Feb 25, 2026; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Capitals defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk (57) celebrates with left wing Alex Ovechkin (8) after scoring a goal as Philadelphia Flyers center Sean Couturier (14) reacts during the third period at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Hannah Foslien-Imagn Images
The death knell tolled again with just under six minutes to play in the game in Washington on Wednesday night.
Oh, sure, there are still mathematical possibilities to the contrary, but any slim, faint notion that the Flyers had that they could somehow get back into the Eastern Conference playoff race dissipated when the brother of a former Flyers lottery pick scored a goal for just the second time all season, the game-winner in what would be a 3-1 victory for the Washington Capitals.
It was that goal by Trevor van Riemsdyk, that deflected off of Flyers Olympian Travis Sanheim and beelined over the shoulder of goalie Dan Vladar, who once again was Atlassian, desperately trying to hold the weight of the Flyers playoff hopes on his shoulders without much offensive assistance, that put the Caps ahead to stay.
Dan Vladar kept the Flyers in it last night.
For once, the Flyers don't have to worry about their Goaltending holding them back, but they have a whirl of other problems #Flyers pic.twitter.com/y8bsmWvin8
"They're trying," coach Rick Tocchet told reporters after the game. "We need some speed through the middle. It's not just the centermen. That's a big part of an offense -- getting that middle speed. But they're trying. You've got to give them a lot of credit. They're trying."
Of course they're trying. No one doubts effort. Everyone doubts skill level. It's the Flyers flaw - and it can't be for much longer if this franchise wants to truly get back to being a contender and into the graces of it's fanbase.
An empty netter -- on a Flyers 6-on-4 power play no less -- would follow when a rimming play by Travis Konecny got past Matvei Michkov, who wasn't in the right spot on the far wall, and led to a breakout and easy goal for Aliaksei Protas. As the Capitals celebrated a hard-fought victory, the feeling began to sink in for the Flyers players - the playoffs aren't happening for a sixth straight season.
The Flyers sit eight points back with 25 games to play. Yes, they have a game in hand on the team they are chasing -- the New York Islanders -- But just to show how seemingly impossible it would be for them to overcome that, if the Islanders just play hockey .500 the rest of the way, they would finish the season with 93 points. To pass that, the Flyers would need to earn 33 points in 25 games, which would equate to a record of, say, 15-7-3.
And even that still might not be enough, as both the Capitals and Columbus Blue Jackets, both in front of the Flyers in the standings as well, would also need to not play well enough to surpass the 93-point mark.
It's not happening.
But here's the thing. While this reality may finally be sinking in for the players, Flyers management has seen it coming. There is a reason that all of a sudden you are starting to hear some rumblings about players who can be moved out at next week's trade deadline.
Names like Rasmus Ristolainen, Nick Seeler, Garnet Hathaway, Noah Juulsen and Carl Grundstrom are suddenly names that can possibly be playing their final games with the Flyers.
Those names don't just suddenly arrive in conversation for the deadline out of nowhere. If they are circulating, it's because the Flyers put them out there to someone at some point - and most likely in the past few weeks while the NHL was on pause for the Olympics - indicating that management knew the team's future fate before the players themselves.
They didn't want to do this. This was never where they envisioned themselves being as March approached. But what they provided in the first half of the season was nothing more than fool's gold.
And now, they're in a familiar position going into the trade deadline. The thing is, this has to be the last time. They can't keep doing this to themselves or their fans.
A rebuild takes time. Anyone who thinks that it could have been rectified in three seasons is kidding themselves.
And yes, the Flyers foibles have been longer than three years, but the current brass have only been in place for the last three, so that's the lens through which you have to evaluate it fairly.
When Danny Briere was hired as G.M. he told his bosses that the Flyers were looking at a five- or six-year climb. And while he deserved the patience to execute that plan, there was always going to be a time that arose that would bring the team the point where fruits of that laborious overhaul would have to start to show.
That time has to begin now. For Briere's future as G.M., for Keith Jones' future as president and for Dan Hilferty's future as the CEO of the Comcast-Spectacor operation. It has to start now and everything needs to be evaluated with a more strict analysis from this point forward.
Because you aren't completing that rebuild in years five and six if you are going into year four looking a lot like you are the same team from years one through three.
And if that sentence sounds confusing, maybe this one won't - the grace period is over. It's time to start to see real change from this point forward. The cap space is there. The assets have been accrued. You can no longer be passive. It's go time. It starts with this trade deadline and barrels forward at breakneck speed into the offseason and up to July 1.
Starting with the deadline, Ristolainen is the most interesting. Just over a month ago, a Flyers source indicated to me that moving Ristolainen at the deadline was unlikely and that the offseason seemed like a better time to consider it, especially when there would be more teams interested in landing a right-shot defenseman.
But things have gone really south for the Flyers, who have lost 13 of 16 (3-9-4) and Ristolainen went to the Olympics and was a defensive stalwart on the Bronze Medal-winning Finland team, finishing a robust +9 in six games.
Rival teams got to see him on the biggest stage, against the best players in the world, and look like the kind of defenseman that teams with Stanley Cup aspirations salivate over.
Briere has already been having the tires kicked on Ristolainen, and it's a sure bet that as long as he stays healthy into next week, there's a good chance Briere will get the desperate offer teams usually are willing to pay at this time of year for Ristolainen. He has to take it.
The Rasmus Ristolainen rumors this year are more interesting than they have in years past. One of the main reasons why is they have his replacement, Oliver Bonk, in the AHL and he is playing very well, has 3 goals & 5 assists in last 15 games #LetsGoFlyers
Seeler, who has a no-trade clause that the Flyers would have to convince him to waive if he were to be moved, probably fetches a decent draft pick as well, the question Briere and his staff have to ask themselves is, if they move on from both him and Ristolainen, what does the future of the blue line look like?
Sanheim is a staple. Jaime Drysdale has quietly had a very good season defensively. But beyond that? Cam York should be considered a lock to be on the back end next season, but if Briere needs to get creative in pursuit of a center, then York might have to be considered as part of a trade equation in the offseason.
Briere would rather do it by trading from his position of strength, which is clearly on the wing where the Flyers have tooo many forwards, but wingers are also the least valuable position players in the NHL, so, a guy like York may have to begrudgingly be included to fill what is the Flyers biggest deficiency -- and that's at center.
Do you ask Seeler to waive that no-trade for a third round pick? That's the conundrum. Probably not, as the value of that pick is likely less than what he can provide you over the two remaining seasons he is under contract. But if someone is willing to go higher than that, then some very real conversations need to be had.
Guys like Juulsen and Grundstrom aren't going to net you much more than a late draft pick.
Hathaway is somewhat interesting because he has a year left and even though he's had an incredibly disappointing season, his style of game, when he's on, is exactly what playoff teams look for out of fourth line wingers in games where the intensity is ramped up, so he might have a little more value than it would appear on the surface.
There are some things to be excited about -- Tyson Foerster will be back next season, Porter Martone could arrive before season's end, and Oliver Bonk is showing signs that he could be ready to make the jump in time for 2026-27.
Combine that with an expected better offseason for Michkov, the continued growth of Denver Barkey -- who the team didn't think would be NHL-ready this soon -- and maybe even an eventual promotion for winger Alex Bump, and you can see that Briere has done a decent job at putting together some interesting possibilities.
But the lack of NHL-ready centers is what's staggering, and what to do with the current crop of them is when Briere faces his stiffest challenge and likely where the measure of his job as G.M. will be determined - fair or not.
Christian Dvorak isn't going anywhere, even if he's been miscast on the current roster as a top line center. He'd fit perfectly as a 3C, although he might have to play above that until the Flyers can land a more skilled pivot, which isn't ideal.
Noah Cates, who scored the loan goal for the Flyers Wednesday, has been a disappointment lately, especially since Foerster's injury. The Flyers view him as a future veteran leader-type on the team, but in what role? He doesn't seem to have the it factor to play higher in the lineup and there seems to be a redundancy with him and Dvorak as far as where they should slot in the lineup. Is Cates ultimately a fourth line guy? Are they willing to give him a pass because he was a different player with Foerster than without? It's another conundrum.
And then there's the captain, Sean Couturier, who is a bit of an albatross with four years left on his contract. While its disappointing to see how his skills have diminished -- he hasn't scored a goal in 30 games -- the Flyers have to wonder if buying him out or retaining half of his salary to send him elsewhere might not be the best thing for the future of the franchise.
I'm much more of a Sean Couturier defender than 99% of people on this app. But dear god man
The next five months are the most critical of Briere's tenure as G.M. to date. With one or two exceptions, he's mostly done a fine job of getting out from the absolute mess he inherited from the previous regime and has done a solid job of stockpiling assets.
But, like many of the prospects he has accumulated, he, too, needs to take the next step as a G.M. He needs to make this team look different next season. It's going to be a challenge, but it needs to happen.
The playoffs this year was a goal. It wasn't a be all end all goal, but it was a goal nonetheless. And for half a season it looked attainable, and in the span of 16 games, it vanished.
That happens sometimes when a team isn't quite ready. That's why the funeral dirges and the slow clanging of the bells can be heard again after Wednesday's loss.
The thing is, they can't have the same thing happen a year from now. They just can't. Otherwise that funeral march won't just be for a lost season. It could be for much more than that.
