SEALED: A top player worth $700 million was welcomed by the Philadelphia Flyers.

SEALED: A top player worth $700 million was welcomed by the Philadelphia Flyers.

or the Philadelphia Flyers, returning to relevance in the summer of 2022 was as simple as signing Johnny Gaudreau, a star player from the area who was only an unrestricted free agent because he wanted to leave Western Canada for the American Northeast. The Flyers botched it nonetheless, failing to clear enough cap space to present Gaudreau with an offer.

Their failed Johnny Hockey gambit, the injury-induced semi-retirement of Ryan Ellis, another back surgery for Sean Couturier, and the loss of Cam Atkinson to a procedure of his own meant that, though the Flyers were not officially rebuilding, anyone could see they were one of the weakest teams in the Eastern Conference.

Some combination of coach John Tortorella, goaltender Carter Hart, and a career season from sniper Travis Konecny allowed the team to reach.500 as late as February, but a league-worst power play and loaded Metropolitan Division conspired to land Philadelphia a second consecutive bottom-seven finish in the league by the end of the season.