Owen Tippett Speaks On Individual Season, Closeness Of Current Flyers Group

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Philadelphia Flyers forward Owen Tippett made headlines this year for his production, speed, and, probably most notably, the new contract he signed that keeps him in Philadelphia for the next eight years.

For Tippett, it wasn’t a hard decision to stay with the Flyers for such a long period of time. The team may still be in a rebuild, but he wants to be a part of what they’re creating.

“Seeing how great of a city [Philadelphia] is, sports city, fans are awesome, all the history with the organization…obviously going into those contract talks was pretty special,” he said. “Being able to do it for eight years is something that I was really looking forward to and it was an easy decision to go long term.”

Staying long-term means that there’s plenty of opportunity to grow within the organization and become the best version of himself for the Flyers, and that’s exactly what Tippett plans on doing as he builds on what he accomplished this past season.

“I thought compared to last year, [my game] took strides,” he said. “[I’m] more confident and more consistent. Obviously, there’s always stuff to work on and for me, continue to round up that game and be consistent and be a big part of this going forward. I love the group we have here and it’s a special group to be a part of. So, for me, it’s just doing the best I can and making sure I make the changes and improvements I need to help this team win.”

Another important part of Tippett establishing himself as a mainstay in the team is being part of the extremely positive locker room culture that the Flyers became famous for this season. For the Peterborough, Ontario native, it’s a promising sign that the team was able to remain close through the highs and lows of their 2023-24 campaign.

“It’s huge. I’ve been on teams in the past where, maybe you don’t have that close group or get separated during hard times,” he said. “But we stick together through everything, and it definitely helps with the confidence going into a game, knowing that the guy next to you has the same goal. We all love playing for each other and playing with each other. It makes it a lot more fun to come to the rink every day when you have a group like that and there’s memories that were made this year through our team that’s gonna last forever, and each guy in the room will say the same thing. The way we bonded and stuck together through everything this year put us ahead of schedule, I think, in terms of where we wanted to be. I think you could that it’s not the way we wanted to end, but we’re all looking forward to being together again next year.”

And a team that can stick together and learn together, Tippett believes, is a team that can only get better and eventually win together, too.

“I think it didn’t go unnoticed in the room and we can all kind of learn from it and take that going into next year—that’s all part of learning,” he said. “I don’t think anybody had us in the position we were in, even coming down to the last game. It’s all stuff that we have to learn and that’s how you get better is you go through times like that. Obviously, that eight-game stretch didn’t help us, but it’s another opportunity to learn and come back next year and know that feeling.”

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