{"id":4757,"date":"2025-07-18T06:12:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T06:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/4757\/"},"modified":"2025-07-18T06:12:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T06:12:09","slug":"flyers-forward-confident-philly-can-challenge-for-2026-playoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/4757\/","title":{"rendered":"Flyers Forward Confident Philly Can Challenge For 2026 Playoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t<img width=\"780\" height=\"456\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-2194386127-e1752816864510.jpg\" class=\"attachment-featured-image size-featured-image wp-post-image\" alt=\"Flyers\"   decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBruce Bennett\/Getty Images\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Noah Cates and the Philadelphia Flyers are looking to pick up the pieces from 2024-25.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/nhl\/philadelphia-flyers\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Philadelphia Flyers<\/a> nearly made the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2023-24. However, they collapsed late in the season, with their season ending in heartbreaking fashion against the <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/nhl\/washington-capitals\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Washington Capitals<\/a>. In 2024-25, Noah Cates and his teammates unfortunately fell well short of the postseason.<\/p>\n<p>It was not a great campaign for the Flyers at all. They finished dead last in the Metropolitan Division. In fact, they were the only team in the eight-team division to finish with fewer than 80 standing points in 2024-25. Philadelphia ended up with the sixth overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, selecting Brampton Steelheads star Porter Martone.<\/p>\n<p>However, Philadelphia has retooled its organization a bit this offseason. The Flyers have a new head coach behind the bench moving forward. And they\u2019ve brought in the likes of Trevor Zegras, Christian Dvorak, and Dan Vladar to improve the roster.<\/p>\n<p>All of these moves should help Philadelphia somewhat in 2025-26. However, Cates has loftier ambitions than simple improvement. He <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhl.com\/news\/noah-cates-says-philadelphia-ready-for-new-start\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external nofollow\">recently expressed his confidence<\/a> in Philadelphia\u2019s chances at the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe were close a couple of years ago, and we just kind of faltered last year,\u201d Cates said, via NHL.com\u2019s Jessi Pierce. \u201cThat\u2019s behind us. We\u2019ve got a lot of new faces, and just the newness of the organization and the season. I think we can bounce back if everyone can have a better year and push themselves, then I think that playoff push is right there for us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Noah Cates is Excited For New Coach Rick Tocchet<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5423456\" class=\"size-full wp-image-5423456\" data-lazy-load=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-2191958675-e1752816842989.jpg\" alt=\"Noah Cates\" width=\"780\" height=\"477\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-5423456\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Emilee Chinn\/Getty ImagesThe Philadelphia Flyers and Noah Cates will be led by a new head coach in 2025-26.<\/p>\n<p>As mentioned, Philadelphia has a new head coach leading the way. The Flyers hired Rick Tocchet as their new bench boss, succeeding John Tortorella. Tocchet returns to Philadelphia after spending parts of 11 seasons in the City of Brotherly Love as a player.<\/p>\n<p>His history as a player is part of why Cates is excited to get to work. Tocchet has an understanding of this organization few coaches have. More than most, he knows exactly what playing for the Philadelphia Flyers means.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFirst of all, it\u2019s just a new voice,\u201d Cates said of Tocchet, via Pierce. \u201cHe played hard. He was a Flyer, so I think that means a lot. That means something. I\u2019ve heard a lot of good things and just to get to work with him and have the new fresh ideas, plus the new fresh faces around, there\u2019s so much to be excited about come September.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Flyers Inked Cates to New Contract This Summer<\/p>\n<p>One thing Cates likely won\u2019t need to worry about in 2025-26 is his future. The young centerman signed a four-year, $16 million contract this summer with the Flyers. This takes him to unrestricted free agency in 2029.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis new contract kind of feels like a new start for me,\u201d Cates said of his new deal, via Pierce. \u201cNot just for me, but for the organization, with the new coaches and staff. I want to pull my weight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cates will be expected to contribute to a playoff push in 2026. With a new coach and contract, he has the tools to succeed. The Flyers open their 2025-26 season on October 9th when they travel to play the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/nhl\/florida-panthers\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Florida Panthers<\/a> on the road.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/author\/tristinmckinstry\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tristin McKinstry<\/a> Tristin has over 10 years experience writing at various blogs. He has spent the last three years gaining professional experience in the sports media world. He currently works with ClutchPoints and Pro Football &amp; Sports Network alongside Heavy Sports. <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/author\/tristinmckinstry\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">More about Tristin McKinstry<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/512.png=s64.png\" alt=\"\u25b6\ufe0f\" width=\"29\" height=\"29\"\/> Watch Team News &amp; Highlights<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Flyers\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bruce Bennett\/Getty Images Noah Cates and the Philadelphia Flyers are looking to pick up the pieces from 2024-25.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4758,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-4757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4757\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}