With training camp around the corner, the off-season has essentially come and gone, with the Philadelphia Flyers having addressed several positions of need through the draft, trade market, and free agency.
It wasn’t necessarily a show stopping summer, however they added two key centres for the 2025-26 season in Trevor Zegras and Christian Dvorak, signed goaltender Dan Vladař to act as a more dependable backup to Samuel Ersson, and signed Noah Juulsen and Dennis Gilbert on the back-end purely as depth.
They also drafted top-tier prospect Porter Martone with the 6th overall pick, added Jack Nesbitt with their other first round pick, and swung for the fences in the second round with 4 selections that included Shane Vansaghi and Jack Murtagh.
The Flyers got to see some of their top prospects participating at this year’s World Junior Summer Showcase with Martone and Spencer Gill representing Canada, Murtagh and Vansaghi playing for the United States, Jack Berglund for Sweden, and Heikki Ruohonen and Max Westergård suiting up for Finland.
Martone excelled in his short stint before being sent back home with the rest of the Canadians that are virtual locks for this year’s tournament. However, the biggest winners were Berglund and Ruohonen, who both stepped up with big performances that enhanced their stock ahead of a key developmental season.
With Rick Tocchet now behind the bench, the youth movement continuing to churn, and Matvei Michkov’s sophomore season colliding with the arrival of Zegras, we look at 2 intriguing storylines to look forward to ahead of the 2025-26 season.
Youth Movement
The Flyers’ rebuild has sprouted prospects at all positions that are flourishing at all levels, whether at the NHL-level, in the AHL, or in their respective junior leagues.
2025-26 won’t be any different as the Flyers will be keeping close tabs on all affiliates. At the NHL-level they’ll have Michkov, Tyson Foerster, and Emil Andrae, in the AHL they will be welcoming Denver Barkey, Oliver Bonk, and Carson Bjarnason on top of Nikita Grebenkin, Alex Bump, and Helge Grans.
In the college circuit, they’ll have their eyes on the NCAA with prospects ranging from Porter Martone, Carter Amico. Shane Vansaghi, Jack Murtagh, and Heikki Ruohonen. Additionally, they’ll have Jack Nesbitt in the OHL and Jack Berglund in Europe.
Jett Luchanko and Alex Bump are two prospects who will be eying the NHL roster for opening night. In Luchanko’s case, due to his age and the restrictions from the CHL, he will have to return back to Guelph if he doesn’t make the NHL roster.
Bump, on the other hand, has a great opportunity of making his NHL debut in October after a strong finish to the 2024-25 season with both Western Michigan and the Phantoms, and an even better showing in the development camp earlier this summer.
Foerster’s availability is in question after the young forward was deemed to have had a serious elbow injury in early July. He suffered the injury while representing his nation at the IIHF World Championships and it worsened after the fact with an infection.
If he does have to miss extended time, players like Bump, Grebenkin, and Luchanko will have even better chances of cracking the roster. Nicolas Deslauriers and Rodrigo Ābols will provide obstacles, however it will be interesting to see how they fare in training camp and whether or not Tocchet and his coaching staff believe they want to roll out with a much younger roster.
If anything, the youth movement is going to give us something to follow at all levels, regardless of injuries. Whether it’s Michkov’s sophomore season with the Flyers, Bjarnason’s first taste between the pipes at the professional level with the Phantoms, or Martone’s draft+1 season with Michigan State – and much more – we should be in store for an exciting season.
Matvei Michkov’s Sophomore Season + the Addition of Trevor Zegras
After a rookie season that brought back some life to the Wells Fargo Center, Michkov-mania is expected to hit the ground running in 2025-26, as all involved are excited about the prospects of what the 20-year-old can do in his second season in the NHL.
It was a bit of an up-and-down season but Michkov still finished the season with 26 goals and 63 points in 80 games, while adding 200 shots on goal, 16:41 ATOI, and 8 power play goals. Those figures were good first 1st among rookies in goals and 2nd in points.
After notching 11 goals and 27 points in his first 27 games, he slumped to the tune of just 3 goals and 7 points in his 26 games, where he also saw his ice-time shaved by nearly 2 minutes a game. However, he came out of it with a bang as he finished the next 27-game stretch with 12 goals and 29 points.
He had some clashes with John Tortorella, he saw his minutes shaved, was playing in a third line role at times, however Michkov remained professional and went out onto the ice every game with the same mindset. Once he regrouped after the 4 Nations Face-Off, he was a different player and that was evidenced by the 27 points he scored in that 25-game stretch.
Michkov was downright dominant at times, especially when he was reunited with Travis Konecny and Sean Couturier. It remains to be seen how he will fare with a new head coach in Tocchet, but based on how the veteran bench boss has been speaking this off-season, it sounds like he wants the Russian forward to play his game the way he wants to – without too many restrictions.
That pairs nicely with the addition of Trevor Zegras, as that gives the Flyers an extremely talented offensive weapon to pair up with Michkov. With just one year remaining on his deal and his relationship in Anaheim having been somewhat severed, the Flyers swung for the former 65-point pivot in the hopes that he can rejuvenate the offense.
After consecutive seasons of 60+ points, Zegras sustained multiple serious injuries that hampered his abilities. He’s only played in 88 games since the beginning of 2023-24 and has just 18 goals and 47 points to show for it. The former first round pick broke his ankle in January of 2024 and followed that up with knee surgery at the end of December in the same calendar year.
Similarly to Michkov, the 4 Nations break paid off for Zegras, as he finished the season on a better note with 7 goals and 19 points in 27 games compared to the 5 goals and 13 points he had in his first 30 contests.
His offensive capabilities should open up a lot of opportunities at even-strength but maybe more so on the power play. In his career, Zegras has picked up 15 power play goals and 24 assists, which includes 13 goals and 21 assists in the two year stretch between 2021 and 2023.
The Flyers desperately need more skill and another anchor for their power play unit outside of Michkov, and being able to pair someone up with the Russian winger, is going to be paramount for the betterment of the franchise moving forward.
Zegras is listed as a centre and the hope remains that he can play on the same line as Michkov. However, he can also play the wing should the Flyers feel there’s a better fit, which could allow someone more defensively responsible to be stationed down the middle.
In any case, they’ll both have training camp and a slate of preseason games to piece together some much needed chemistry. It’s been awhile since the Flyers have had players with their offensive skill, and if paired together, it could do a lot for Michkov to avoid the dreaded sophomore slump and for Zegras to get back on track after a couple of down seasons.
