New Challenges, Opportunities for Flyers

With 15 games remaining in the 2021-22 season, the Philadelphia Flyers will not take part in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. That does not mean, however, that there's nothing left to play for other than personal pride or Entry Draft Lottery odds. Opportunities abound for young players to make a positive impression as the front office prepares for next season.

Starting with Saturday's home game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Flyers have seven home games and eight road matches remaining. As with four of the games on the Flyers' recent five-game road trip, the next two games against the Maple Leafs at home and the New York Rangers on the road represent a chance to play against playoff-bound opponents.
"One night, you're against Nathan MacKinnon, the next night another great player," said Cam York, who will oppose the likes of Auston Matthews and Artemi Panari in the Flyers next to games. "This is why we play. I love the challenge."
York has seen a lot of his recent ice time spent playing right defense (a new position for him) on the top pairing with Ivan Prorovov. Over his last 10 games played, York has averaged 18:51 of ice time per game including 2:16 on the power play. He has four points (1g, 3a) in his last eight games.
For some young Flyers, such as recently signed collegiate prospects Noah Cates and Ronnie Attard, the start of April means their first-ever chance to play an NHL game at the Wells Fargo Center. Hobey Baker Award finalist Bobby Brink is still playing in the NCAA Frozen Four tournament, but may follow soon into the pro ranks.
Cates had an impressive NHL debut in the Minnesota game; one of the few Flyers who was effective in all three periods of the game. The team as a whole did fine for the first 11-plus minutes of the first period but then got caved for most of the next 29 minutes of game play.
Down by 4-0 after two periods, the Flyers made a push in the third period but drew no closer than 4-1. For his part, Cates looked good in 14:52 of ice time including 1:13 of penalty killing duties. He was credited with three takeaways, three hits and three shots on goal. In the third period, it took a spectacular save by Fleury to deny Cates his first NHL goal. Cates was also on the positive end of the puck possession ledger for the game.
At Thursday's practice at the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees, Cates skated on the team's top line alongside Joel Farabee and Cam Atkinson. Attard, a large-framed right-handed defenseman with a heavy shot and decent mobility, will make his NHL debut on Saturday against Toronto.

For right winger Owen Tippett (acquired from the Florida Panthers in the Claude Giroux trade), the final month of the season means a chance to establish chemistry with new teammates and an opportunity to start turning potential into consistent performance. Tippett has been in the middle of multiple scoring chances over his six-game sample size to date, although he is still awaiting his first goal as a Flyer.
Tippett has recorded 15 shots on goal in his six games. He's also hit the post twice. Tippett had a nice assist on an eventual Patrick Brown rebound goal in the Flyers' 5-2 win over St. Louis and made several other good setups. In the team's most recent game, a 4-1 loss in Minnesota, Tippett had a third period breakaway. He did not score but created a power play.
"I was very pleased," interim head coach Mike Yeo said of Tippett's performance on the road trip. "He's creating offensive opportunities. He has a heavy shot. It's a matter of time until some start going in. There are still some things he's working with the 200-foot game; [correcting] some habits."
During his half-dozen games as a Flyer to date, Tippett has also shown hints of developing chemistry with rookie center Morgan Frost. They've combined for several scoring opportunities for one player or the other.
Frost has spent much of this season adjusting to making plays at the pace of NHL play and improving in puck battles. Recently, he's started to balance more consistent attention to detail with adding some of his natural offensive upside -- the No. 1 trait that got him drafted in the first round of the 2017 Draft -- back into his game. In Nashville, Frost had an excellent takeaway and setup feed on a Sanheim goal. In Minnesota, he scored a power play tally that finally ended a goal drought that stretched back to Dec. 30 in San Jose) in the game in Minnesota.
Among the team's "young veterans," such as 22-year-old Joel Farabee, 25-year-old Travis Konecny and even 26-year-old Travis Sanheim, there are opportunities to expand their roles on and off the ice.
In Sanheim's case, the blueliner was a power play mainstay at the game's lower levels. Recently, he's receiving his first opportunity at becoming an NHL power play regular for the first time in his five-season career at the game's top-level. Farabee and Konecny each have the opportunity to establish more of a leadership role on the team.
"It's kind of a new era," Farabee said recently. "Talking to TK, I think we both have a little more responsibility which I think we both embrace."
Dating back to the NHL All-Star break, Konecny leads the Flyers in scoring with 18 points (4g, 14a) in 21 games. Farabee, who has recently been playing center for the first time in his career, has appeared in 16 games since returning from a shoulder injury. In that span, Farabee has collected 14 points (4g, 10).
Last but not least, the post trade deadline period is a chance for unheralded callup players such as Max Willman (goals in each of his last two games) and fellow NHL Cinderella story Hayden Hodgson to strengthen their respective cases for competing for NHL spots next year.
The 26-year-old Hodgson notched a goal and an assist in his NHL debut in St. Louis. He posted a half-dozen shots on goal plus a hit and a blocked shot in 16:01 TOI the next night in Colorado. In Nashville, Hodgson dropped the gloves with Tanner Jeannot early in the third period for his first NHL fight amid 12:53 of ice time. Hodgson primarily moved down to the fourth-line left wing spot (Cates and James van Riemsdyk split the game between the second-line and third-line left wings spots) and played 12:04.