Are the Flyers ready to become a consistent playoff team?

The Philadelphia Flyers are one win away from making the playoffs for the first time since 2020, and it’s partially been driven by what they hope to be the future of their team. Travis Konecny is as solid as ever, Trevor Zegras has broken out in his first season in Philly, Porter Martone has been spectacular since joining the team, and even Matvei Michkov has played well despite Rick Tocchet underutilizing him.

But is this push for the playoffs a one-off for the Flyers, or is it the first sign of them taking the next step in a rebuild? Anthony DiMarco joined Daily Faceoff Live to talk about the Flyers and how they might be out of their rebuild already, even without a top pick.

Anthony DiMarco: I think there is a segment of the fanbase who are very upset, because you go through this entire rebuild and you don’t come away with a Bedard, you don’t come away with a Schaefer, you don’t come away with a Celebrini. And you look up and down the lineup and a lot of their best prospects are here. Maybe Oliver Bonk, Jett Luchanko, Jack Nesbitt [as well], but these probably aren’t impact guys going forward. You’re going to move ahead with the Martones and the Michkovs and the Foersters and the Zegrases.

You say, “can you sustain long-term success with Trevor Zegras, Noah Cates and Christian Dvorak as your 1-2-3 pivots down the middle?” And I think that it’s to be determined, because you look at the Chicago Blackhawks back when they were winning in their dynasty years. Yes, you had Jonathan Toews, who’s one of the best centermen, but after that, they were never overly deep at center. Their first Stanley Cup, Patrick Sharp was playing second-line center. Their second Stanley Cup, it was Michal Handzus. After that, it was Antoine Vermette. They were really offensively generated from the wings with Hossa and Kane, and when Sharp was on the wing.

So I think you really have to find out what Zegras has down the middle. And beyond that, I think it’s to be determined if guys like Martone and Michkov can really carry the load offensively, and maybe make up for a rather shallow center position.

You can watch the full episode here…