‘We’re building something special’: The Flyers view this year’s disappointment as a step to brighter days ahead

Less than 24 hours after the Flyers were knocked out of contention for the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs , Scott Laughton sat in front of the media in Voorhees and reiterated how this year’s ending stings the most of his career.

A veteran of 601 games in 11 seasons with the Orange and Black, Laughton has only been to the postseason three times in his career, most recently in 2020 during the COVID bubble. Yep, playoff hockey is never a guarantee. And, for the moment, with the wounds still fresh, it’s hard for Laughton to see the forest through the trees.

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“Hopefully in a couple of weeks. It’s still pretty early,” he said. “It’s tough when we put ourselves in such a good spot at the start of the year. You’re pushing toward that goal of making the playoffs and you get that taste a little bit. You want to get back there. I haven’t experienced playoff hockey in Philly in quite some time; there’s nothing really like it. I think the guys have had those conversations with each other about getting back there.”

Talking is cathartic. It is something coach John Tortorella has stressed throughout the season, the ability to be open and honest with each other. On Wednesday, the players spoke to the media after cleaning out their lockers before the offseason. And although right now there is a dark cloud hanging over the Flyers, they can see the sun shining through in the not-too-far distance. The Flyers’ future is so bright that they’ve got to wear shades.

“I’m so excited where this group is going,” defenseman Nick Seeler said. “So happy to be a part of it. And just think of the strides that a ton of guys on our team took this year. Obviously, the young guys, the young forward group, but guys like [Cam York]. He had a heck of a year. ... Obviously, I can go down the list. We have a lot to look forward to in this group and the direction that Danny [Brière] and [Keith Jones] are bringing us in. I’m excited.”

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Seeler said he is proud of York, who at just 23 years old is playing like a grizzled veteran. The California native was even called the team’s best defender by Tortorella back in February. And he is not the only one of the young core of players who took a big step forward this season. Joel Farabee may have struggled down the stretch but he set career-highs in goals, assists, and points; Bobby Brink emerged from a trip to Lehigh Valley as an offensive threat; Tyson Foerster will be on several Calder Trophy ballots this week after notching 20 goals; goalie Sam Ersson gained invaluable experience with 51 appearances and said that he can “hold my head a little bit higher” after rebounding in the last three games; and Egor Zamula went from 0 to 60 with his game on the blue line.

“I feel like it’s a pretty good season for me, like first full season in the NHL and I will remember that for my life. But not making the playoffs, it hurts,” Zamula said. “But I think the biggest thing this year, we bring a winning mentality in the locker room.”

The Flyers entered the year as an afterthought to most in the hockey world. But, instead, they used the naysayers as fuel and went out and made a statement. After a shaky October, they began to find their game and became a puck-eating, hard-nosed squad that gave everyone, including the top teams in the NHL, fits.

“I think it was awesome for a lot of the guys to prove a lot of people wrong and maybe even prove themselves wrong. Show themselves that we’re capable of fighting with every other team, every other top team in the league,” winger Travis Konecny said. “Now it’s just believing, and we prove it to ourselves. You can go into the summer now working hard and have that eagerness and hungry attitude to get back at it and be right back to this spot as quickly as we can next year. We’ll see where we’re at again.”

Konecny, the team’s All-Star this season, had 33 goals which included an NHL-best six shorthanded goals. At 564 NHL games, he may not be someone you categorize as one of the young stars but Konecny is just 27 and heading right into his prime. He has one more year left on his contract and can sign an extension on July 1. While talks haven’t begun in earnest, when asked on Wednesday if he can see himself with the Flyers long-term, he responded: “I love Philly.”

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For the most part, this tight-knit group should stay relatively the same. Veterans Marc Staal, Erik Johnson, and Denis Gurianov will be free agents this summer and there is a good chance they will not return, with Staal and Johnson possibly retiring after long, successful careers. Buyouts are also a possibility with some of the veterans who didn’t play much down the stretch like Cam Atkinson.

“Obviously [stinks] right now,” defenseman Travis Sanheim said. “I would like to think that we deserve to be in the postseason but obviously, a bright future. I think there’s a lot of guys that had great seasons this year, a lot of steps that were made. [And] the locker room was great. That’s one thing that we’ve all discussed behind doors here, that it’s just disappointing the fact that the group isn’t fully going to be together again, and we’re going to miss each other. We love that group and we didn’t want this to end.”

But the core, led by several young rising stars, will be back and ready to take yet another step forward. They just learned how difficult it is to make the postseason and gained invaluable experience playing high-stakes, meaningful games down the stretch. They learned how the good times can roll but how those times can also roll downhill real fast. They learned what it takes to be one of the last 16 teams standing.

“It’s fun to see our team grow, and if you look at the process to rebuild, we’re building something special,” captain Sean Couturier said. “That being said, yeah, we had a good year and all that, and we beat some expectations, but you got to do it all over again next year. And it’s not going to be easy. I think if we keep growing and keep believing in our team, we can reach that next level, and that’s obviously exciting.”