Author: Jackie Spiegel

From one of the perches overlooking the rink at the Flyers Training Center, Rick Tocchet got a bird’s-eye view of not just a packed house of fans eager for another postseason appearance, but also where things stand on Day 3 of Flyers training camp.

“I really enjoyed watching the competitiveness from all the guys,” the coach said, noting that he started to see players implement some strategies and plans they had worked on the first two days.

“I don’t want guys to kill anybody, but some guys want to show an impression to people, and I’ll never take that away from somebody. I don’t want stupidity, but I do like competitiveness, for sure.”

It was quite competitive, with several scrums and hard hits as the team worked on five-on-five, four-on-four, three-on-three, and special teams. Team Orange won, 4-3, behind goals from Alex Bump, Trevor Zegras, Denver Barkey, and Oliver Bonk. Danila Klimovich, Tyson Foerster, and Helge Grans scored for Team Black, which had to do mountains — or what some sports would call lines, in which you touch the closest blue line and skate back to the start and do that with every line on the ice — twice for losing.

Here are our observations of the Flyers training camp scrimmage:

New season, familiar story(lines)

Tocchet mentioned last year that he likes to keep pairs together, and early on it looks like several are carrying over from last season. On Team Black, Travis Konecny and Porter Martone have been together since the start of camp and flashed the connection they had after Martone joined the team. Noah Cates and Foerster, paired up since the John Tortorella era, were on a line, played on the same power-play unit, and penalty-killed together like usual. Zegras centered a line with Owen Tippett, rekindling their connection toward the end of last season and in the playoffs, as did Barkey and Matvei Michkov. Defensively, Travis Sanheim and Rasmus Ristolainen and Cam York and Jamie Drysdale were reunited.

Stop if you’ve heard this one before: the power play was not good. The expected top unit, with Drysdale at the point and Barkey, Zegras, Tippett, and Michkov, had trouble getting set up or, when they did, finding offense. The second unit generated a bit more and had David Jiříček up top with Foerster, Cates, Martone, and Konecny. That group seemed to be rotating around the zone, and Foerster looked to the rafters after getting robbed by Dan Vladař in front. Speaking of the goalies, Vladař and Joseph Woll looked solid between the pipes and didn’t allow any goals during their half of the scrimmage.

Defenseman Nick Seeler, who, unsurprisingly, was paired with projected No. 6 blueliner Jiříček, noted that the ice got chippy as the scrimmage wore on — bad for moving the puck on the power play but good for the penalty killers like him, he said with a grin — but so did the players. Michkov and Hunter McDonald got into it in front of the away bench, and Martone and Spencer Gill later put each other in headlocks along the boards. They went at it for a while, which led to a big scrum in which Konecny also jabbed Zegras and newcomer Simon Benoit, who was paired with Gill. Martone did grab his right wrist afterward but continued in the scrimmage and had a scoring chance, although it appeared he was favoring the hand at times between whistles.

“You don’t want to cross the line; trying to keep it clean. You don’t wish any ill will upon any of the guys. So, yeah, you try to ride that line. I think some of the guys were getting a little upset with me today, but, you know, that’s just part of my game,” said Ty Murchison, who dumped Sanheim into the end boards early on before playing tough on Cole Knuble the same shift. Murchison entered camp as someone expecting to push for a roster spot and played a smart defensive game by breaking up passes, showing his smooth skating, stepping up at the blue line as he did to Jett Luchanko, and being physical. He appeared to pick up right where he left off at the Rookie Series with his physicality but didn’t drop the gloves as he did then with Rangers prospect Dylan Roobroeck.

More from Michkov

During the first two days of camp, it was apparent that Michkov worked on his skating and game shape during the offseason. He showed Saturday that his passing game remains top-notch, like his passes to Bump and Bonk for goals. However, his work beforehand on each goal stood out. On the Bump goal, he made the play despite knowing he would pay physically from a hit by Konecny that took him out. On Bonk’s goal, with physical winger Noah Powell all over him during three-on-three action, Michkov showed a renewed ability to stay strong on pucks, protecting it as he squeezed through checks from Powell along the end boards and, while being knocked around, kept the puck on his stick before the pass. Throughout the scrimmage, he kept his feet moving and drove through guys, especially down the boards, like when he went hard against the 6-foot-4 Ristolainen in the corner.

“He’s more confident this year than last year in camp, for me, personally,” Tocchet said. “And the stuff in the corner, we talked about when he left for Russia, I said to him, ‘This is where you can really be really good for us’ … because he could hold on to the puck. I’m not going to compare him to [Jaromir] Jagr, but the Jagr-type holding onto it, butt sticking out, taking a hit, but still holding on to the puck.

“… You can tell he’s worked on his game, and you can see the not dropoff after 25 seconds out there, like he’s still skating. So that’s the credit to him, working hard in the summer.”

Because each team needed three centers, and with Cates centering Foerster and either Powell or Nolan Foote and Sean Couturier between Noel Acciari, with whom he also penalty-killed, and Carl Grundström, Barkey and Zegras got a chance to play down the middle. Zegras said Friday that he wants to play center, and he played well with Tippett — the two combined for Zegras’ goal after stealing the puck from Konecny — and a rotation of newcomers in Zach Aston-Reese and Jack Studnicka on the left side. Barkey showed chemistry with Michkov and noted that they work well, especially on give-and-go plays. This summer, Barkey had meetings with the coaching staff about his play as a centerman and worked on a few things, and, if the opportunity persists, plans on leaning on his veteran teammates.

“I think as time goes on here, if I continue to stay there, I think Coots will be a big one, [to] pick the brain of him,” he said. “Selke winner, someone who knows how to play the game the right way. He plays on the defensive side of the puck and the offensive side of the puck very well. And just a guy that’s reliable; you can put him out there in any situation and rely on him, so definitely going to be someone that, yeah, as time goes on here, start working with him after practice or whatever it is, pick his brain and see if I can implement some things, see if he’s got pointers to help me out.”

Breakaways

With 10 forwards on each team, Christian Dvorak floated to other lines but mostly was between Konecny and Martone. … Knuble showed his motor and hockey sense early and often, skating with Cates and Foerster. … Luchanko centered a line with a rotation of Powell, Foote, and Klimovich on his wings. … Bonk looked strong on both ends of the ice and got a chance to play the bumper — “Bumper Bonk” is back! — on a late power-play unit that included Bump, Couturier, Studnicka, and York at the point. … The Flyers are off on Sunday. On Monday, they head to Hershey to face the Washington Capitals for their first preseason game (7 p.m., NBCSP). … The Flyers trimmed the roster by 15. Forwards Brady Berard, Alex Čiernik, Devin Kaplan, Owen McLaughlin, Ilya Pautov, and Zayde Wisdom and defensemen Jackson Edward and Andrew Perrott were assigned to Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League. Forwards Nathan Quinn (Quebec) and KJ Sauer (Edmonton), defensemen Maksim Sokolovskii (London), Brek Liske (Everett), Luke Vlooswyk (Everett) and goalies Martin Psohlavec (Saskatoon) and Marek Sklenička (Seattle) have been reassigned to their junior teams. Forty-two players remain in camp. Matthew Gard (Seattle) is the only junior player remaining on the roster.

Across the first two days of training camp, the Flyers coaching staff has worked on resetting their systems, five-on-five play, and, with a two-on-two small-area game, puck protection and strong play around the net.

They have not worked on the power play.

But it’s coming, with the two main groups of NHLers set to scrimmage on Saturday at the Flyers Training Center (10:40 a.m.). Ten forwards and six defensemen per team — two players at each position will have to sit — will skate five-on-five and work on special teams.

“I think we’re a really good team, especially five-on-five, and fix that and make that just a little bit better, it makes us that much better overall,” defenseman Jamie Drysdale said of the power play.

“Make it substantially better, now you’re talking about a different team, I think in terms of the win column. A lot of games are won and lost on special teams, so definitely a big bonus, and I think we’ve got the skill.”

While the Flyers had a spring awakening last season, the power play has been barely breathing the last few years. Last season, it finished dead-last for the fourth time in five seasons at 15.7%.

On Tuesday, Flyers general manager Danny Brière said he thought it “was definitely better than it was the year before, but the stats didn’t show that, and that’s not good enough.” They need to convert, and he put some of the onus on guys like Drysdale and Trevor Zegras.

“There’s always things in the summer, I guess, that you work on that kind of go hand in hand with the power play,” Zegras said when asked about on-ice work in addition to videos he watched. “Obviously, you don’t have penalty killers and your guys that you run with in the summer, but it’s wall work or entries or maybe getting to the inside, shooting pucks, hitting one-timers. You kind of just do all that stuff anyway, so you hope it translates once the season starts.”

Last season, Drysdale spent more than 180 minutes on the ice with the man advantage, tops among Flyers blueliners and No. 3 on the team overall. At his end-of-season availability in May, he said part of his summer focus would be to help get the power play out of the NHL’s basement, specifically with his shot.

Drysdale worked on his shot — which coach Rick Tocchet can already see a difference in — through his footwork, getting his feet set, and finding spots that he often finds himself open with his skating coach, Dawn Braid.

The blueliner, who took a step forward in his game last season, believes he can increase scoring opportunities not just for himself, but his teammates at even strength and the man advantage. He also worked on his reads too, which Tocchet said the group needed to improve.

“We spent a lot of time last year on knowing those lanes, and there’s only so many options from each kind of quadrant on the ice or area that you’re in, and it’s just picking the right one,” Drysdale said, noting he also used video.

“It’s making the read sooner before I get the puck, things like that. So, again, it kind of just tacks on to finding the spots that I know I’m going to be in, and just working from those spots, working on my reads from those spots, and just getting ultracomfortable with my outs, my options, and my shooting lanes.”

One interesting option this season for the power play is newcomer David Jiříček. Lehigh Valley coach John Snowden told The Inquirer in May that Jiříček, who was acquired in the trade that sent Bobby Brink home to Minnesota, “is dangerous on the power play,” and Tocchet said on Friday he has “got the [heck] of a shot.”

“I think so,” Jiříček said when asked if he improved it over the summer. “Try to work on it every day. I think that’s my biggest asset. Try to bring it to the table every day on the practice and after that in the game.”

Although he wasn’t sure he would get an opportunity on the power play, Jiříček also hopes to show what he can do overall. The blueliner, who was drafted in 2022, is now on his third NHL team.

“Not to people,” he said when asked if he needs to prove himself to anyone.

“I think to myself, ‘[The media] can write anything, right?’ But you know, especially for me, I mean, I just got to prove it to myself and show on the ice that I’m capable to play.”

Breakaways

Asked about playing center, Zegras said, “If I want to play center, which I definitely do, I got to get better faceoffs. I think I was OK, not very good at them last year.” Noel Acciari, who was signed as a free agent on July 1, had a 61% winning percentage in the faceoff circle against the Flyers in the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs. “Yeah, yeah, I know. I wonder why,” Zegras said with a chuckle when the forward’s prowess was brought up. Would he pick his brain now that they are teammates? “Yeah, for sure,” Zegras said. “Ask him what I was doing wrong, probably.” … Asked about Noah Cates and Tyson Foerster getting some time together in camp, Tocchet mentioned the possibility of adding Travis Konency to the wing: “That’s a [heck] of a, I don’t know what line that is. It’s a good top line, or … I think it’d be the best third line in the league.” … Nikita Grebenkin joined Group C on Friday in a yellow noncontact jersey, skating with players heading back to juniors or Lehigh Valley. The forward, recovering from an upper-body injury, took part in some drills but skipped those with heavy contact. Brière said Tuesday he would “miss the first couple of days of camp” after suffering a flare-up last week.

Hockey is built on lore.

“There was a time that players went to training camp to start training for the season and to get in shape,” said Matt Nichol, a strength and conditioning coach who has worked with countless NHLers, in a 2014 Gary Roberts Performance video.

This wasn’t everyone, to be clear, but back in the day, players had time to prepare for the rigors of a season once they arrived in their respective NHL cities for training camp.

Since then, the science behind getting in shape has evolved, from how to train on and off the ice to nutrition. In the early 1990s, the mindset really shifted, as players began taking only a few short weeks off during the summer before getting right back in the gym and on the ice to prepare their bodies for what was to come.

And now there’s been another change.

With a new collective bargaining agreement that went into effect at midnight Tuesday, gone are the days of fitness testing, like measuring a player’s body fat or the dreaded “rope test” that former coach John Tortorella deployed on Day 1 to see where his players were physically.

And this year, training camp for the Flyers is condensed to just 11 days, counting from their first on-ice session at 8:45 a.m. Thursday in Voorhees, and ending with practice on Sept. 27. This is why team-style skating sessions started earlier, the ramping up of high-intensity workouts is occurring much earlier than in previous years, and why an emphasis — “a massive emphasis,” as one pro hockey coach said — has been put on doing the work in the summer because there is no time to ease back into things.

“Probably 10 years ago, you took a lot of time off the ice, and now more guys are skating earlier,” a veteran NHL defenseman told The Inquirer last season.

“… There’s still some heavy lifting throughout the week, but it’s not every day. It’s probably every other day, every two days, whatever the strength coaches think. And then towards the end, you ramp it up. You know, a little more power, speed work into the skates.”

Although the offseason work has been important for decades, it is even more critical now.

Last season there was much discord about Matvei Michkov’s fitness entering the season and how it impacted him throughout the year. He has acknowledged several times, including this summer in a Russian-language interview, that he did not prepare adequately for his sophomore campaign and came in with a high body-fat percentage. Based on social media posts, it looks like he’s put in the work.

“Everybody has a different path along the way,” Flyers general manager Danny Brière said on Tuesday, adding Michkov looks like he has “a different swagger” now. “But what I was excited to see was, I think his maturity level increased as the season went on. In the offseason, seeing him here, he’s got a pep in his step. He feels good. He looks good. So I’m excited about Matvei’s season.”

And everybody has a different focus every summer, based on their needs and age. As one veteran NHL forward nearing the end of his career told The Inquirer in February, when you’re younger, the goal is to teach your body to get stronger and have bigger gains. As you age, it’s about getting your body back to that strength and improving on it. No matter the age, conditioning is important, too.

“It doesn’t happen overnight, either. It’s developing those habits in the gym,” said Bryan Marshall, a longtime strength and conditioning coach who was recently named the New York Islanders director of player performance. Marshall has worked with plenty of NHLers, including Flyers defenseman Jamie Drysdale since he was 14 or 15.

“It’s not one magic summer that does anything. It’s more buying into a philosophy that for the next decade of your life, you have to make decisions that are aligned with your hockey goals.

“And I think that has more to do with it for Jamie, because what I’ve noticed over the years is he has one successful month after another in the summer, and then one successful summer after another. And the next thing you know, he’s developed so much more strength, so much more power, and he’s now got the capacity, I think, to sort of really showcase his talents, right? Because the rigors of an NHL season are pretty grueling.”

The usual plan in the gym for Drysdale over the summer, per the defenseman, who spoke to The Inquirer in April, is rigorous: Mondays and Wednesdays are power days, Tuesdays and Thursdays are strength days, and Friday is conditioning. He would focus on power, aerobic capacity on the bike or VersaClimber, ladder work, hip mobility with bands, and explosiveness, like with box jumps. Working with bands and box jumps are his two favorites.

He’ll also typically undergo a comprehensive power assessment with Marshall using force plates and other technology to understand how he produces power, including force and velocity. For Drysdale, he saw that as he got stronger, he got faster.

As one player said: “It never really stops. It’s a full-time job in the summer as well.” Added another: “If you’re not in shape going into the season, you’re behind the eight ball.”

Why? Because during the season, you cannot train the same as you do in the offseason.

The body needs time to rest and recuperate in between workouts, whether they come on the ice or in the gym. According to UCLA Health, the benefits of a rest day include giving the “body a chance to flush out that excess lactic acid so muscles feel less tired and sore,” and allowing the body to heal and strengthen muscles after intense exercise creates small tears.

It’s why, although he chipped away at it and worked out more often during the Olympic break, it was hard for Michkov to ever get into top conditioning shape last season after a poor start. The heavy work in the gym is done in the offseason because, as one former NHLer told The Inquirer, everyone starts at a certain level, but as the season wears on and the body builds endurance, it also breaks down, causing a player’s strength to drop.

“There are sacrifices you have to make. That maybe some of your other buddies [have things they] can do that you are, unfortunately, [unable] to do,” a current NHL forward said.

“But at the end of the day, I’m fortunate enough to play this game at a high level, and I love doing it, so I’m going to do whatever I can to make sure I put myself in the best position each year.”