Flyers' Playoff Hopes Crushed: Season Finale Loss Sets Stage for High Draft Stakes

In the final throes of the 2024-25 NHL season, the intrigue wasn’t just in who would clinch the top seeds but also in the marathon for the bottom spots, those coveted draft lottery positions. Alas, while the Flyers may have been establishing strategic ruins, they found themselves on a one-goal loss, a 5-4 decision in hand to the Sabres at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, concluding their season. They didn’t quite get the win, but here’s the twist: this defeat actually boosted their draft lottery odds significantly. Odd, isn’t it – losing becomes a win in its own peculiar way.

Matvei Michkov, the rookie sensation, netted a pair of goals in this season clos, and showcasing his undeniable talent despite the team’s struggles. The inger, alongside Foerster and Brink, contributed to the scoreboard, but with the playoffs now a distant dream, the real story was in the potential for future hope.

The Flyers, finishing at 33-39-10, limped into an offseason where change is both necessary and inevitable, not just in terms of on-ice performance but also behind the scenes, where every misstep feels like a pivotal blunder. With the draft odds now in their favor, the promise of rejuvenation lurks around the corner.

As we ponder this team’s trajectory, the overarching question remains: what’s next for the Philadelphia Flyers? Will the strategic defeat today shape a triumphant roster tomorrow? Click here for the original source and more insights on the Flyers' season wrap up. LEARN MORE

The Flyers lost their 2024-25 season finale with a 5-4 decision Thursday night to the Sabres at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York.

Matvei Michkov scored two of the Flyers’ goals, while Tyson Foerster and Bobby Brink had the other ones.

The club’s draft lottery odds were set with the loss (more on that below).

The Flyers finished the season 33-39-10. The 76 points marked an 11-point drop-off from 2023-24, when the Flyers were knocked out of the playoff race on the final day of the season. They’ve now gone five straight seasons without a postseason berth, matching the franchise’s longest drought.

This season, the Flyers had undeniable regression, which led to their rebuild going into another gear down the stretch. They fired John Tortorella with nine games to go and went 5-3-1 under interim head coach Brad Shaw. They lost 15 of their last 21 games (6-13-2) to end the season tied with the Bruins for the Eastern Conference’s worst record.

“That’s the toughest part of the rebuild, is going through this,” general manager Danny Briere said after firing Tortorella. “I really hope that this is the bottom, this is rock bottom for us, today, and this is the turnaround.”

Briere and president of hockey operations Keith Jones now have a pivotal offseason, which will start with their first head coaching hire.

The Flyers will hold their end-of-the-season press conferences over the weekend, with Briere speaking Saturday.

• Thursday night’s finale went the Flyers’ way for the 2025 NHL draft lottery.

The regulation loss gave the club the fourth-best lottery odds. A regulation win would have put the Flyers at No. 7.

The Flyers will have a 9.5 percent chance at the top overall pick, according to Tankathon.com. They can pick no lower than sixth. The lottery will be held in May on a date yet to be announced.

• Michkov closed the season as the NHL’s rookie goals leader with 26, one ahead of Sharks center Macklin Celebrini.

He also finished as the Flyers’ team leader in goals, one ahead of Foerster and two ahead of Travis Konecny.

The Flyers’ prized 20-year-old winger put up 63 points, the most by a Flyers rookie since Mikael Renberg had 82 in 1993-94. Renberg’s mark is a franchise record for most points by a rookie in a season. Michkov climbed to eighth on the Flyers’ all-time rookie single-season scoring list.

More: How Michkov embraced a ‘boring process’ to become an even greater scorer

• One of the biggest concerns staring down the Flyers this offseason is their goaltending picture.

The Flyers had an .872 save percentage, the lowest in the NHL this season. Last season, they were tied with the Senators for the league’s worst mark at .884.

The team used three goalies this season: Samuel Ersson, Ivan Fedotov and Aleksei Kolosov.

“I think with Sam, as we move forward, we’re hoping it’s going to be a tandem,” Tortorella said in mid-March. “We’re not going to ask Sam to play 55, 60 games if he’s the guy. I think it’s going to be a tandem. We’re still evaluating. He has been inconsistent. Sometimes you watch him play and you think he has got it but then he falls off.”

The drama surrounding Kolosov’s future in Philadelphia never really settled. The 23-year-old rookie made 13 starts for the Flyers and appeared in only 12 games with AHL affiliate Lehigh Valley. Where he fit was a constant question.

Kolosov recorded 26 saves on 30 shots Thursday night. The Sabres scored three goals in the first period. Their fifth marker was an empty-netter.

Buffalo netminder James Reimer stopped 21 of the Flyers’ 25 shots.

• Wearing No. 12, Devin Kaplan made his NHL debut after signing his entry-level contract Tuesday.

The 21-year-old winger went scoreless with a hit and a minus-1 mark in 12:12 minutes.

• A critical and telling offseason begins for the Flyers.

The club has three first-round picks in the June 27-28 NHL entry draft and four second-rounders. They’re slotted to make six first-round selections over these next three drafts, so they definitely have assets to potentially be creative.

Free agency opens July 1 at noon ET. The Flyers will have some cap flexibility this summer. Could they tap into the spending period?

“It’s too early to tell if it’s the right time to be aggressive or if the right player will be there,” Briere said after the March 7 trade deadline. “Realistically, down the road, it’s going to open up even more when some of the dead money is able to come off the books. But there’s going to be a little opening this year and it’s possible we’re able to do some things with it, but I don’t know to what degree yet.”

Restricted free agents Foerster, Cam York, Noah Cates and Jakob Pelletier will be due new contracts.