Flyers Focus: Staff Changes, and more

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Fifteen days remain until the Philadelphia Flyers open their main training camp on Thursday, September 17, 2026. Key upcoming dates:

Rookie Camp Opens: Friday, September 11, 2026 (15 days)
Rookie Series vs. Rangers: September 12–13, 2026 at the PPL Center
Main Training Camp Opens: Thursday, September 17, 2026 (21 days)
First Preseason Game: Monday, September 21, 2026 vs. Washington Capitals
Regular Season Opener: Wednesday, September 30, 2026 vs. Pittsburgh Penguins

Flyers announce Hockey Ops staff changes

On Tuesday, the Flyers announced various changes to their Hockey Ops support staff.

Alex Ambrose – Head Athletic Trainer: Ambrose replaces Tommy Alva, who performed that role from 2022-23 until last year. Meanwhile, Ambrose served as the Assistant Athletic Trainer. He has worked in pro hockey for 10 years. Before he came to Philadelphia, Ambrose served the same function in the American Hockey for the Florida Panthers and St. Louis Blues organizations.

Zach Casinelli – Assistant Athletic Trainer: Casinelli moves into Ambrose’s former spot. He previously worked at the AHL and NCAA levels. In addition to assisting Ambrose with the Flyers, Casinelli will be the Sports Medicine Liason for the Phantoms.

Melissa Rucker — Head Massage Therapist: A team employee since 2020, Rucker received a promotion for the 2025-26 season.

Abe Edson: Head of Athlete Performance:The Penn State alum comes to the Flyers from the Minnesota Wild. Earlier, he worked for the St. Louis Blues. Overall, Edson has worked in pro hockey for eight years. For the Flyers, he will oversee all aspects of player physical preparation, performance, and recovery.

Chris Gratton — Performance Coach: This is not the namesake who played for the Flyers in the 1990s. This Chris Gratton spent the past three seasons with the Flyers’ AHL affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. He served as Head Strength and Conditioning Coach during the 2025-26 season after two years as Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach (2023-25). Additionally, Gratton previously interned under Edson with the Springfield Thunderbirds during the 2022-23 season.

Lorne Goldenberg — Performance Development Coach: Goldenberg has worked in pro hockey for 40 years: Blues, Blackhawks, Nordiques, Senators, Panthers, and Canadiens. His role for the Flyers will be to design and implement individualized training programs and performance oversight throughout the organization.

Ryan Adkins: Director of Athlete Rehabilitation: Adkins comes to the Flyers from the Major League Baseball realm. Previously, he worked as a physical therapist for the Seattle Mariners and Milwaukee Brewers. In his new role, Adkins will support player rehabilitation, recovery, and injury prevention.

The aforementioned staff will all report to Flyers Vice President of Athlete Performance and Wellness, Daniel Bove. 

Scouting staff change

Dave Morrison — Amateur Scout: A well-known and highly respected name in NHL scouting circles, Morrison joins the Fyers after 22 seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Most recently, he served as a Senior Adviser to the general manager after a five-year stint as Director of Player Personnel. He has 15+ years of direct scouting experience at the amateur and NHL/AHL levels for the Maple Leafs and Vancouver Canucks. During his active playing career in the 1980s, he spent parts of four seasons with the LA Kings and Canucks.

Team Services: Hardenbergh’s replacement

Kevin Braeunle, Manager of Team Services: Bryan Hardenbergh worked for the Flyers for 25+ years.He stepped aside after last season. On Wednesday, the Flyers named 2021 Temple University graduate Braeunle as Hardenbergh’s successor. The new Manager of Team Services spent the last three seasons as Manager of Team Operations. In his new capacity, Braeunle is in charge of all aspects of team travel, logistics and scheduling. He worked in similar capacities for USA Hockey (2022-23) and Bemidji State University (2021-22).

Phantoms staff changes

Joe Hurley — Head Athletic Trainer: The organization promoted Hurley fro assistant to head trainer. He’s worked in junior and pro hockey for 11 years. Hurley served as Lehigh Valley’s assistant athletic trainer for the past three seasons.

Evan Hanberry — Head Strength and Conditioning Coach: Hanberry joins the Lehigh Valley Phantoms as Head Strength and Conditioning Coach after spending the past two years at Penn State University, where he served as Athletic Performance Coach for the men’s lacrosse and women’s tennis programs.

Gavin Bastarche – Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach:Bastarche enters his first year of professional hockey after spending the last two years within Boston College’s athletic department where he assisted with the implementation of strength and conditioning Olympic Sports programs for 21 Division I teams, including the hockey program. Prior to that, he interned for three years at the University of New Hampshire in the Strength and Conditioning department. He received his Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology and Exercise Science with a minor in Coaching from the University of New Hampshire and earned a Master of Science in Exercise and Sports Science at Merrimack College.

Jon Evans – Head Equipment Manager: Evans has been the Phantoms for three seasons after working previously for the Utica Comets. He’s been promoted from assistant equipment manager to the head job.

Liam Singer — Assistant Equipment Manager: Singer joins the Flyers after spending the last two years at Dartmouth College as an Assistant Equipment Manager for both the men’s and women’s hockey programs. In addition, he assisted the Flyers equipment staff during the team’s summer Development Camp in July 2025.

Flyers Daily

Jason Mytetus does an Ask Me Anything episode of Flyers Daily. He goes through a variety of listener questions; not only about the state of the team but a variety of other topics. Other questions address , past curiosities and even some prognostications regarding individual players this season.

Team Toyota Top 20 Prospect Countdown: Jett Luchanko (#6)

The Flyers drafted Jett Luchanko with 13th overall pick of the 2024 NHL Draft. Right from the start, it was a controversial pick. To his credit, Luchanko has never focused on skeptics’ opinions of his upside or performances in the last two World Junior Championships. His sole focus has been on using his speed and two-savvy to become a solid pro. At age 19, he’s played eight NHL regular season games and one playoff game. Additionally, last year, he played nine AHL regular season games plus seven playoff matches.

At the junior level — and the AHL — Luchanko has shown potential to be an above-average playmaking forward with a mature all-around game. However, key aspects of Luchanko’s game have come under scrutiny.

• Reluctance to shoot the puck, despite having a hard shot.
• Questionable assertiveness and playing overly “safe” hockey.
• Average size for a potential NHL center.
• Underwhelming offensive performance at the World Juniors.

However, it’s important to keep in mind just how young Luchanko is. He’s only a few weeks older than 2025 first-round pick Porter Martone. Their respective birthdays fell on either side of the cutoff for the 2024 Draft. More importantly, no two players develop on an identical timetable.

The Flyers showed enough faith in Luchanko to dress in in Game Four of the Eastern Conference Semifinal series against the Carolina Hurricanes. With the team facing elimination, Luchanko played a third right wing spot. He did not look overwhelmed in his Stanley Cup playoff debut. However, he also did not make much positive impact, either.

The bad news on Luchanko’s development so far: he has not made a significant impact in any his NHL games played to date. More concerning, he also failed to dominate at the junior level in his Draft-plus-two season. Based on norms, he tracks so far as more of a future bottom-six forward than a likely candidate for a top-six spot.

Pronger discusses Michkov and more

Hockey Hall of Famer Chris Pronger joined Jordan Hall and Ashlyn Sullivan’s NBC Sports Philly to discuss he thoughts on the Flyers’ upcoming season. Topics included Matvei Michkov’s greatly improved conditiong and ongoing adjustments. Other subjects included Rick Tocchet’s second year as head coach and the keys to the Flyers matching or exceeding their 98-point season and playoff series win over Pittsburgh.