As hockey season approaches, the Philadelphia Flyers’ general expectations for 2024-25 are starting to set in. Playing into that, Anna Dua of NHL.com posted her fantasy projections for the Flyers, which are fun to analyze. Which players will go over the point prediction she gave them, and which ones will go under?
Travis Konecny: 75 (Under)
This seems just a tad bit generous for Travis Konecny, due to the fact that he notched a career-high of 68 points last season in 76 contests. With his pace from 2023-24, he’d have to average 20:17 of ice time over a full 82-game slate to reach 75 points—he’ll have to boost his play from what was an already impressive showing even if he’s healthy.
Related: More Philadelphia Flyers Season Preview Articles
Konecny looked poised to exceed 75 points in each of his last two campaigns, to be fair, but poor health and on-ice inconsistencies were his undoing. Anywhere from 65-70 points is a more realistic projection, but he’s probably looking at a similar total ice time as last season (1,508 minutes) regardless because of the addition of Matvei Michkov. This is a safe “under” pick.
Owen Tippett: 60 (Over)
As for Owen Tippett, a 60-point projection seems rather low. He had 53 in 78 contests last season, which is a bit far off, but that number deserves some context. During the second half of the Flyers’ campaign (Jan. 12 through April 16), he had 29 points in 37 games—that’s a 64-point pace over a full season. Head coach John Tortorella increased the 25-year-old’s ice time by nearly two minutes from the first half to the second, so an overall usage boost might also be in order.
This output increase has to do with Tippett’s own improvements but also playing with more talented linemates. For example, he played with Konecny for under 100 minutes in the first half of the season (they were both healthy the entire time) and over 200 minutes in the second half (despite both suffering injuries). With Michkov in the lineup, thus spreading the talent wealth, Tippett could reasonably hit the 65-point mark in 2024-25.
Matvei Michkov: 59 (Over)
Since we only have Michkov’s non-NHL play to build off of, an exact projection can be tough. But I’m of the belief that a hard-nosed coach like Tortorella will lean on a player who will give him the spark to succeed, even if there are defensive weaknesses—that’s how he operates with Konecny and Tippett, at least.
Because…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at The Hockey Writers…