The NHL free agency flurry of roster movement from the beginning of July has predictably slowed down. As we’ve reached what could be called NHL Midsommar, it’s time to assess where the Philadelphia Flyers stand at this point.
The Flyers ended last season as a team with potential, but with a number of structural weaknesses.
General manager Danny Briere was active in addressing the team’s major areas of need, while considering opportunities for their young core group led by Matvei Michkov, the NHL’s rookie goal scorer leader.
Prior to free agency, the Flyers signaled a change in their approach and structure with the hiring of Rick Tocchet as their head coach.
Tocchet had a highly successful 2023-24 season with the Vancouver Canucks, winning the Jack Adams Trophy as Coach of the Year. However internal problems between top stars Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller caused the team to miss the playoffs last season, leading to his decision to leave Vancouver and join the Flyers.
If you are looking for a deep dive into Tocchet’s coaching philosophies on defense and breakouts, you should check out colleague Bill Meltzer’s “What You Need To Know” series.
In my previous Flyers Thoughts, we looked at new additions Trevor Zegras and Christian Dvorak, along with current Flyers Owen Tippett and Noah Cates’ potential fit in Tocchet’s lineups.
In Part Two, we’ll examine the likely top line of Matvei Mickhov, Sean Couturier, and Travis Konecny, along with the currently-injured Tyson Foerster.
Michkov, His Linemates, & Tocchet: A Relationship To Watch
Matvei Michkov was the primary reason why the Flyers were a watchable team last season. He has a skill set that is quite unlike the rest of their roster. His on-ice vision, stick-handling, and powerful frame allowed him to adapt quickly in becoming NHL rooking leader in goal scoring (26).
And for all of Michkov’s assets, he is still very much a work in progress in becoming a full fledged dominant force. His defensive game is very much in need of continual refinement, which is to be expected for a 20 year old player just arrived from the KHL.
For that reason, it’s reasonable to expect that Tocchet will keep Michkov with Sean Couturier as his center. The Flyers captain is a stabile, responsible player that can cover for Michkov’s offensive forays. While Couturier has never been a burner who pushes pace, having him with the Russian forward at even strength will help Michkov’s development.
There’s an obvious temptation to put the Russian with Trevor Zegras, especially if the former Anaheim Duck starts as a center. Both possess high level hockey IQ and many of the same skills. However, Zegras will also be attempting to transition to a position with “200 foot” responsibilities. In that configuration, such a set-up might be counterintuitive outside of a power-play.
However, if Zegras were to play on the left side with Michkov in his natural right wing position, it might work with a defensively responsible pivot.
Another consideration with Michkov and Tocchet is how the coach wants to work his forechecking. At it’s best, the Canucks ran a high forecheck system with a lot of pressure. It also puts an emphasis on dumping the puck into the offensive zone, something that Michkov has said he isn’t particularly keen on.
Michkov was able to find middle ground with previous head coach John Tortorella last season. It will interesting to see how his relationship evolves with his new bench boss. Last season, he was a rookie and learning how to adapt his game to the rigors of the NHL. Will he be as open-minded now that he has had success?
Flyers MVP Konecny Looks For Full-Season Consistency
Travis Konecny had an up and down 2024-25 season. For the second straight year, he played at a very high level in the New Year. Unfortunately, he struggled from mid-January until near the end of the campaign. Nevertheless, he is the most likely player to round out the Flyers top line when October rolls in.
Konecny finished the season as the team’s leading scorer with 76 points. He was the team’s MVP, and a member of Team Canada in the Four Nations Tournament.
However he struggled with second-half consistency. An apparent mid-January upper-injury affected his shooting, although he refused to use it as an excuse. He had some rough games heading into the 4 Nations Face-Off tourney. It was exacerbated by a post-tournament goal scoring drought, with one goal (an empty netter) in 21 games through March 15.
“I would say there are a lot of ups and downs that I would like to fix,” Konecny said in April. “You know, my consistency is something I talk about every year and try to improve. There were times this year where I was a bit inconsistent. We definitely like to look to back on that stuff and try to improve for next year.”
The Flyers shipping off a number of teammates prior to the deadline. That, too, was something that had an effect.
“No, I wasn’t dealing with anything,” he said, when asked about a possible injury. “I think the push that I was making to try to make the Four Nations team at the start of the year. By the end, I was just drained and it took alot out of me.”
However consistency is something that Konecny is striving for. He acknowledged such stretches like the post-Four Nations one wouldn’t be acceptable if the team was in a playoff race.
“Once the play started to go down, it just snowballs and you start getting in your own head,” Konecny said. “That’s just something on the mental side of things I’ve got to take care of. If we were in a better spot, a playoff push, it wouldn’t have been acceptable to do that.”
Konecny showed good chemistry with Michkov and Couturier. Expect that to carry forward into the new season.
Foerster Enters Critical Next Stage
Even more so that Konency, Tyson Foerster spent a long portion of last season struggling offensively. While he finished it on a goal scoring tear, he enters the new season with uncertainty due to injury.
The 6’2, 214-pound winger scuffled to find his game as he tried to find consistent line-mates. However, being placed on a line with Noah Cates and Bobby Brink seemed to coax the offense back into his game.
Foerster ended the season as the team’s second leading goal scorer with 25 goals (and 43 points) in 81 games played. In addition, he finished with nine goals in the final nine games of the season, including a hat trick against the Rangers on April 9.
With that in mind, he and the Flyers agreed to a two year, $7.5 million contract ($3.75 million AAV) on May 29, before he could enter restricted free agency. It was a deal considered a relatively bargain for the team and a “prove it” deal for the 23 year old.
But this critical part of Foerster’s time with the Flyers starts with ominous news. On July 1, the team confirmed that he had surgery this offseason on his elbow to deal with an infection. The infection was from an injury he suffered playing for Team Canada at the 2025 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship.
“(Foerster) came and saw our doctors and they decided they had to go in and remove the infection,” Briere said. “What I’m finding out is it takes a long time for all the samples to come back negative and that’s what we’re still waiting on. We don’t know.”
“At that point, we’ll reevaluate and see if more needs to be done. Or if we’re lucky enough, that’s the end of it and he can move on and be ready for the start of the season. But there’s no guarantee of that, so we’re sitting and waiting right now to see how serious it is or not.”
Briere stated that if Foerster missed time to start for the regular season, he pointed to rookie wingers Alex Bump or Devin Kaplan as possible lineup replacements.
In the next part of our preview, we’ll take a look at how Bump, Kaplan, and other forwards might figure into Tocchet’s forward lines.
