Awesome article Charlie! This is the first one I’ve been able to check out as a diehard but after seeing all the work you Bill and Kelly have put in over the course of this dreadful season I was super excited to see your season recap. Super excited about the draft odds and can’t wait to see what the offseason brings for our Flyers!

Getting an OT loss would have been the most Philly thing ever. Tie the game in the last millisecond, and then lose it in the first 10 seconds of OT. Oopsies!

It’s a small sampling, but seeing the youthful team perform better under Shaw than Torts is hardly surprising. Tough, old school coach who sent mixed signals.

Ultimately, I’m delighted they’re at 4. They could only drop so far, but picking between 1-6 guarantees them a shot at a 1-2C. They can basically do no worse than Desnoyers, which puts them in good shape (potentially) down the road. Beyond the first round, having that 4-spot in each subsequent round is a nice place to get the late-round drops (or a high second can also be viewed as a late first and a high third could be viewed as a late second). Also, with the draft capital, it’s easier to trade up a few spots if there’s a prospect they covet.

To put it another way, the draft should offer more appeal and promise than the season itself.

I loathe the idea of deliberately tanking.

But I was certainly rooting for a loss for this game. And given that they started Kolosov, I think the Flyers also were hoping for a loss.

The offseason should be interesting. Along with the high pick, they have a lot of ammo to do something else as well. This is where we will get to see how capable Briere is.

Thanks for the great work this season. Made it easier to follow a rebuilding team that objectively stunk most of the year. Definitely helped identify the bright spots and little bits to cling to for hope that this team can make some noise in the next 2-3 years

And to echo what others have said – thank you for a season’s worth of insightful writing, Charlie.

Looking forward to your off-season analyses of the various players, as well.

Thanks for all the quality coverage this year, Charlie.