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It’s finally time. The Philadelphia Flyers took the ice in Voorhees, New Jersey to begin their 2025-26 training camp this week.
The team began the next stage of their “New Era of Orange”, with new head coach Rick Tocchet taking the helm. After three seasons under former head coach John Tortorella and Brad Shaw’s guidance, the club intends to turn the corner and begin the ascent towards contention.
While the team doesn’t necessary define progress this season as “playoffs or bust,” Flyers president Keith Jones and general manager Danny Briere expect the organizational compass to be pointing upwards by April 2026.
For that reason, Briere was fairly aggressive in making offseason acquisitions to augment the young core led by Matvei Michkov, Tyson Foerster, Cam York, and Noah Cates.
Perhaps no move was more symbolic of that than the acquisition of forward Trevor Zegras from the Anaheim Ducks in late June. And Briere continued to add with the signings of center Christian Dvorak, goalie Daniel Vladar, along with defensemen Noah Juulsen and Dennis Gilbert.
Even with the veterans peppering the lineup, the signal has been sent by Flyers management. They are ready for their youth to take the reins.
“There’s still going to be some interesting fights,” Briere said on Tuesday. “You asked me the question about the roster spots but I guess there’s going to some internal fighting for responsibilities. That’s what I’m excited about.”
So which fights might be the most interesting to watch over the next few weeks?
The auditions to improve the Flyers struggling power-play will certainly be one of them.
Can Tocchet’s Power-Play Concepts Work In Philly?
The Philadelphia Flyers power-play has been a source of frustration for the club for a number of seasons. It has consistently ranked in the bottom third of the league. Under John Tortorella and Rocky Thompson, no matter what the personnel grouping, no matter what the concept and play was, it struggled.
Enter Tocchet, who in 2023-24 had one of the league’s best power-plays with the Vancouver Canucks. The fascinating part of it isn’t that it was a precision instrument looking for a perfect play, it was more of a blunt hammer to create chaos and opportunity.
Accordingly. in this system motion is constant, attacking pressure is king, and puck retrievals are essential to making it work. In many ways, it simplifies the players requirements by having them focus on the attack and be ready to literally “go with the flow” of play.
Tactically, it runs in an umbrella formation, with three players high, one operating as the bumper, and a net front forward. It’s a formation that allows for the motion that’s required and the flexibility to adapt as need be.
Tocchet spoke on his power-play concepts will be delivered by assistant coaches Jaroslav “Yogi” Svejkovský and Jay Varady.
“They’re excellent communicators, great about teaching concepts,” Tocchet said to reporters on Friday. “We’re not about plays. We’re about concepts and when you have players like Konecny, Michkov, Foerster, you have to be careful about not making these guys robotic.”
“Power plays can sometimes be robotic. If the PK does ‘this,’ what is your concept from that? I think that we have to let these guys be carefree.”
Who Gets Initial Power Play Opportunity?
So beyond Michkov, Konecny, and Foerster, who else might get the chance to be carefree with the man advantage?
Earlier in the press conference, Tocchet specifically pointed out defenseman Cam York.
“I have liked York out there a lot. He’s got to stack good practices together,” Tocchet said. “We need Yorkie to be a leader back there. Cam knows Quinn Hughes. I like his offense from the blueline. I saw in in World Juniors and he ran the power-play at the top.”
“Is there a spot there where he could play the powerplay (for the Flyers)? Maybe, because I want to see that.”
Similiarly, Jamie Drysdale’s skills as a rover are a natural fit for a motion based system like Tocchet’s. It will interesting to see how Tocchet runs his personnel groupings. Looking at the Flyers current roster, it would seem a four forwards and one defenseman set up is likely. However, if Emil Andrae can make the roster out of camp, he could help the system in a 3F-2D set up.
While there will be questions about if Oliver Bonk (currently day to day with an upper body injury) could eventually reprise his “Bumper Bonk” role from junior hockey, but that’s probably not in the cards just yet.
Expectedly, Zegras should profile as a power-play main-stay with Tocchet pointing to his “brain” game as opposed to outmuscling others either high or in a bumper role. Alex Bump might do the same.
Sean Couturier’s size and intelligence could see him operating in a bumper or net front role. Other net front candidates could include Owen Tippett or Bobby Brink, though such a role could take away from the former’s natural quickness.
Finally, a wild card to watch for in preseason could be Nikita Grebenkin, in a net front role.
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