"The Standard" Season 3: Episode 1 Recap

On the heels of an improved season last year that ended in the disappointment of missing the playoffs on the final night of the regular season, the Philadelphia Flyers face a crucial year in the third season of a rebuilding process that started in 2022-23.

Head coach John Tortorella is entering his third year behind the Flyers' bench. He has stressed that every season in a coach's tenure, he must further evolve and adjust in his handling of his team. One thing that will not change: the team identity (or "standard" as Tortorella prefers to call it) to which the coach must hold his players.

Year one, 2022-23, was all about evaluating his roster and determining which players to subtract and which to keep around for the longer haul. Year two was about growing the cohesion of the locker room and challenging young players and team leaders to grow in their consistent impact.

As season 3 of "The Standard" docuseries traces the Flyers' preparations for the 2024-25 season, the first episode looks back at the disappointment etched on every one's faces on Exit Day after last season. The story then moves ahead to the preparations that led into the team's grueling first week of 2024 training camp.

Here are five highlights from the first episode.

1. The gospel according to Tortorella

The NHL's elder statesmen among its 32 current head coaches, with two-plus decades behind the bench in the NHL, Tortorella understands the importance of a coach and his team not stagnating after a couple of seasons together.

"Third year is always an important year for me," Tortorella says.

Holding a start-of-camp orientation meeting with the players -- most of whom he already knows from having coached the last season or two -- Tortorella exhorts his players to embrace going through the process to take their next steps toward a return to being a playoff club and placing continued emphasis on the team-first mentality that took hold last season.

As series narrator and Hockey Hall of Fame broadcaster Bill Clement states, the Flyers are not looking to start a new story but rather to take the next evolutionary steps to build on the groundwork that's been put in place.

2. "Doesn't matter what happens. Just play the right way"

In offseasons that predated the Tortorella era, much of the early part of camp was spent trying to convert the "summer hockey mentality" -- casual, with potential bad habits seeping in since the last meaningful game -- into a run-up to being ready for opening night.

In the last couple seasons, however, there's a been a tangible shift to players collectively being ready to compete on Day One starting with the NHL's most grueling skating test (a Tortorella staple) to two-per-day scrimmages starting the very first day that pucks hit the ice the next morning after the skating test.

During the first day of scrimmages, team captain Sean Couturier and All-Star winger Travis Konecny (the team's leading scorer in each of the last two seasons) discuss the goal of staying focused and resilient right from the outset.

"Doesn't matter what happens, just play the right way," Couturier says.

Note: Although wins and losses aren't paramount in scrimmages and preseason games, it's nonetheless notable that the group with Couturier and Konecny won both of its scrimmages on this day, despite being the lone group to play twice on the first day of scrimmages.

Later, Couturier speaks about how his personality meshes -- and differs -- from alternate captains Konecny and Scott Laughton. The common thread: Everyone pushes each other and holds both himself and the group accountable.

3. Chirping and camaraderie

The debut episode of season three then moves from the ice to the links at Merion Golf Club. Flyers players get together for a round of drive, chip and putt golf with their full contigent of teammates.

Konecny teases Travis Sanheim, his closest friend on the club, about his golf game.

"TK" chirps his buddy by telling Sanheim that he was picked last in a pre tee-off "draft" among the players. "And that's why," Konency adds, as Sanheim apparently hooks or slices his shot off-camera.

With 19-year-old Matvei Michkov -- as much of a novice golfer as he is a top hockey prospect-- his Flyers teammates offer encouragement and tips. Aided by visual cues as well as his commitment to learning as much English as quickly as possible, the Russian rookie tries to copy the grip on his club that Couturier demonstrated.

"That's not bad," Couturier says encouragingly.

4. Everything is about the wheels of progress

During the golf outing, Flyers Governor and Comcast Spectacor CEO and Chairman Dan Hilfery addresses the entire group. He stresses his commitment to supporting the team to have the resources, on and off the ice, that everyone needs to continue improving over the course of 2024-25. Amid the friendly -- but competitive -- stakes, the same basic goals are part of all team functions.

"This is a fun day, but I hope it sends a message to all of you that we're about doing everything we can to put the team in a position to win," HIlferty says.

5. A repeat of last season isn't good enough

During his own playing days, Briere was a vital member of the 2007-08 to 2011-12 Flyers teams that rose quickly from the ashes of the worst season in franchise history to an Eastern Conference Finalist his first year, a Stanley Cup Finalist two years later, and a top contender in the next two seasons that followed their 2009-10 Eastern Conference championship.

Now, as the Flyers general manager, Briere addresses the team's current players in training camp. He strongly emphasizes the importance of never resting on one's laurels. The team improved in 2023-24, but not enough to make the playoffs when all was said and done.