Since 2012, the Philadelphia Flyers have been toiling a bout with mediocrity that’s mostly unprecedented to one of hockey’s most storied franchises. After a string of exciting playoff runs and a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals, they began a rebuild and a change of guard from the Richards, Carter, Briere, and Gagne gang to a Claude Giroux led black and orange. Identities and hype would come and go with acquisitions and draft picks that never quite panned out and a rotating stable of average to below-average goalkeepers.

Acquisitions such as Jakub Voracek, Wayne Simmonds, Kevin Hayes, Vincent LeCavalier and JVR (the second time around) all came in with high expectations and became major contributors but ultimately didn’t elevate the team. While homegrown young guns like Shayne Gostisbehere, Ivan Provorov, Nolan Patrick, Scott Laughton, and JVR (the first time), despite having their moments and a few All-Star appearances, weren’t able to carry the team at the same consistent level as the old guard listed above, and Lindros, LeClair, Recchi, and Desjardins did before them.

Over the last decade, and especially in the last six years, while each one of the major sports teams began to see their young talent develop, acquisitions payoff, wins stack, and championship aspirations unfold, the Flyers have toiled in mediocrity and established themselves as the ugly stepchild of the major Philadelphia sports teams. Despite the town’s phrustration with every single one of its teams (especially the perpetually-disappointing Seventy Sixers), the Flyers have been the only team that hasn’t felt like a true contender.

But this year, the Flyers are 2nd in the Metro Division (at time of writing) and would be in the playoffs if they started today. Perhaps more importantly, according to hockey experts like Al Morganti and not myself, things are different. The culture is different. This team is tough.

With veteran coach John Tortorella challenging his players as he’s known to, this Flyers team shows up every game ready to scrap. There’s no quit in them. They skate with spirit and play with confidence. They’re playing this way in the midst of a rebuild. Winning, establishing character and identity, it feels good. It wouldn’t be totally surprising if the wheels fell off later in the year, but for now, watching Konecny, Sanheim, and Couturier win games is exciting.

Let’s hope the new front office can supplement the core of this team with some starpower and get the Flyers back to glory.

** clip of Keith Jones talking about Ed Snider **