future Hall-of-Famers and win, to play the most dominant team in the Eastern Conference in the regular season and be humbled, it cannot stop here.

Since taking over in management, Keith Jones and Danny Briere have had one consistent message: that once the Flyers did reach the playoffs again, it wasn’t going to be a one-off or an on-again, off-again sequence. It was to be a perennial playoff contender, even as they grow and develop. By making it this season, nothing less than a return trip will do in 2026-27.

The goal for the players, and even head coach Rick Tocchet, is to run with the experience, to be better prepared for the ups and downs of the regular season, to improve certain aspects of play to be in better position than clinching a spot with two games to go in the regular season.

For management, the goal is to identify the weaknesses and areas of improvement. What could have been different to give the Flyers a better chance to go deeper in the playoffs? What could be done to make them a better regular season team so they avoid the unlikely odds and establish their place in the standings sooner?

It should be a welcome shift for the Flyers, because the experience did more for the players, coaches, and management to move to the next phase of building a contender. It invited the fans back. It put the franchise back on the map in a city that was starting to forget hockey even existed. It gave fans something to look forward to in the future. Maybe the Flyers are a few years away from reaching the level of the Carolinas and Colorados of the hockey world, but they should be in the playoff conversation every year moving forward.

There was enough growth, enough positive progression, enough learning through the struggles of a season to see how this should be the Flyers’ new normal, the new era reaching back into the past and making hockey the center of Philadelphia sports every spring, just like it used to be.

There will plenty of time for the Flyers to take the action necessary to advance in the process, to take the next steps to achieve the ultimate goal. That’s for another day. Today, it’s about reflecting on a Flyers’ season that went almost a month longer than anyone anticipated, through two playoff rounds, 10 playoff games, a dramatic series win, against the longest of odds with only 16 games to go on the regular-season schedule.

It was a hell of a ride. And it doesn’t have to be a one-and-done memory. The experience was valuable. It was memorable. It reminded everybody of what playoff hockey in Philadelphia can do to the city.

Keith Jones always kept that in mind. So did Danny Briere. So did Rick Tocchet. And it’s on them and the newest Flyers to experience it for the first time to get back there again and be better because of it.

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