The men overseeing the rebuild said little of substance in their State of the Flyers address on Wednesday, but then, broadly speaking, that’s their job. A pair of pronouncements did, however, leak through their 26 minutes of pleas for patience as they expect to miss the playoffs for what would be a franchise-record sixth consecutive season.
First, the Flyers have seen the last of goalie Carter Hart.
The NHL still forbids its constituents from commenting on Hart and the four other pro hockey players found not guilty on July 24 in the Hockey Canada sexual assault trial. With an arrest and trial pending, Hart took a leave of absence from the Flyers in January 2024, after which he became a free agent, and effectively has been suspended while the league deliberates on whether to reinstate him and his codefendants. Deputy commissioner Bill Daly told reporters Tuesday that, with training camps due to start within the next few days, the NHL will issue its ruling in the “relatively near future.”
That might have mattered a few months ago, but now the Flyers don’t appear to care.
This past January, general manager Danny Brière didn’t dismiss the possibility that Hart could return if he didn’t go to jail, and NHL sources said the Flyers were in contact with Hart and had tried to help him stay in good shape. When I contacted Brière after the acquittal, he declined to comment on Hart, but recent reports indicated that the Flyers might be one of the teams interested in Hart when the terms of his return are announced.
Early during Wednesday’s Q&A, team governor Dan Hilferty refused to answer any questions about Hart. However, about three minutes later, team president and former Flyers winger Keith Jones made it clear that the chances of re-signing Hart are about as likely as Jones, 56, returning to the ice himself.
“I’m a big believer in Sam Ersson,” Jones said. “I think that Sam is in a position now, age-wise, and being pushed by the depth at that position … [it] is going to benefit him. I think that Sam is going to stand up to the test here this year.”
Ersson, who turns 26 next month, was part of a historically incompetent goalie corps last season. This season, he will be paired with Dan Vladař, a pedestrian goaltender whom, in early July, the Flyers overpaid — two years, $6.7 million — as they awaited the verdict in Hart’s case. The Flyers would be hard-pressed trying to trade Vladař with that contract, so Jones’ hearty and, more importantly, unsolicited endorsement of a goalie who ranked 44th in save percentage (minimum 30 games) was a clear message that, without disobeying the league’s orders, the Flyers have closed the door on Hart.
Slam.
Unsolicited? Absolutely.
Jones was responding to a follow-up question to this declaration:
“Some of our top young guys have been in the NHL for a few years now, in a position to really take on roles of leadership and help us continue to advance to becoming a team that’s going to be eventually a playoff team on a regular basis.”
This was the second piece of useful information the brass provided Wednesday:
The young guys ain’t young no more.
Then Jones listed the players he hopes will lead the advance.
“Tyson Foerster, Noah Cates — I think both of those guys showed a lot. Bobby Brink continues to become a better player. [Travis] Konecny — he’s done that. [Travis] Sanheim has developed into not just a very good player for us, but a real leader on the back end. Really appreciate his development and his commitment to the team. I’m looking for really solid contributions from Cam York. I think his game will come back to a place that it was two years ago.”
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Swell.
Konecny, 28, is already an All-Star and an alternate captain playing under an eight-year, $70 million contract, but the other fellows are in a different spot.
Foerster, 23, is a former first-round pick, a big right wing who scored 25 goals last season, his second full season in the NHL. Cates, 26, signed a four-year, $16 million extension in June after bouncing back from a rough 2023-24 campaign. Brink, 24, improved and persevered in his second full season under the merciless hand of coach John Tortorella.
No Flyer endured more invective from Tortorella than York, whose fiery locker-room argument on March 25 in Toronto immediately preceded Tortorella’s firing two days later.
“I do believe that he’s going to be a big part of our blue line as well,” Jones said.
Of course he does. York, 24, is a former first-round pick and a top-line defender who just signed a five-year, $25.75 million contract in July.
Ersson lacks the pedigree of York and the others, and he shows every indication that he lacks the ceiling of York and the others.
For the moment, however, Ersson has the same level of job security.
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