After a come-from-behind overtime victory on Nov. 20, the Philadelphia Flyers find themselves one point out of a wildcard spot. Their 10–6–3 record has them on pace for 99 points in a season that many felt the Flyers might struggle.
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Insider Frank Seravalli takes issue with this. Despite the relatively strong start, he lambasted the team’s rebuild approach. What did he have to say?
Flyers Should Be Aiming for the Top of the 2026 NHL Draft
Seravalli critiqued the Flyers’ urge to take steps forward in 2025–26. A glass-half-empty way of looking at it is that they’ve returned to murky-middle status: not good enough to make the playoffs, but not bad enough to pick high in the draft.
Seravalli describes them as, “A team that’s not capable of getting to the bottom, that has not necessarily orchestrated this order correctly.” He continued, “Your only job this year, instead of trying to be competitive, should be to gain one of those five to six franchise-changing players that exist in the 2026 NHL Draft.”
He went on to say that the Flyers’ season will be a failure should they fail to make that draft-day splash. That starts with their offseason. “They got a little ahead of their skis in terms of trying to inch this forward in a year where you didn’t need to. It’s an unforced error.”
Seravalli Says Flyers Should Have Traded Key Pieces
Seravalli’s final point goes against the Flyers’ entire rebuilding philosophy. They aimed to keep key veteran players around, even if doing so limits the chance of drafting superstars. In 2024, general manager Daniel Brière extended forwards Travis Konecny and Owen Tippett to eight-year deals worth a combined $119.6 million—that kind of goes against the whole “rebuilding” thing.
According to Seravalli, “You should have maybe pried off a piece or two already. Maybe you should have traded a Konecny when you could have and gotten value.” He mentions Tippett and Travis Sanheim, who received an eight-year contract from former general manager Chuck Fletcher in 2022, as other players who could have been sold off.
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When asked if the Flyers still could make a move like this, he says that they could, but it’s just not how they view this process. Barring an unintentional collapse akin to 2024–25, the days of high draft picks may be coming to an end.
What do you think? Is the Flyers’ approach to their rebuild fundamentally flawed, or is their way the right way?
