Trevor Zegras is even better than the Flyers thought, and other things we know as the calendar flips

CALGARY, Alberta ― And with that, 2025 comes to an end.

The Flyers wrapped up the calendar year with a 5-1 loss to the Calgary Flames on the second night of a back-to-back. It moved them to a 20-12-7 record this season and a 36-34-13 record since Jan. 1.

Here are seven things we’ve learned this year about the Flyers.

It’s time to put the last two years for Trevor Zegras fully in the rear-view mirror.

In 39 games with the Flyers, the 24-year-old New York native is not only putting up big numbers (15 goals, 24 assists), but he’s also controlling play, showing off the flash and creativity that made him a star — we all saw that between-the-legs pass attempt to Travis Sanheim on the rush and him playing the puck off the boards to himself before setting up Christian Dvorak in Tuesday night’s win — and bringing a big personality to the locker room.

He is on pace to demolish his career high of 65 points and is just eight goals shy of tying his career high, with 43 games to go.

As recently stated, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and, clearly, neither was the Flyers’ power play. Although it’s not last in the NHL anymore — progress! — entering Wednesday, it was ranked 25th with 17 goals in 105 opportunities (16.2%).

And it’s cost the Flyers games, like Sunday’s loss to the Seattle Kraken, where they faced the league’s worst penalty kill and couldn’t score despite three man advantages.

There have been several iterations, with the newest tweak moving Christian Dvorak to the net front with the unit led by Zegras getting an 18-second audition on Tuesday before Jamie Drysdale was called for interference.

» READ MORE: Rick Tocchet wants the Flyers to get to the net more, specifically on the power play. Is Christian Dvorak the answer?

On Wednesday against the Flames, that unit had the majority of the time across two power plays. They had six shot attempts on the first man advantage, with Cam York swapping with Drysdale at one point.

In the final advantage, which saw Drysdale go out with the other unit, York moved to the unit with Zegras, Travis Konecny, Dvorak, and Denver Barkey. They had four shot attempts, with the other unit, which started the power play, getting two, including Drysdale hitting the crossbar.

Overall, the movement has been good, but they can’t find the back of the net.

In the first period against the Canucks on Tuesday, Denver Barkey lost his stick in the Flyers’ end. Did that stop the 5-foot-9 rookie, who was skating in his fifth NHL game? Not at all. There he was, throwing his body around and making plays to stop the pressure from Vancouver.

Called up to the big club to provide a boost to the top nine, Barkey has shown he has the skill and the smarts to stay. He’s come close to scoring his first NHL tally and already has two assists — each coming in his debut at Madison Square Garden.

Across six games with Sean Couturier and Owen Tippett, Natural Stat Trick has the Flyers with 60.16% of the shot attempts and 69.39% of the scoring chances when they’re out there.

“Barks is an energy guy. He’s really helped,” Tocchet said. “I think he’s helped Tipp a lot. I think Tipp, our last couple of games, has been one of our best forwards, and I think that Barkey’s really helped.”

Added Couturier: “I like his game. I like the way he thinks; he’s a smart player, offensively and defensively. He does a lot of the little plays that create time and space for us, me, and Tipp. Yeah, he’s got a good vision out there.”

Barkey is just one of several players, like Alex Bump and defenseman Ty Murchison, who made his NHL debut in December, too, waiting in the wings.

Danny Brière hasn’t been on the Western Canada swing. Instead, the Flyers general manager has been in Minnesota watching not just the next draft class but six of the organization’s prospects playing at the 2026 World Juniors.

While a half-dozen is a solid number, it says more about the prospect pool that three are wearing letters with two — Jack Berglund for Sweden and Porter Martone for Canada — sporting the “C.” Heikki Ruohnen is an alternate captain for Finland.

Martone, who was selected this past June, has created a lot of buzz as he stars for Michigan State. His addition, along with players like Jett Luchanko, Oliver Bonk, Bump, Jack Nesbitt, and Yegor Zavragin, has pushed the Flyers’ prospect pool up the rankings. Elite Prospects and The Athletic each rank the Flyers at No. 7.

“It’s pretty good,” assistant general manager Brent Flahr recently told The Inquirer when asked about the prospect pool. “Obviously, we had a lot of picks last year. We’ve had some guys emerging from previous drafts that have played well and are trending in the right direction. So, yeah, overall, pretty excited.”

When the Flyers signed Dan Vladař on July 1, a lot of people scratched their heads. They’re not scratching anymore. Vladař, who came to get a chance as a No. 1, has brought his A game to the Flyers.

Among goalies who have played at least 18 games, he’s tied for seventh with a .910 save percentage. Who is he tied with? The upper echelon of NHL goalies like Igor Shesterkin, Spencer Knight, Ilya Sorokin, and Jake Oettinger. His 14 wins in 23 starts rank tied for 11th with Linus Ullmark and his old goalie partner in Calgary, Dustin Wolf.

“I think he worked on his game this summer because he went with a skating coach, and I think he wanted to work on some stuff like the next play, the rebound,” Tocchet said recently. “And I noticed him this year he’s in position for the second rebound. … I think Vladdy’s worked on that, and I think he’s really done a great job when it comes to that second save, being in position and not being out of position.”

In June 2023, Sanheim was almost sent packing to St. Louis. On Wednesday, he was named to Canada’s 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics squad.

» READ MORE: Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim makes Canada’s Olympic roster for Milan

“With the game last night [in Vancouver], we flew to Calgary and got in, I think it was just after 2 o’clock, and then my phone went off just before 8 local time,” Sanheim said via Zoom. “I was up pretty early, not a lot of sleep, and I usually have trouble after games anyway, and I was aware of that potential phone call coming.

“So just the excitement level and receiving that, and it means to represent your country and be a part of something like the Olympics, and I’ll take the sleepless night to take a phone call like that.”

The news comes less than a year after he made his mark on the international stage for Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off. Originally, the American and Canadian media questioned whether he even belonged; then, he was a healthy scratch in the tournament opener. But in the end, he was manning the blue line on the opening shift of overtime in the championship game.

Since 2025 started, the Flyers have trailed 1-0 46 times in 82 games. It is tied for the second-most in the NHL with the New York Rangers and Calgary Flames. Their win over the Canucks was also their 19th after trailing 1-0, which ties the Dallas Stars for the most in the calendar year.

And this season, the Flyers have 14 comeback wins, which is also No. 1 in the NHL. They are tied with the Rangers, Nashville Predators, and Detroit Red Wings for the second-most third-period comeback wins (five).

“Yeah, just resilient. We just keep playing,” Konecny said. “We believe in ourselves and trust the process that you’re going to get your opportunities. And you know, sometimes there’s a great way, but if you keep sticking with it, I think over the course of a year, it bounced out.”