{"id":865268,"date":"2026-08-20T18:16:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T18:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/865268\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T18:16:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T18:16:10","slug":"jamie-dysdale-sees-playoffs-as-the-standard-now-for-rising-philadelphia-flyers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/865268\/","title":{"rendered":"Jamie Dysdale sees playoffs as \u2018the standard now\u2019 for rising Philadelphia Flyers"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Philadelphia Flyers<\/a> returned to the playoffs this past season for the first time since 2020 and the team has no plans of going through another drought moving forward.<\/p>\n

Defenceman Jamie Drysdale<\/a> believes the postseason is now the standard for the Flyers as the team exits their rebuild and attempts to emerge among the league\u2019s Stanley Cup contenders. <\/p>\n

The Flyers eliminated the rival Pittsburgh Penguins<\/a> in the first round of the playoffs in April before being swept by the eventual champion Carolina Hurricanes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt first just shows we can be a good team in the league and second of all, once you get that sniff, it\u2019s a clich\u00e9, but I think it\u2019s very true – it was my first time making the playoffs and I think that is going to be the standard now – and I wouldn\u2019t want it any other way,\u201d Drysdale told NHL.com this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think within the locker room, the confidence is there and the chemistry is there as well. Weirdly enough, you look at the lead-up to the playoffs last year, there were a lot of teams in the mix and I don\u2019t think a lot of people had us as the front-runners.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drysdale posted eight goals and 32 points 78 games, adding two goals and four points in 10 playoff games. <\/p>\n

The Flyers finished third in the Metropolitan Division, losing home ice to the Penguins in the first round on a tiebreaker as both teams posted 98 points. The Ottawa Senators<\/a>, who claimed the final wild-card spot, had one more point than both the Flyers or Penguins.<\/p>\n

Philadelphia\u2019s return to the playoffs came with a 22-point jump in the standings in their first season under new head coach Rick Tocchet after playing under John Tortorella and Brad Shaw in 2024-25.<\/p>\n

Tocchet\u2019s arrival timed up with the addition of forward Trevor Zegras<\/a> in a trade with the Anaheim Ducks<\/a>. After posting just 18 goals over 88 games the previous two seasons, Zegras found his old form under Tocchet, posting a career-best 26 goals and 67 points in 81 games. He added two goals and six points in 10 playoff games.<\/p>\n

The Flyers rewarded Zegras with a four-year, $36.5 million contract ($9.125 million AAV) last month and re-signed Drysdale on a four-year, $26 million deal ($6.5 million), but failed in their attempt to pull off the move of the summer in signing 21-year-old centre Leo Carlsson<\/a> to a massive five-year, $90 million offer sheet.<\/p>\n

The Ducks, who had previously sent Drysdale and Zegras to Philadelphia, matched the offer sheet which at the time held an NHL-record $18 million AAV, leaving the Flyers without a marquee addition this summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think everyone within our locker room and everyone that wasn\u2019t in our locker room probably had the same reaction,\u201d Drysdale said, reflecting on the offer sheet. \u201cIt was obviously a big splash and it shows our team, our management, everyone is looking to add and everyone is committed – guys in the locker room, guys up top, guys in management – that we are trying to make this work with our group and add where we can. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think the confidence is there and we showed last year we can be a team and make a splash.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aside from the failed attempt to land Carlsson, the Flyers have been largely quiet this off-season, adding goaltender Joseph Woll<\/a>, blueliner Simon Benoit<\/a> and forward Noel Acciari<\/a> in some of their most notable changes. In addition to re-signing Drysdale and Zegras, general manager Daniel Briere signed Dan Vladar<\/a> and Tyson Foerster<\/a> to long-term extensions.<\/p>\n

Briere said last month he would continue to explore making additions to his roster, but added he was \u201ccomfortable\u201d as things stood. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to do some things, and there\u2019s things that we\u2019re constantly looking at and trying to improve,\u201d Briere said, per NHL.com. \u201cWe worked hard to get this cap space. You remember three years ago how we were in really bad shape there. We worked hard, and what we want to make sure is that we can use it in a proper manner where it\u2019s going to help the team moving forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, we\u2019re looking to do different things. I\u2019m not saying it\u2019s going to work, but yeah, there\u2019s different things we\u2019re looking at that might eat up our salary cap.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Flyers will open their preseason on Sept. 21 against the Washington Capitals<\/a> and kick off their regular season on Sept. 30 against the Penguins.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Philadelphia Flyers returned to the playoffs this past season for the first time since 2020 and the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":865269,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[712,49,48,300753,448,76913,82],"class_list":["post-865268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-apple-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-jamie-drysdale-sports-hockey-player-player-nhl-api-8482142","tag-nhl","tag-philadelphia-flyers-sports-hockey-team-team-nhl-api-4","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865268","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=865268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/865269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=865268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=865268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=865268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}