Will the Flyers finish in the bottom five this season?

The Philadelphia Flyers took a promising step forward last season. After several years of a rebuild, they played competitive hockey in 2025-26, guided by new head coach Rick Tocchet, and eventually made the playoffs, ousting the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round before losing in the second round to the eventual Stanley Cup champions, the Carolina Hurricanes. Even though the exit was in a sweep, it was great progress for the Flyers.

But so far the Flyers have shown none of that progress this season. Through four games, they have yet to win a game (one of only three teams remaining to do so), and have been outscored 17-5 in that time. On top of that, Tocchet is up to his usual shenanigans, cutting ice time from some of the younger players Philadelphia needs to grow if they eventually want to become a Cup contender. It’s been nothing short of a disastrous start for Philly.

But is this what we should expect from the Flyers this season? Colby Cohen and Carter Hutton talked on Daily Faceoff Live about the Flyers and if they are set for lottery contention after their horrible start to 2026-27.

Colby Cohen: They certainly look the part right now. They do. But I just look at the team. I look at how well Dan Vladar played in the last game and how well Joseph Woll played in his starts. I think both of those guys are perfect complements to each other, and I think that those are guys that are gonna erase a lot of the mistakes of the Philadelphia Flyers.

Now, they certainly looked like a bottom two or three team honestly, maybe the worst team to start the year. And I think that unless they can figure out a way to get their power play going, I think it’s going to be a world of trouble because they’re not going to score enough 5-on-5. Their penalty kill has been eh, and that’s an area they have to clean up.

So I would say I’d stay on the middle on this one and probably put it at a five (out of 10), because how do you go from a second-round playoff series to the worst team in the league when you really haven’t made any changes?

Carter Hutton: Yeah, I think that’s a factor too. I just think it’s concerning how they got in and where their production came from. So I’m going to go a little lower.

I think about who you have to leapfrog. The Metro Division is not the strongest division, but are they better than the Devils? The Rangers are off to a good start, and then you have the Islanders who have, if we’re going to talk goaltending, you could say that individually they have better goaltending in Sorokin and Shesterkin. And then you put in Joseph Woll and Dan Vladar. I think they can carry the mail, it’s just, where is that extra offense going to come from with the Philadelphia Flyers?

So it’s a big question mark and it’s tough to watch too. I think last year was a bit of a mirage making the playoffs and having the success that they had.

You can watch the full episode here…