Quick Hits: Flyers Daily, Camp Countdown and More

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We are one week away from the start of the two-game Rookie Series at PPL Center between the Philadelphia Flyers prospects and their New York Rangers counterparts. Flyers prospects slated to play in the games include Jett Luchanko, Oliver Bonk, Jack Nesbitt, Denver Barkey and Carson Bjarnason.

The Flyers will make formal announcements next week on rookie camp and NHL training camp dates and rosters. Some details are not yet set in stone. However, my general understanding is that the Flyers rookies will get a day to prep for the Sept. 12 game in Allentown before the two-game set. There is likely to be streaming broadcasts of the two PPL Center games but certain details remain to be finalized.

Rookie camp itself will be fairly brief, running for just a couple of days. NHL camp will start by the end of the next week, with on-practice following a day set aside for player photography, video snippets for broadcasts, etc.

Meanwhile, the preseason opener is on Sept. 21 in Long Island. In all likelihood, there will be a game group that goes straight to New York in the morning. Additionally, there is a practice group that stays behind that day at the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees. That set up is not confirmed but that’s how early camp preseason game days run.

Flyers Daily: The New Guys, Defining Success in 2025-26

On Friday’s edition of Flyers Daily, host Jason Myrtetus talks about how the Flyers can give newcomers such as Trevor Zegras and Christian Dvorak the greatest chance to thrive with the club right off the bat. Additionally, Flyers fans weigh in their own thoughts on a question Jason raised recently. How would YOU define a successful 2025-26 season.

The team is not a Stanley Cup contender at present (all can agree on that much). Would earning a wildcard playoff spot equate to success? How about if young players show clear progress but the team narrowly missed the playoffs. Would improving the power play from at or near the bottom to somewhere close to the middle of the back be a good sign for the longer-term picture?

The 20-minute episode is below.

Musings and Housekeeping

• The Flyers made a depth prospect trade yesterday. It’s not often one sees a player traded for his former junior linemate but that’s what went down on Thursday. The Flyers traded 22-year-old J.R. Avon to the Seattle Kraken for 22-year-old Tucker Robertson. The two were junior hockey teammates — in fact, frequent linemates — on the OHL’s Peterborough Petes. They won an Ontario Hockey League championship together in 2022-23. Both are speedy but smallish forwards who perhaps needed a change of AHL scenery. Avon had a promising Phantoms rookie year in 2023-24 but did not progress this past year. Robertson, the more natural scorer of the two (although Avon thrives in shootouts), split his rookie pro year between the ECHL and AHL. This past season, Robertson was in and out of the lineup for the Coachella Valley FIrebirds.
• The KHL regular season gets underway on Saturday. Flyers goalie prospect Yegor Zavragin and his SKA St. Petersburg team open the season in St. Petersburg against the Shanghai Dragons.
• On Wednesday, Hockey Hot Stove welcome New Balance Mount Laurel as a content sponsor. I’ve known owner Geoff Rabinowitz for years. He’s a great guy. Side note: Geoff’s location is the athletic shoe store of choice for a host of Flyers Alumni and current Flyers players. It’s not unusual to drop by and encounter an Alum such as Bernie Parent. Mark Howe or Bob Kelly (Hound and Geoff are buddies). Current Flyers go there periodically, too (including Matvei Michkov). Likewise, they have close ties with the Flyers Warriors.
• When we started Hockey Hot Stove, one of our advertising objectives was to work whenever possible with people we know or at least come highly recommended by friends and family. Geoff fits that to a tee. So does Brendan Gillespie of Summit Public Adjusters. If you tune in to the O&B Puckcast (an HHS content share partner), Brendan is familiar face. You know him as “Chef”, because he worked in the restaurant business for years. He’s a licensed public adjuster in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and soon in Maryland. Quick personal story: In September 2024, my Texas house suffered water damage from an upstairs plumbing issue. I wished like hell that Brendan was licensed in Texas or had close connections out this way. It would have helped my wife and me cut through a lot of red tape and expense.