PHILADELPHIA — It may not feel like it, considering the recent sweltering weather outside, but hockey season is just around the corner.

In about a month’s time, the Flyers will reconvene in Voorhees, N.J., for training camp — without the anxiety of facing John Tortorella’s rope test this year — and embark on the next step in their rebuild under the watchful eyes of an old but familiar face in Rick Tocchet.

With a change behind the bench comes a new identity, and maybe just as important in the Flyers’ situation, a new voice and a different type of messaging. But will Tocchet’s more diplomatic approach and reputation as a communicator and player’s coach yield improved results on the ice? Here are five keys for the Flyers this season as they look to end their franchise-worst-equaling five-year playoff drought:

1. Stop the puck

This may seem overly simplistic, but the reality is the Flyers need better goaltending.

Two seasons ago, the Orange and Black narrowly missed the postseason despite an .889 save percentage that ranked only above the Ottawa Senators (.888). They were worse in 2024-25, as the trio of Sam Ersson, Ivan Fedotov and Aleksei Kolosov combined for a ghastly .879 save percentage, the lowest mark by an NHL team since 1999-00. For context, the NHL’s average save percentage last season was .900.

“The goalies did not play to the expectations we had,” general manager Danny Brière said in April. “But there’s a lot more issues that go into it. I’ve talked to all the goalies. They know they have a lot to prove, and it’s not going to be good enough to come back at the same level. If we have a chance to improve, we’re going to have to seriously consider it.”

Enter Dan Vladař, a career backup who was signed to a two-year, $6.7 million contract on July 1 to partner with Ersson. While Vladař’s .898 save percentage last season was nothing to write home about, his underlying numbers were more intriguing. He tied with Sergei Bobrovsky and Ilya Sorokin for 15th in the NHL last season with a .919 five-on-five save percentage.

Vladař’s arrival also should help Ersson, who has shown extended flashes of being a starting-caliber goalie in each of his three seasons but has worn down amid too heavy a workload. The Flyers’ goaltending situation will be better this season with a more credible pairing of Ersson and Vladař, but how much better remains to be seen.

2. Will the real Trevor Zegras stand up?

While the Flyers nibbled around the edges in free agency, their big move came a week earlier when they acquired Trevor Zegras from the Anaheim Ducks.

The trade was a low-risk, high-reward bet on a player who not long ago was considered one of the NHL’s premier young talents. In Zegras, who is still just 24, the Flyers hope they have acquired a top-two center who can be an offensive driver and a consistent 65-70-plus point producer, given his skill, creativity, and playmaking ability.

It could prove a worthy bet. Defensive warts aside, Zegras averaged 23 goals and 63 points over his 20- and 21-year-old seasons. But since then, injuries and inconsistency have marked the NHL23 video game cover star.

Zegras was limited to 18 goals and 47 points in just 88 games over the past two seasons, and was a poor fit under the old-school general manager and coach tandem of Pat Verbeek and Greg Cronin. But the adversity of the past few years and the demand for him to work harder away from the puck seem to have humbled Zegras a bit and should benefit him long-term.

Now healthy, in a contract year, and with a fresh start closer to his hometown, Bedford, N.Y., Zegras seems to be in a great spot to rejuvenate a career that looked bound for stardom. If the Flyers can get the best out of him alongside an All-Star like Travis Konecny and a burgeoning one in Matvei Michkov, it would accelerate the team’s timeline and help them plug one of the team’s biggest holes down the middle.

3. Powering up the PP

The Rocky Thompson era is mercifully over. But were the Flyers’ sustained power-play struggles more of a reflection on Thompson or a lack of talent and creativity on the roster?

This year will provide a chance to start answering that question as Tocchet comes in with new power-play ideas and a new assistant to run the unit in Jaroslav “Yogi” Svejkovský.

Svejkovský, who cut his teeth as a skills coach before being promoted to running the power play last season in Vancouver, is a “teacher,” according to Tocchet, and will be tasked with reinventing a power play that has clicked at a league-worst 13.7% over the past four seasons and had resided in the basement in three straight seasons before a 30th-place finish in 2024-25.

Tocchet’s philosophy with the man advantage seems to be less about plays and more about establishing an “attacking” mentality centered on “beating pressure” and retrieving pucks.

We’ll see if a different approach can unlock the offensive talents of players like Jamie Drysdale, Cam York and Owen Tippett, and maybe even free up Michkov to create more. If the Flyers want to compete for a playoff spot this season, being better in goal and with the man advantage are nonnegotiables.

4. Improved vibes

Tortorella was a big proponent of “addition by subtraction,” and there are reasons to believe the Flyers might view his departure through a similar prism.

For as much as Tortorella did to build a foundation of accountability, work ethic and a team that, at times, overachieved compared to its talent, it is no secret that he began to wear out his welcome with several players, as he customarily does, given his demanding and uncompromising style. That came to a head with a tense altercation with York before his firing, but had been bubbling with unexplained benchings of York, Michkov, and captain Sean Couturier, as well as his public demonstrations of frustration about the team’s direction.

The fact that the Flyers instantly began playing freer and with more joy and exuberance under interim coach Brad Shaw only added more credence to the assumption that certain players had tuned out the head coach or had had their confidence and excitement to come to the rink sucked out of them late last season.

A new and more communicative coach in Tocchet should be a breath of fresh air for this team and may be particularly beneficial for players like Drysdale, Michkov, York and Konecny, who had their moments with Tortorella. Tocchet’s on-ice collaboration with players also tends to help him build more personal relationships with his players.

While Tocchet still is demanding in his own ways, several Flyers probably are relieved not to have to worry about some of the mind games and toxicity that comes with being coached by an old-school boss like Tortorella.

5. Revitalizing the redheads

While 2024-25 was a positive season for young players like Tyson Foerster, Noah Cates, and Bobby Brink, the same cannot be said for York and Tippett.

The 24-year-old York, who was signed to a five-year, $25.75 million extension this offseason, never seemed to recover after missing 13 games with an upper-body injury early in the year and took a step back last season. It probably didn’t help that his coach wasn’t his biggest fan, notably refusing to try him on the power play, despite the team’s issues there.

But the Flyers’ commitment to York shows they believe he is more of the promising player he was in 2023-24, with Brière saying in July, “I think there’s a lot more there with Cam York.”

York figures to get more of a look with the man advantage, where he thrived at Michigan and with the United States World Junior team, under Tocchet and says he is excited to have a bit more “freedom” out there because “when I’m not thinking out there, that’s why I’m at my best.”

In the same vein, the Flyers need more consistency and goals out of Tippett, who is entering Year 2 of an eight-year, $49.6 million deal. While the 26-year-old didn’t feud as much with Tortorella as York did, it’s fair to wonder if a new coach is just what the doctor ordered for the immensely talented Tippett.

After potting 27 and 28 goals in his first two full seasons in Philly, Tippett was expected to kick on and hit the 30 plateau last season. That never came to fruition, as his production dipped to 20 goals and 43 points, and his impact waned.

While some may question his hockey sense and ability to consistently hit the net, Tippett certainly possesses some tantalizing tools, with his combination of size, speed, and shot producing some magic moments but also leaving fans wanting more. The arrival of a playmaker like Zegras, and the tutelage of a fellow power forward in Tocchet are two reasons to think a Tippett 30-goal campaign is possible.

Tocchet certainly seems to be excited to work with him.

“I think Owen Tippett is a guy who I feel has another level in him,” he said. “I think he’s a prototypical big, fast winger. Can we unleash him?”

Tapping into York and Tippett’s potential would go a long way toward elevating this team.

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