For the last 23 years (13 with The Hockey News) DobberHockey has reviewed each team from a fantasy-hockey standpoint and graded them.

The 24th annual review will appear here on DobberHockey throughout the summer. This is not a review of the likely performance on the ice or in the standings, but in the realm of fantasy hockey both for the season ahead as well as the foreseeable future. Offensively, will the team perform? Are there plenty of depth options worthy of owning in keeper leagues? What about over the next two or three years? These questions are what we take into consideration when looking at the depth chart and the player potential on that depth chart.

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Gone

Garnet Hathaway, Luke Glendening, Rodrigo Abols, Emil Andrae, Noah Juulsen, Samuel Ersson

Incoming

Noel Acciari, Zach Aston-Reese, Simon Benoit, Joseph Woll

Impact of Changes

The most significant change the Flyers made was shipping Ersson and Andrae to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Woll and Benoit. The Flyers spent two and a half seasons trying to figure out their goaltending situation, and no one took the reins until Dan Vladar showed up. Vladař turned in easily the best season of his career while Ersson struggled yet again, so it became obvious this was a goalie problem and not a team problem. With that, Ersson is gone and in comes Woll.   

Woll has had trouble staying healthy – he's missed over 20 games in two of the last three years – but when he's healthy, this is a massive upgrade: Per Natural Stat Trick, among goalies with at least 100 appearances over the last three seasons, Woll is about league average by goals against above expected per 60 minutes at -0.11, meaning he gives up fewer goals than he should. Conversely, Ersson is dead last in that span at +0.34. Put that difference together, and the on-paper upgrade could be worth nearly a full goal every two starts. If Woll just gets Ersson's starting volume, this difference could be an extra couple of wins for the Flyers. In a hyper-competitive Eastern Conference, that edge matters.

Both Acciari and Aston-Reese are destined for the fourth line or press box. Both have some deep banger-league fantasy value when they're in the lineup, and Acciari will provide some face-off wins, but that's about it.

The Andrae/Benoit swap is important. Whatever people may think of Andrae defensively, he's a good puck-mover and was third in on-ice goal rate at 5-on-5 among Flyers defensemen across the last two seasons. Conversely, Benoit is a poor puck mover and was dead last by on-ice goal rate at 5-on-5 among Leafs defensemen across the last two seasons. Benoit will be a bottom-pair or press box option, mixing in with David Jiříček and Nick Seeler, but his addition hurts the offence of the depth forwards.

Ready for Full Time: Porter Martone, Denver Barkey, Alex Bump

Each of Martone, Barkey, and Bump made it to the NHL last season, but combined for just 69 games played. Martone is the obvious choice for fantasy managers as he looked fantastic for the Flyers, joining the roster in late March after finishing his year with Michigan State. He posted 6 goals, 9 assists, 5 power-play points, 55 shots, 49 hits, and 6 blocks in 19 games between the regular season and playoffs, demonstrating his fantasy upside. The Dobber Fantasy Draft List has him projected for 62 points, 227 shots, and 142 hits in 81 games, so he's valuable in most formats, but especially multi-cat leagues. Just don't expect a sky-high breakout because the Flyers don't give heavy minutes to wingers not named Travis Konecny.  

In the Dobber Guide, Barkey and Bump are projected for 35 and 34 points in 73 and 65 games, respectively. When this lineup is healthy, the forward group is deep enough that they might both be on the fourth line, and at best one of them will be in the middle 6. In most fantasy formats, they're waiver options to keep an eye on as the season progresses. 

Fantasy Outlook

In their first season under Head Coach Rick Tocchet, the Flyers improved from 24^th by goals scored per minute to 21^st. That isn't a big jump, but it is an improvement, and that was with Matvei Michkov's output declining, Tyson Foerster missing 53 games, and Martone only playing nine at the end of the season. If Michkov comes into training camp in shape, Foerster stays healthy, and Martone puts in a full season similar to what he did in his stint last year, this is a completely different – and more productive – forward group.

Much like the team in real life, the fantasy value from the Flyers is depth value, not superstar value. Travis Konecny has dropped a full shot per game compared to just a couple of years ago, and he lost 1:31 per game in ice time last season. Without that shot volume, he's unlikely to be a high-end multi-cat option. There is a chance Martone takes the mantle of Philadelphia's most valuable multi-cat forward.

Trevor Zegras re-established himself as a reliable top 6 scoring forward and is projected for 64 points in 71 games. He absolutely has 70-point potential, as does Michkov. Much was made of the latter not being in shape for training camp last September, and reports are that he's rectifying that this summer. A down sophomore year from Michkov still saw him post a 5-on-5 points rate of a borderline first-line forward. If that's as bad as things are going to get for him, he has immediate 25-goal, 70-point potential.

There isn't a lot to speak of on the blue line as the Flyers haven't had a 40-point defenseman in either of the last two seasons. Jamie Drysdale leads their blue line in his Dobber Guide point projection at 36 in 74 games. Philadelphia hasn't had a defenseman reach 10 power-play points in a season since 2022-23, so the big question is if Drysdale can boost the man advantage. If their power play can just be below average, rather than awful, it drastically changes the outlook of all their key skaters, perhaps none more than Drysdale.

Travis Sanheim, Cam York, Seeler, and Benoit all have varying levels of fantasy value in multi-cat leagues, and in that order.

It will be curious to see what happens in net. Vladař appeared in a career-high 52 games last season, though that was with Ersson performing as one of the worst goalies in the league. If Woll is healthy and playing to the level he showed in Toronto, he likely starts 30-35 games, and that means Vladař is somewhere in the 45- to 50-start range. Assuming both play well and the Flyers are an excellent defensive team again, they'll both have high fantasy value, but a split-start situation will keep either from being a top fantasy goalie.  

Fantasy Grade: B (last year was B)

Check out the rest of the Dobber team previews here.