Flyers feel far away from playoff contention again

The Philadelphia Flyers lost their third game in a row with a 5-2 defeat to the Washington Capitals Wednesday night.

The team is now 3-8-4 through their first 15 games of 2026-27, and captain Sean Couturier didn’t hold back after Wednesday’s loss, telling reporters the team has played “soft” at times this season.

On Thursday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discuss the Flyers’ early-season struggles and why it feels like they’re nowhere near a return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Honestly, I’m having a hard time finding any sort of light at the end of the tunnel for the Flyers.

Carter Hutton: Rightfully so. I think my only takeaway as a player and a guy who has been in those locker rooms is that as long as this message has been sent within those walls from Couturier, through the leadership group, that it’s not been acceptable and they need to be better, then it’s time to go to the media.

But at the end of the day, these guys know what they have and haven’t done. For the Flyers, there needs to be more of that compete level throughout their lineup. You watch an NHL game, you know what you’re getting from teams. But for the Flyers, the lack of compete away from the puck is the biggest difference maker, and you’re seeing it firsthand in their lack of success.

Tyler Yaremchuk: I don’t know how they make this year a success, and I know we like to have the conversation about which team is the furthest away from the Stanley Cup, and it’s usually those teams like the L.A. Kings, who haven’t accepted who they are, yet.

I don’t think Philly is there, because they can point to Jamie Drysdale who is 24 … you can go through their forward group with Porter Martone and Matvei Michkov, and Michkov is having a great season, he scored his ninth of the season on Wednesday. They have a lot of nice, youngish pieces, but at the same time, I think they’re pretty far away from being a playoff team.

For that reason, I don’t view them as being one good centerman away from thinking, “oh they’re right in the mix with everyone in the Metropolitan Division.” They’re just not.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…