Flyers hit the Olympic break at a crossroads. Will they sell for the future or try to push for the playoffs?

Two roads diverge in Philadelphia

And sorry, the Flyers cannot travel both.

Looking down one, the Flyers are buyers, trying to make a playoff push beyond the NHL trade deadline on March 6.

The other road is more worn down and well-trodden by this organization, the one where they are sellers. In the distance, maybe one can almost make out a third road, the one that general manager Danny Brière has mentioned, the one that entails a quiet trade deadline.

But Flyers president Keith Jones and Brière have long said “the players will decide” which road the organization will take. It’s hard to gauge where things are right now.

Standing pat doesn’t make sense, but which direction are the Flyers heading? Are they the team from the beginning of the season or the team that has three wins in the past 15 games? And what about the future, with players like Porter Martone, Alex Bump, and Oliver Bonk waiting in the wings?

» READ MORE: Jamie Drysdale scores late to force overtime, but Flyers lose to Senators, 2-1

The Flyers closed out the unofficial first half of the season with a 2-1 overtime loss to the Ottawa Senators on Thursday. Jamie Drysdale scored late to tie the game after a master class by the Flyers’ six-man unit before Tim Stützle dipped the puck around Dan Vladař in overtime.

“Obviously a huge point for us,” defenseman Nick Seeler said. “But, man, it would have been great to get that extra point. But you know what? I give our group a lot of credit. Fight till the very end.”

The loss left the Flyers with a 25-20-11 record through the first 56 games, as the NHL is officially on a break now for the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics. They sit eight points out of two different playoff spots — third place in the Metropolitan Division, behind the New York Islanders, and the Eastern Conference’s second wild card, which the Boston Bruins occupy. The Flyers also have two games in hand on the Islanders and one on the Bruins.

“Some good, some bad,” coach Rick Tocchet said when asked to assess the first 56 games.

It’s fair for a team that at one point boasted one of the best penalty kills, conceded among the fewest goals, and, for once, has a power play that didn’t completely stink. But after their massive January slide, the Flyers are tied for 16th on the penalty kill (79.1%), tied for 21st in goals allowed per game (3.16) — on Jan. 1, they were 10th (2.85) — and are ranked 28th on the power play (16.1%).

But like a famous ex-Phillies pitcher once said with another team that shall remain nameless, the Flyers are saying: “Ya gotta believe.”

“The season’s not over,” captain Sean Couturier told The Inquirer on Wednesday. “People seem almost like we’ve thrown in the towel, but we haven’t. We still believe in our group, and it’s really on us to just kind of step up and take our game to the next level.

“We’re still in the mix here. A little behind, but we still have [26] games left, so lots of hockey left. Anything can happen from now on, and we’ll just control what we can control.”

No, Couturier hasn’t gone off the deep end. The Flyers may be a handful of points out of the Stanley Cup playoffs, but they really do control their own destiny.

Of their remaining 26 games, 18 are against Eastern Conference teams, with just three against the two teams below them in the conference, the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils. After returning on Feb. 25, they have seven games against one of the 10 teams below them in the overall NHL standings.

“We’ll need to get red-hot, I think that that’s kind of it,” Drysdale said. “I think we’re capable of it. Everyone, take this break and reset — good luck to [Travis Sanheim and Vladař] and the guys who are playing in the Olympics — but we’ve got to come out swinging right away, not waste a game."

Time is definitely not a-wastin’. It’s a bit bonkers to think that the season has just 26 games remaining and will end in 67 days on April 14 against the Canadiens. Where the Flyers will be at that moment is the biggest question mark.

» READ MORE: Unlocking Jamie Drysdale’s offensive potential could go a long way toward improving the Flyers’ power play

When the majority of the team reconvenes on Feb. 17 in Voorhees for practice, it will be the same squad. That’s a fact, as there is a leaguewide trade freeze until 11:59 p.m. on Feb. 22. Across the next 12 days — until 3 p.m. on March 6 — there’s a good chance teams, including the Flyers, will start wheeling and dealing.

But sellers or buyers? The recent slide, and with how poorly the Flyers have played this month, are good indicators that the team isn’t in a spot yet to add any pieces; however, as expected, inside the room, they certainly aren’t giving up.

“I think just everything we learned in this first half, kind of put it all together and go on a run,” defenseman Cam York told The Inquirer on Wednesday after the team’s final practice.

“We’re young, but we’re an experienced group at the same time, I think, and I think we all want that pressure almost and we expect to make it.”

Yes, teams can go on runs and make pushes. Heck, the St. Louis Blues were last in the NHL on Jan. 1, 2019, and then, after that fateful day in South Philly where they sang “Gloria” at The Jacks NYB, they went on a magical run ending with the team hoisting the Stanley Cup

Of course, we’re not saying the Flyers are heading to that final destination, but the point is: As much as losing streaks can happen, so can winning ones. Can the Flyers dig themselves out of the hole they dug themselves and get back to who they were just a month ago?

And who will be there for that?

There is no denying that the Flyers need to make room for the future. So, with a team that isn’t too far outside the playoff picture, do you upset the apple cart now or wait until, what most expect, the offseason?

Regardless, it’s a tough call to make with the team kind of there but not fully there in the playoff race. While Jones and Brière have said the players will dictate how they go, right now, it’s saying sell. Because while the message from the players is that they believe, the play on the ice right now is telling a different story.

So, two roads diverge in Philadelphia. Will they take the one less traveled? Or the one that they’ve gone down before?

And, in the end, will it all make a difference?

» READ MORE: Flyers GM Danny Brière addresses Rick Tocchet’s recent comments on Matvei Michkov: ‘They have a good relationship.’