Flyers mailbag: Are the Orange and Black finally turning a corner? What does the future hold for Morgan Frost?

Flyers coach John Tortorella likes to assess where his team stands in chunks.

Thursday night’s 5-4 overtime win against the Ottawa Senators was the 17th game of the season for the Orange and Black and marked roughly the one-fifth point of the season. It’s as good a time as any to take a step back and see where the squad is, especially because after a rocky 1-5-1 start, the Flyers have won six of 10 and are riding a four-game point streak (3-0-1).

Here’s what is on the mind of the Flyers faithful as The Inquirer opens up the mailbag for the first time this season:

Jackie Spiegel: The Flyers looked like they had turned the corner in the last few, although the play against the Senators on Thursday night was an unexpected step backward. (And then forward?) So what has surprised me? One thing is that despite an almost identical roster to 2023-24, outside of Matvei Michkov, the Flyers have struggled to play as five-man units. It almost looked like they had never played together before to start the season with passes they would make last season not clicking, positioning and puck support absent, and the goalies being left out to dry. They weren’t even blocking shots, which is a big key to their team identity. The Flyers have been looking more cohesive lately while refinding their speed and transition game, and it was there in glimpses in the third-period comeback against Ottawa. Hopefully, the cohesiveness keeps trending in the right direction because that stretch when they were disconnected was not fun hockey to watch.

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Spiegel: Simon Gagne? Wow. I know he’s been gone over two years, but is Claude Giroux already forgotten? How about Selke Trophy winner Sean Couturier? Drafting teenagers is a major gamble, and even in the first round, it can be hard to find an ace.

As for the Flyers, take a deep breath. They have in-house talent. Of the 20 players in the lineup for the 5-4 overtime win against the Ottawa Senators, 13 were Flyers draft picks or, like Egor Zamula, made their NHL debut with the club. That doesn’t even include the currently injured Cam York, Sam Ersson, and Couturier — all drafted by the Orange and Black. And this is a young team, with an average age of 27. Just five guys are 30 or older. Ersson, the No. 1 goalie, is 25. Top defense pairing? Travis Sanheim at 28 is getting a look by Team Canada for February’s 4 Nations Face-Off, and he’s either paired with York, who is 23, or Emil Andrae, who is 22. Andrae is a prime example of homegrown talent who is reaching his potential right now. And then on offense, several players have immense talent — they are in the NHL, after all — like Bobby Brink, 23, first-rounder Matvei Michkov, who is just 19 and a star in the making, not to mention guys on the cusp of joining the pro ranks like Jett Luchanko, Denver Barkey, and Oliver Bonk.

Spiegel: The honest answer is possibly. But that’s not because Frost is a bad player, it has more to do with him fitting in with the system. Frost is set to be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights this summer. In 16 games this season, he has one goal and six points, with four assists on the power play. The thing with Frost is that he has a high hockey IQ and creativity with the puck but hasn’t been able to fully express it under the structure imposed by Tortorella. It’s fair to say that not every player-system and player-coach dynamic is perfect, and for a guy who put up over 100 points in each of his final two final years in juniors with the Soo Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League but just 116 points in 245 NHL games, it may be time for a change of scenery.

The Philadelphia Freeze, an adult women’s recreational hockey organization for women and women+ (trans, nonbinary, etc.) that was established 50 years ago and competes in the United Women’s Hockey League, will play after the Flyers host the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday at the Wells Fargo Center (7 p.m., NBCSP). Fans in attendance for the Flyers game can stay to cheer on the local team as they take on the Lancaster Reapers. … Billi Roman, who plays defense for the New Jersey Colonials Tier 1 (AAA) 19U team and The Tatnall School in Wilmington, has committed to play hockey at the University of Delaware. The Blue Hens are set to become the 45th Division I women’s hockey team on July 1, 2025, and join the College Hockey America conference. … The Ridley Hockey League, based out of Ridley Township in Delco, is wrapping up its fall ball hockey schedule with several finals across the next few weekends. On Black Friday, it will host the RHL Turkey Cup for adults and youth ball hockey teams. … The Stick it to Cancer coed ironman ball hockey tournament recently held its seventh annual event. The money raised this year will go toward a childhood cancer toy and necessity drive with the Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania. They are still accepting donations and toys.

Around the rink is a new segment every Friday, highlighting the local ice, ball, and inline hockey scene. Submit entries to jspiegel@inquirer.com.