Friday Forecheck: The Bigger Picture

Philadelphia Flyers are on a four-game winning streak. They have won over San Jose, Los Angeles, Anaheim and Arizona. The team has scored three or more goals in eight straight games. Their schedule is getting tougher over the next week. The young players who have recently stepped up are starting to perform.

Flyers have won four games in a row. They have a lot of young players on the score sheet. The team is going to play a tough schedule over the next week.   The offense will probably not be as good as it was recently. It will be better if the team's younger players keep up their performances.

Travis Konecny has been a model of consistency this season. Tippett has posted 10 points in the last 12 games. Scott Laughton has 11 points (6g, 5a) in last 10 games and is a shorthanded threat. Tony DeAngelo leads all Flyers defensemen in scoring with 23 points. Noah Cates has four goals for the season and has made a dozen assists. York has eight points since his recall from the Lehigh Valley Phantom. He scored the game-winner in Los Angeles on a short-handed goal. He has also made 12 assists on the year.

Kevin Hayes was selected to play in the 2023 NHL All-Star Game. Hayes is second in Flyers' scoring with 35 points (10g, 25a) this season. It's his first All Star Game, but it's something his late brother, Jimmy, wanted for him after his NHL career. His teammates are happy for Hayes. He's been carrying the offense for most of this year and doing a lot of good things. He will have his brother's kids there. They are proud of him. The game will be on Friday. There are 32 players selected for the All Stars. Carter Hart and Travis Konecny are also considered.

Connor Bedard, 17, is a talented player who played at the just-completed 2022-23 World Junior Championships. He scored 23 points in seven games.

The Flyers are in the bottom four or five spots in NHL standings. They have high-quality prospects in this year's Entry Draft. The team needs luck to win the lottery. If they don't, they would have to start again from scratch. The Flyers farm system has been taken to task for struggling to develop at the pro level prospects. It would be a longer and more painstaking process than what's happened since 2014-15. For the team to drop to the NHL's bottom, the 25-year-old players on the roster would need to backslide. Carter Hart, Samuel Ersson, Travis Konecny, Joel Farabee, Owen Tippett, Cam York and Morgan Frost would stagnate or regress.

The Flyers are at the bottom of the NHL standings. They are hoping to win the Entry Draft lottery. This year's Draft has a lot of high-quality prospects. The Flyers farm system has been criticized for not developing their prospects well. The team needs to start again from scratch. It would be a long and painstaking process. If the team loses, it would have to change its whole roster. There would need to be some regression of players under 25 years old. Carter Hart, Samuel Ersson, Travis Konecny, Owen Tippett, Cam York and Morgan Frost would stagnate or regress.