Flyers one loss away from joining infamous club — and it's familiar territory for Rick Tocchet

Thanks to an Andrew Copp goal late in the third period, the Detroit Red Wings were 2-1 winners over the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night. While any win for the Red Wings is a cause for celebration at this point given their tumultuous start to the season that has been caused by ownership and front-office incompetence, the big story in this is the Flyers.

Specifically the fact they have now played nine games to start the 2026-27 season and have won zero of them.

Thursday's game drops them to a league-worst 0-6-3 to start the season, while they have scored just 11 goals over that stretch. They have also not scored more than two goals in any one game. 

It is not just a bad start. It is bordering on historic. Not the good kind of history, either. 

Flyers close to joining infamous club

According to the Hockey-Reference StatHead database, only 10 teams in the history of the NHL have ever started a season with zero wins in their first 10 games.

It has happened just three times in the salary cap era, with the Arizona Coyotes doing it twice (2017-18 and 2021-22) and the San Jose Sharks doing it once (2023-24).

What really stands out about that list is that if the Flyers end up joining it, it would be head coach Rick Tocchet's second time on it having also coached the 2017-18 Coyotes. 

While the Flyers were never expected to be a serious contender this season, they were still a playoff team a year ago and made it to the second round. There was at least some expectation that they would be competitive, especially with some good young talent and a strong defensive structure. 

The defensive structure has completely disappeared. 

The young players are quiet.

The head coach seems to have no idea how to fix any of it. 

Of the 10 teams that started a season with zero wins in 10 games, only two of them made the playoffs — the Calgary Flames did it in 1995, and the 1927 Pittsburgh Pirates (a now-defunct franchise) did it. 

The Flyers' 10th game is on Saturday at home against the Ottawa Senators. If they lose, that crowd will probably get ugly.