Flyers Win First Presidents Trophy in Team History

Team prepares for first round match-up against Detroit

The DCHL Philadelphia Flyers have marked their ticket to their 12^th straight playoff appearance, far and away the longest streak for a 12-year-old league. While they have had some pretty high finishes over the years, including 2^nd in points three different times and 3^rd two other times, they have never won the Presidents Trophy before.

“Well it’s an achievement for sure,” Jon Cooper told reporters following the last game of the season, “but not one that we necessarily set out for, it just kind of happens playing the right way but this team is not distracted from the real goal, there is not one guy in the room who cares about finishing first in the regular season.”

The Flyers sure did play the right way this season, they allowed the least shots on goal in the league with only 2,031 shots against (24.8 per game), over a 100 less than the next team. Not only that but they were 3^rd in shots for at 2,526 (30.8 per game), this was good enough to lead the league in shot differential of +495, on average, they outshot their opponents around 6 shots-a-game.

While the Flyers lost the title for least goals against down the stretch, for the 2^nd year in a row, they did finish 2^nd in the league behind the Chicago Blackhawks with 206. Offensively, the Flyers scored 278 goals, which was good for 4^th in the league, but only 2 behind the league-leading Dallas Stars. However, the Flyers prowess, both offensively and defensively, resulted in a league-leading +72 goal differential, 11 more than the 2^nd best team in the Chicago Blackhawks.

“Of course, we look at that stuff, anything that can give us an edge to win more games we care about it,” Jon Cooper remarked, “hell I think we even possessed the puck more than any other team in the league but all of that is behind us now. What matters is how we do against Detroit and hopefully beyond.” The Detroit Red Wings have broken their 8-year playoff drought and are ready to face the Flyers in the first round.

The teams played three games at the end of the season over a 13-day stretch from March 28^th through April 9^th, while the Flyers won all three games in regulation, the Red Wings scored 12 goals for an average of 4-goals against per game, the Flyers averaged 2.51 Goals-Against-Average throughout the season. “They have a high-flying offense for sure,” Jon Cooper lamented, “This is not a team to take lightly with [Artemi] Panarin and [Robert] Thomas leading the way offensively.” That does not even account for Kevin Fiala, Mats Zuccarello, Quinton Byfield, Dylan Guenther, Jordan Eberle, and Aliaksei Protas. Let’s just say, depth scoring is unlikely to be a problem for this Red Wings team.

Speaking of Guenther, it has been over three years since the Flyers traded Guenther and Juuso Parssinen to Detroit for Brandon Hagel. Talk about a win-win for both teams, Guenther looks like a future star and Hagel has cemented himself as one of the best players in the game. Hagel went from 29 goals and 62 points last season to 36 goals and 85 points this year, good for 8^th in the league. On top of that, Hagel was in a 5-way tie for the league lead with 9 game-winning-goals. Not a single player in the league produced more in their minutes across all situations than Brandon Hagel, he is the Flyers Most Valuable Player and winner of the 25-26 Bobby Clarke Trophy.

In other news, Jake Sanderson took home his first Barry Ashbee Trophy for the team’s best defensemen, this followed his breakout season where he scored 14 goals and 71 points, his 57 assists were good for 6^th in the league for all skaters and 3^rd amongst defensemen. Still only 23 years old, the future is extremely bright for this perennial Norris contender.

Prospect Notes: The Flyers have had a few NCAA prospects sign with their NHL teams recently, the highlight being Hobey Baker runner-up Eric Pohlkamp. Pohlkamp led the NCAA in goals (18) and points (39) for defensemen and helped win the NCAA Division I championship as well. Additionally, defensemen Abram Wiebe and forward Blake Montgomery have signed with their respective teams to begin their pro careers.