With Tyson Foerster’s status in the air for the start of the 2025-26 season, the Philadelphia Flyers will be testing their depth a lot earlier than they had hoped but it will provide some of their more seasoned prospects to get a chance to prove their mettle.
For once, the Flyers will be entering a new campaign with a little more stability down the middle between the likes of Noah Cates, Sean Couturier, Christian Dvorak, and Trevor Zegras. It’s by no means a championship calibre quartet but it’s a good mix of different skill sets at a position of need.
To accompany them, the Flyers wingers that are more or less locked in to a roster spot for opening night includes Bobby Brink, Garnet Hathaway, Travis Konecny, Matvei Michkov, Owen Tippett, and Foerster if his elbow infection has fully healed by then.
With Foerster, that’s 10 forwards locked in to a spot – without it becomes 9 – leaving anywhere between 2 and 3 roster spots to win for a select few heading into training camp. That list would include Rodrigo Ābols and Nicolas Deslauriers as well as burgeoning prospects in Alex Bump and Nikita Grebenkin.
Based on how Bump concluded his 2024-25 season and shined during the development camp that took place earlier this month, it seems like his spot to lose at this point. Deslauriers will play a similar role to what he was afforded last year, which was a rotational depth forward for when the team needed a spark or physicality.
Ābols on the other hand was a pretty solid depth player for the bottom-6 and considering he signed a one-way contract during the off-season, it’s a safe bet to assume he should also have a leg up heading into training camp; but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s locked in.
That could be because of the presence of a forward like Grebenkin, who was acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for Scott Laughton at last year’s trade deadline.
The 22-year-old Russian forward had a bit of a delayed debut due to immigration issues but he did score 3 goals and 7 points in 11 regular season games for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms before an additional 4 points in 7 playoff games.
2o24-25 was his first season in North America after having spent the previous 3 in the Russian circuit. He played for Magnitogorsk Metallurg and Khabarovsk Amur between 2021 and 2024, with his best season coming in 2023-24 when he scored 19 goals and 41 points in 67 games for the champion Metallurg. He also won the Alexei Cherepanov Award as the top rookie in the KHL in 2022-23.
He debuted in North America this past season for Toronto, where he went scoreless in 7 NHL contests but added 21 points in 39 AHL contests. In total, between the Marlies and the Phantoms, Grebenkin scored 12 goals and 28 points in 50 games with 43 PIM in his rookie season.
In a recent interview with Nikita Plokhikh at Sovetsky Sports, Grebenkin described what it was like being traded and arriving to Philadelphia, where an NHL spot was essentially no longer up for grabs after they made a series of recalls after the trade deadline was complete.
“When I was traded to the Flyers, I only saw Kolosov there from the Russians. I just changed the environment, the atmosphere for myself. I couldn’t play in the NHL according to the documents, because after the deadline, only five people from the AHL can play. And when there was a deadline, five people were already raised. And I didn’t pass the documents. But it happens. I think this will benefit both me and the team in the future.”
He’s got a lot of gumption and can play several different roles, however the best version of himself might be the power-forward who can deliver the boom with his physicality while also being a pest to the opposition in between plays and during the whistles.
Toronto Maple Leafs head coach – and former Flyers bench boss – Craig Berube was nothing but complimentary about the 22-year-old, when he stopped by the ‘Nasty Knuckles’ podcast earlier this summer. He gave the low-down on what to expect and how he comports himself on the ice.
“As a player, he’s got some really good skill down low in the offensive zone. He’s got good hands, he’s big and strong. He’s got to continue to work on his skating. That was an area of concern a little bit.
“The kid’s got jam, got in a couple fights for us. He likes to mix it up, and he’s got an unreal personality. I really liked him, and he’s got potential. Like I said, he’s got some ability with his size and his hands, and he has that jam. He’s going to get in there. He’s going to get involved. He likes to bang bodies, likes to get to that net, not scared to mix it up, which is good to see. I wish him all the best because I really liked him.”
As for what he expects his role to be in the near future, Grebenkin didn’t mince his words and understands the role he needs to play to make an immediate impact – if and when he’s called upon.
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