There were plenty of dismal aspects of the last half-decade of Philadelphia Flyers hockey, starting with the 2020-21 season and finally, mercifully, coming to an end when the 2025-26 club broke the franchise’s five-season playoff drought.

Obviously, the lack of postseason hockey headlines the list, of course. The absence of signature, memorable moments. Poor front office and coaching decisions. Frustrating injuries. The dearth of flashy, exciting players at the top of the lineup.

But underlying all of those issues was perhaps the worst part of all: the stakes on a nightly basis were ridiculously, painfully low.

If the Flyers lost a random game in December, who cares? They’re not making the playoffs anyway. A brutal early-season injury? Whatever, the team barely has a first line, let alone a chance to make it to the first round of the playoffs. The front office makes a questionable draft pick in Round 2? What does that matter without the kind of roster foundation for even successful second-round selections to join?

Diehard fandom became more about debating team-building strategy and overarching philosophies than really caring about individual wins and losses. After all, one win, one prospect, one move wasn’t going to change things for the Flyers. They were first in the midst of a clearly-doomed Chuck Fletcher retool, and then an early-stages Daniel Briere rebuild. They were still years away from any of the day-to-day news mattering much in terms of whether the Flyers would ever return to full-fledged, long-term prominence.

It was hockey fandom absent emotional reward, stripped of the possibility that every game, every pick, every prospect, every decision mattered.

Now, at long last, things matter again.

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