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It’s finally time. On Thursday, the Philadelphia Flyers took the ice in Voorhees, New Jersey to begin their 2025-26 training camp. 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 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.
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?
Rookie Forwards Knocking On The Door.
While Briere made a concerted effort to improve his center situation this offseason, Jett Luchanko has a chance to remake things if he can repeat his training camp effort from last season and carry it over to the regular season.
The Flyers purposely kept him out of developmental camp and last week’s rookie camp to give him that opportunity. Luchanko started the first on-ice day of camp lined up with Owen Tippett and Phantoms forward Alexis Gendron.
The Flyers acquisitions of Zegras and Dvorak, along with Cates’ development, makes his training camp hill steeper to climb. If he somehow manages to impress Tocchet, it’s entirely possible that he could force a player like Cates to wing. But again, it won’t be easy.
At the top of the rookie lineup challengers list are Alex Bump and Nikita Grebenkin. Both got a look at playing with top of the lineup level lines on Day One of Training Camp. Bump skated with Zegras and Konecny, while Grebenkin worked with Sean Couturier and Michkov.
Grebenkin is coming off a three point (one goal, two assists) Rookie Series weekend. Bump was held off the scoreboard, but was exceedingly dangerous in puck possession, coming off walls and cutting to the middle of the ice against the Rangers’ prospects.
Even with Foerster working his way back into game shape, Bump has an opportunity to stick with the Flyers even after his return. Grebenkin, when properly focused, can use his size and tenacity to be a good forechecking option and shift disturber. If so, he can became a better option than a more limited Nic Deslauriers. But there’s parts of his game that still need some maturing, specifically his defensive details.
Who Fills In For Ristolainen?
The three most talented defenseman on the Flyers are Travis Sanheim, Cam York, and Jamie Drysdale. They will get a full run of opportunity to handle the bulk of the blueline minutes.
It’s when you get to the remaining lineup spots that things become more cloudy. One battle that I expect will play out will be for injured defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen’s minutes. When healthy, the hulking Finnish defenseman’s game became more positional mature under tutelage of Brad Shaw.
But it will be six weeks to two months before he laces up. Until then, Tocchet is looking at an audition for his role between incumbent Nick Seeler and newcomer Noah Juulsen.
The interesting thing about both players is how similar their games are. Seeler and Juulsen both play heavy styles, are willing to engage and support in their own end.
What makes this a fascinating is knowing that Juulsen was a trusted stay at home defenseman with the Canucks under Tocchet. He is a smooth skater with good up ice vision, though he was pointless in 35 games played.
That stated, Seeler is coming off his best statistical season as an NHLer, with three goals and 20 points in 77 games played. He is a team leader, strong on the penalty kill, and his shot blocking prowess.
I expect Seeler can maintain an upper hand in this fight. Whoever will be working with Drysdale knows they will need to maintain gap integrity when he goes on rushes.
The Bottom Pairing Battle
Egor Zamula went from a promising prospect to battling for his roster spot this upcoming season. However, training camp represents a fresh start.
The 6 foot 3, 201lb defenseman struggled with consistency and his pace of play last season. While he has shown a high panic point through his young career, it’s time his play speeds up.
Zamula bounced in and out of Tortorella’s lineup last season and never seemed to settle in. He finished with three goals and 15 points in 63 games, along with a minus-15 rating.
Free agent signing Dennis Gilbert and former second round pick Adam Ginning play rugged styles. If either prove more reliable than Zamula, the Russian stands to lose out substantially.
While he is more likely to start his first professional season in the AHL, Oliver Bonk is also going to be kept under watchful eye. His ability to move the puck puts him directly in battle with Emil Andrae as a potential power play option in the future.
Phantoms Helge Grans and Hunter McDonald are in the mix as well.
“The Flyers Way” YouTube Series
The Flyers premiered “The Flyers Way: Rebuilding the Orange and Black’ presented by Xfinity,” a behind-the-scenes docuseries from the club’s Emmy Award-winning in-house content shop, On the Fly Productions. Throughout the 2025-26 season, camera crews will follow the Flyers and document the next phase of the team’s rebuild, beginning with the 2025 NHL Draft.
Episode One focuses on the team’s busy offseason, including the team drafting sixth overall pick Porter Martone and trading up for Jack Nesbitt at 12th overall. The episode also follows new head coach Rick Tocchet as he takes the reins and meets with the team for the first time during development camp.
You can watch the first episode here:
Future episodes will follow the team through Tocchet’s first season coaching the Flyers, including training camp, road trips, and more.
If you missed Part One of Flyers Thought’s Training Camp Battles, you can check it out here.
