Shayne Gostisbehere

Carter Hart will make his return to the crease as the Philadelphia Flyers take on the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday night.

With the Coyotes currently below the Flyers in the standings, one of the few teams in that position, this game could have some implications on the draft lottery sweepstakes down the road.

On Wednesday, you saw that the current regime is incapable of handling a rebuild. They insisted upon an aggressive retool for a fast fix, not the necessary rebuild needed. Now it’s time to start that rebuild anyway, but focus on the front office that has so clearly set the Flyers back.

The Flyers close out a three-game road trip in Arizona to face off against the NHL's last-place team, the Coyotes.

The Flyers had a successful 2-1-0 road trip, but had their first lackluster game of the season on Saturday in Calgary. They will be looking to bounce back from that result. The Coyotes have struggled to start, still in search of their first win of the season. As such, the Flyers have to avoid a similar game to Saturday and playing down to the opponent.

After a busy offseason, is there still a chance for young players to make their impact on the Flyers roster this season? The possibility exists for sure. It always does. The road to get there is just going to be much more difficult this time around.

The Flyers appear to be done for the offseason, outside of re-signing Carter Hart and Travis Sanheim, and are hoping a majority of their acquisitions turn out to be wins on "quality bets."

As the market opens, the Flyers are still not finished yet. Here are a few candidates at each position that the Flyers could target in free agency.

For the better part of a decade, the Flyers have utilized the same core group and struggled to consistently put together successful seasons. After their most frustrating one to date, Fletcher knew action was necessary. “We just can’t keep bringing the same players back year after year and expect different results. We had to make changes this year,” Fletcher said.

On Saturday, just prior to making their first pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, the Flyers made yet another trade, sending Jake Voracek to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for Cam Atkinson. The trade is one-for-one and no salary was retained.