All is quiet in the NHL for now. The league is on a two-week break to run its 4 Nations Face-Off.
When the schedule resumes, though, the Philadelphia Flyers, as an organization, will be looking ahead.
The trade of Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee to Calgary just shy of two weeks ago was essentially a punt on this season. There was still a good bit of time then, and even now, until the March 7 trade deadline, but general manager Danny Brière marked the Flyers as clear sellers right then and there, with the anticipation that more dominoes are going to fall in the few weeks that are left.
The Flyers are still very much in a rebuild, and a lengthy one. The departures of Frost and Farabee, two skaters who hit a frustrating ceiling in Philly but do leave the current team worse off without them, was a clear reminder, and so was that considerably thin-looking lineup after the trade that was also without Owen Tippett, Ryan Poehling, and then Rasmus Ristolainen due to injury.
Going into the 4 Nations break, the Flyers lost five of six, in a spiral marked by three consecutive shutouts and a goal differential of minus-12, before they were finally able to eke out a win over the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins (without Sidney Crosby) this past Saturday.
In the standings, the Flyers sit second to last in the Eastern Conference at 24-26-7 for 55 points – only the Buffalo Sabres are below them. They still only sit six points out of a Wild Card spot with 25 games left, and in what's been a pretty mediocre race, but the strong likelihood is they're not gonna close that gap to catch up to Ottawa, Detroit, or Boston.
It's going to be a real lean finish to the year.
A few other thoughts…
Kuzemnko's debut
Wingers Andrei Kuzmenko and Jakob Pelletier were the Flyers' roster player returns in the Frost-Farabee deal (they also got a 2025 second-round draft pick and a seventh-rounder in 2028).
Due to visa issues, however, the Flyers had a hard time getting them over to Philadelphia, and neither arrived until late last week.
Pelletier is still waiting to play, but Kuzmenko was able to get into the lineup just in time for the Penguins game on Saturday before the break, and overall, he looked pretty good.
Early into the first period, Kuzmenko made a quick and clean touch pass out from the boards in the defensive zone to Scott Laughton that sprung him and Travis Konecny in transition, which led straight to Laughton's opening goal.
That's a pretty stellar first impression!
In his first shift with the @NHLFlyers, Andrei Kuzmenko has himself an assist! 📝 pic.twitter.com/YbcFCfmum9— NHL (@NHL) February 9, 2025
Kuzmenko isn't going to wow anyone with his skating, but when it came to his positioning and anticipation on Saturday, he always seemed to be in the right spot.
There were a lot of Pittsburgh zone entries that were muddied up because he had already made the switch back in their transition to put three Flyers back by their own blue line, and offensively, had his spots where he made a purposeful pass to hold position or slipped into open ice to generate a chance, which did go well with over-aggression and sloppiness from what's been a bad Penguins team themselves all season.
Kuzmenko is on an expiring contract, so the stakes on the Flyers' end are pretty low here. They're not looking to him to save them, but they do have a couple of months here to see if he'd be someone to keep around, and at the likelihood that his next deal won't break the bank if they do choose to.
Ersson earns it
Give props to Sam Ersson.
He made 39 saves in the Feb. 4 overtime loss at Utah to give the Flyers a chance in a game where they probably shouldn't have had one, then stopped 31 of 33 shots on Saturday back at home against Pittsburgh to hold on for the 3-2 victory.
The Flyers are wearing thin down the stretch, and the overall goaltending situation is still in limbo, but that not's because of Ersson right now. He's been playing well.
Ersson has a .935 save percentage through his last three starts, and going back to the shutout of Anaheim on Jan. 11, his line is 7-3-1 with a .915 save percentage.
This season has been a trying one for the 25-year-old netminder, marred by injury and inconsistency in a year where he went in as the clear No. 1. But maybe, amid all the chaos in front of him, he's settling into a rhythm now.
And maybe, after getting the late call from Team Sweden to be an injury replacement for the Devils' Jakob Markstrom, he can turn a few heads in the 4 Nations tournament, too.
It's a silver lining, in a Flyers season headed in a direction where you have to go looking for them now.
That's Samuel Ersson of Team Sweden, to you. 🇸🇪#4Nations | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/vOSpLJfzMp
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) February 9, 2025
Culture carriers
If there's one thing that Brière, head coach John Tortorella, and president of hockey ops Keith Jones have stressed since they've plainly stated and set out for their rebuild around a year and a half ago, it's culture.
They've frequently recognized the strength and health of the locker room going back to the start of last season, players regularly have, too, and have pointed to mainstays like Travis Konecny, Travis Sanheim, Sean Couturier, Scott Laughton, and formerly Frost and Farabee as major factors in that.
But going back to the Frost-Farabee trade, the decision to send them away also signaled a shift in who will be carrying the torch moving forward.
Laughton's name is on the rumor mill again ahead of the deadline, and based on the recent reporting by Anthony Di Marco at the Daily Faceoff, Toronto and Winnipeg are among the teams looking at him as an option for a two-way depth center – an often sought after commodity for a lot of playoff teams seeking that last piece late into the season.
Laughton is second longest-tenured Flyer behind Couturier, and is another highly-respected and beloved figure in the locker room, much like Frost and Farabee were.
He has said numerous times that he wants to stay here, and in an ideal scenario, the Flyers would love to keep him around, but in the past, Brière and more bluntly Tortorella have said if the right offer comes along, they do have to act on it for the better of the organization.
That time may be coming, but if it is, it would also be a sign that the front office is confident enough in other, younger players to carry the locker room forward – guys like Tyson Foerster, Tippett, Bobby Brink, Noah Cates, Cam York, and gradually, Matvei Michkov.
Internally, Frost and Farabee weren't easy goodbyes. Laughton wouldn't be either, but tough decisions to get younger, free up cash, and open up opportunity for others in the pipeline (or from the outside) are steps to getting better in the long-term.
Brière seems to be at the crossroads of a couple of them now.
4 Nations watch
The NHL's makeshift international tournament will get going Wednesday night at 8 with Canada vs. Sweden leading off.
The Flyers in the tournament:
• D Travis Sanheim, Canada
• F Travis Konecny, Canada
• G Sam Ersson, Sweden
• John Tortorella, United States (asst. coach)
Ristolainen made Finland's roster, but will be sitting out the tournament because of his recent injury.
We'll check back in on the tournament if any of the Flyers representatives do anything notable.
Overall, though, I'm really curious to see how 4 Nations goes over as a setup to getting back to the Olympics.
The last time the NHL ran an event like this, it was the World Cup of Hockey back in 2016, and that was before the season, and really only made its mark because Team North America played the craziest hockey anyone had ever seen with a roster that consisted entirely of the league's 23-and-under future at the time.
4 Nations won't be that, but as the first prominent best-on-best tournament in years (no disrespect to IIHF Worlds), I do want to see what the level of buy-in is going to be from players, coaches, and fans.
Hey, I'll take it over a slog of an All-Star Game at least.
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