The forward posted on social media that he attended the World Cup Final in New Jersey on Sunday. That came four days after he became the highest-paid Flyer in annual average value.
Zegras signed a four-year, $36.5 million extension with an AAV of $9.125 million on July 15 after filing for salary arbitration on July 5. The contract avoided a hearing scheduled for Wednesday, which he is happy about.
“I think I just had a lot of fun being at the rink and being around the guys,” he said when asked why the Flyers became a fit after just one season during a Zoom session on Tuesday. “ … I find it lucky to be surrounded by so many amazing people, from like the guys to the coaching staff to Danny [Brière, the Flyers general manager] and [president Keith Jones], Dan Hilferty, the [governor].
“So, I found that it was just a very good situation for me mentally, and it was a lot of fun on the ice, too.”
Zegras is now locked up for several years, alongside a strong core of players, including defensemen Jamie Drysdale, who signed a four-year contract Friday, Cam York, and Travis Sanheim; forwards Travis Konecny, Owen Tippett, Tyson Foerster, and Christian Dvorak; and goalie Dan Vladař.
Comfortable playing wing or center — he skated down the middle in the playoffs, which he said gave him confidence — Zegras is projected to be the top-line center for the Flyers this season.
His offseason work involves getting bigger and stronger to help in the faceoff circle — he has won just 38.9% of his draws across 349 NHL regular-season games with the Flyers and Anaheim Ducks — and a bit more skating in August, given the shorter training camp and preseason on the horizon.
Last year, Trevor Zegras took part in the Shoulder Check Showcase in Connecticut. The event raises money and awareness for mental health.Jackie Spiegel
First, there is one more date circled on the calendar for Zegras in July. On July 30, he will join other NHLers in the Fourth Annual Shoulder Check Showcase at the Martire Family Arena on Sacred Heart University’s campus in Fairfield, Conn. The puck drops at 6:30 p.m., the game will be televised on NHL Network, and “Gritty’s coming, so I’m pretty fired up about that,” Zegras said.
But the charity game, the premier event for the HT40 Foundation, is secondary to the meaning and importance of it.
Created in 2023, the HT40 Foundation rose from tragedy. Hayden Thorsen, who wore No. 40 and was a goalie for the Junior Rangers in the Mid Fairfield Youth Hockey Association, died by suicide at the age of 16. The foundation and the game honor his memory.
“[Rob Thorsen, Hayden’s father’s] basic premise was like, ‘Who’s Hayden?’ And for him, Hayden was that kid, the guy who was always checking on his buddies,” Gary Zegras, Trevor’s father, told The Inquirer.
“If you look at pictures of Hayden, he’s always got his arms around his buddy’s shoulders.
“And so Rob’s idea was just really born out of who Hayden was, which was the guy that would ask you how you’re doing, what’s going on, arm around your shoulder, always had a smile … that simple, just act of kindness.”
Last year, Flyers defenseman Jamie Drysdale participated in the Shoulder Check event held at a sold-out Terry Conners Rink in Stamford, Conn. Flyers mascot Gritty is expected to be at the 2026 edition.Jackie Spiegel
Trevor, a Bedford, N.Y., native, also grew up playing for the Connecticut-based organization. His father, who has been with the association for more than 20 years, is the vice president and coaches a pee-wee team. He is also on the board and the secretary for the HT40 Foundation.
“I think the message is good because it’s something, as hockey players and athletes, we can all kind of relate to and get behind, and that would be checking in on each other,” Trevor said.
“You never know what somebody’s going through on a day-to-day basis, and maybe your phone call or your text is the reason why maybe they turn the corner for whatever reason. So it’s a pretty inspiring game, and I’m lucky that I got a lot of buddies that come and play in it.”
The Shoulder Check initiative was created to raise mental health awareness and encourage people to reach out to, and check in with, one another. Although the event includes a hockey game, the message intends to reach beyond the sports world to broader communities, including schools, community centers, and places of worship.
“Ten years ago, 20 years ago … you weren’t supposed to talk about that kind of stuff,” Gary Zegras said. “But you can talk about your feelings. You can ask your friends, how they’re doing. You can make sure that they’re doing OK. You can put your arm around their shoulder. It’s just so important that the younger kids see that so that something like what happened with Hayden doesn’t happen again.
“I just think these guys are role models in their world, and listen, not everybody in the country or the world knows who these NHL players are, right? In our world they’re everybody, but you know the reality is not everybody knows who they are. So while it’s a great starting point for the message, we’re doing everything to get the message out.”
Fans will be able to get autographs, interact with and watch NHLers including Zegras, former Flyers defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere and goalie Alex Lyon, San Jose Sharks forward Will Smith, Seattle Kraken forward Matty Beniers, and Ottawa Senators forward Shane Pinto. Everyone in attendance will pledge before the puck drops to “Reach Out. Check In. Make Contact.”
“Yeah, I’m a big phone-call guy,” Trevor Zegras said when asked how he reaches out. “So whether I’m driving or doing whatever, I like to check in, calling people, and seeing their face, seeing how they’re doing.”
There was a 12-second moment in Game 4 of the Flyers’ first-round series against the Pittsburgh Penguins that perfectly encapsulated who Jamie Drysdale, the hockey player, has become.
In the offensive zone, he got the puck from his good buddy Trevor Zegras at the top of the right circle and snapped a shot on goal. Penguins goalie Artūrs Šilovs made the save, and the puck popped out to Erik Karlsson, who put it down on the ice before springing Rickard Rakell.
Drysdale, using his footwork and quick steps, was able to get back and keep the Penguins veteran forward to the outside before taking him out behind the net. He killed the play and allowed his partner, Cam York, to get the puck.
This is who Drysdale is now.
Although he entered the NHL as an offensive defenseman, he is now strong on both sides of the puck — creating offense, as seen by his career high in goals (eight) and tying his previous best in points (32), and building his defensive game. According to Natural Stat Trick, the Flyers had a 50.5% goal share with Drysdale on the ice.
That is why the Flyers locked up the 24-year-old blueliner with a four-year, $26 million extension on Friday. His $6.5 million average annual value is the highest among the defensemen.
“Philly’s a place that I love to play, and there’s no secret there,” he said on a Zoom call Monday. “I’ll continuously say it. I’m happy with four years [and] would want to continue that after the fact, obviously, and just really excited to show what I can do and keep it going.”
Part of the surge is from his growing confidence. The other part is the work he puts in during the dog days of summer.
Jamie Drysdale’s work with Dawn Braid has helped him improve his skating. Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Still learning to skate
Skating has always been Drysdale’s best tool. He has relied on it since he was a tyke in Toronto, and continues to do so thanks to the work he puts in. At 7 or 8 years old, he started taking figure skating classes to help his edge work, and then once hockey got serious, around 12 or 13, he started working with a skating coach.
For the last few years, including this summer, he’s headed home and gotten in touch with Dawn Braid, a renowned coach who has consulted with several NHL teams. She was the first woman in NHL history to coach full-time when she joined the Arizona Coyotes in 2016, and currently works for the New York Rangers.
“I always thought, at least in my head, I thought I was a pretty good skater. And then, the first time I worked with Dawn, it was a lot of corrections,” Drysdale told The Inquirer in May. “It makes you feel not so good as a skater and realize that there’s a lot to work on.”
Despite it all, he loves working on his skating, calling it his favorite thing to do in the summer.
“Because when I feel good on my feet, I think that’s when I feel just best on the ice as a whole,” he said. “So, especially to start the summer and to end the summer, I try to get as many sessions as I can to, obviously, set myself up in a good spot for the summer and then set myself up in a good spot for the season.”
It starts standardly, getting his feet wet again and his technique back after being off the ice for a short time; this season was the first time Drysdale made the postseason in his NHL career. As the summer days roll on, the drills progress — he said it’s frustrating because Braid will demo her drills with ease, when the drills are anything but easy — and they become more tailored to what he specifically wants to work on.
Cam York (left) has noted the improvement in Jamie Drysdale’s skating, and his confidence. Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
For Drysdale, the focus is on being able to cut back or explode out, or cut back with speed. He works on being evasive at the blue line, skating with forwards coming at him, retrievals — “a lot of retrieval stuff we do in terms of footwork, on how to use deception with your feet, things like that” — and transitions.
It has paid off, as seen by that play on Rakell.
“He’s not the biggest guy, maybe, like physically, but he uses his feet to defend,” York said of Drysdale in April. “I think you look across the league, there’s a lot of smaller defensemen who use their feet, and obviously he’s a great skater and can keep up with anybody. So he uses that to his advantage, for sure.
“But I think just confidence for him. He’s starting to figure out what works best for him. And he knows that when his feet are moving like that [in general], he’s effective.”
There’s a good chance that Drysdale will be working on his play with the puck, too. He said at his end-of-season availability that he wanted to work on his puck play, hanging on to pucks, making more plays in the offensive zone, and his shot. He mentioned on Monday that some of his focus is on getting the power play out of the NHL’s basement, specifically with his shot.
“Been pretty continuously working on my shot over the last year and throughout this summer,” he said Monday. “Something that I’m going to come in confident with and use as a weapon, and kind of take it from there.”
Those are offensive elements. But there is no denying that his defensive game has, no pun intended, taken the biggest stride. Across his 24 games in his first season with the Anaheim Ducks, Drysdale had a plus-minus of minus-12. The following year, he played 81 games and was minus-26, and in his first 24 games with the Flyers after being acquired in the Cutter Gauthier trade, he was minus-18.
But that is all behind him. What’s more promising was what he did this past year, going from minus-32 in 2024-25 to minus-3 this past season. It’s not in the positives yet, but it feels like that’s the next step.
“I wouldn’t say it’s too much technical-wise,” he said when asked if he did anything differently with his skating to become stronger defensively in April.
“I think it’s more so just being super comfortable with it, knowing that it’s a strong suit and using it. Like fully believing that it’s my best way to defend because I think I trust my gaps. I can trust my feet to get back. … Yeah, so I think that’s kind of the main thing, is just being more confident in what I can do with my feet.”
From strength to strength
The work Drysdale is doing isn’t just on the ice. He’s also doing it in the gym. Drysdale has worked with Bryan Marshall, program director and founder of Milo Athletics based in Ontario, and a high-performance coach who has worked with several NHL teams, since he was 14 or 15 years old.
He thinks Marshall knows him better than himself when it comes to his work in the gym. And Marshall has seen the blueliner’s growth and development in his on-ice game come from the work he has done off the ice, calling it “inevitable.”
“I think Jamie always had the talent. He always had those natural abilities in his skating. But, at the next level, the real separator is, how efficiently can you repeat that,” Marshall told The Inquirer in April.
“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,” he added, “and the next thing you know, he’s developed so much more strength and 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.”
Jamie Drysdale is attempting to build strength that can help the Flyers in various ways, including on their beleaguered power play. Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
According to Drysdale, the schedule is rigorous, with Mondays and Wednesdays being power days, Tuesdays and Thursdays for strength, and Friday for conditioning. He focuses 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.
And all the work is done focusing on single-leg work with a priority in preparing Drysdale’s body to receive force.
This summer, he’s also working on his first few steps. Marshall puts his athletes — he also trains former Flyers forward Scott Laughton, now with the Los Angeles Kings — through a comprehensive power assessment via force plates and other pieces of technology. It helps him understand how a player produces power, including force and velocity, and for Drysdale, he saw that as he got stronger, he got faster.
“He’s obviously playing with confidence, and he’s got those reserves — that’s what I like to call it — he’s got a strength reserve, he’s got a power reserve, he’s got a conditioning reserve, an aerobic reserve right now, where he can push it on a play, and maybe there is a turnover, but he’s fine,” Marshall said when the play against Rakell was mentioned.
“He’s not spent; he’s not running on empty, and he can come back and do his thing. And I think his body is allowing him to play with that confidence that he’s obviously shown this year.”
Confidence has become a big word for Drysdale this past year.
In the Elite Prospects 2020 NHL draft guide, Drysdale’s scouting report called him a “brilliant skater” but someone who “doesn’t seem to know he is by far the best skater on the ice.”
It feels like he knows that now.
“The biggest step, I think, was just confidence level,” he said in May. “That might not be like an actual hockey thing, but I think just coming to the rink and believing that I was a good player and could make an impact, that was probably the biggest kind of shift for me. And I guess that kind of carries all over the ice. …
“I think there’s a lot of things that I want to work on, and I think I can bring a lot more to the table as well in certain areas. So I think overall, pretty happy with it, but I think, yeah, a lot of work will be done.”
After posting a career-best season, the 24-year-old blueliner signed a four-year, $26 million extension on Friday with a $6.5 million average annual value to stay with the Flyers. According to a team source, the contract comes with very limited trade protections in the final two years, and per Puckpedia, it is a six-team no-trade list in Year 3 and a four-team no-trade list in Year 4.
Drysdale became a restricted free agent on July 1 and filed for salary arbitration July 5, two days after the Flyers tendered a five-year, $90 million offer sheet to Leo Carlsson that the Anaheim Ducks matched. Drysdale’s arbitration hearing was scheduled for Monday.
The signing comes two days after the Flyers inked Trevor Zegras to a four-year, $36.5 million contract. Drysdale is now the highest-paid defenseman on the Flyers in AAV. The core of Drysdale, Cam York, and Travis Sanheim is locked up for several seasons, with Sanheim signed through 2030-31 and York’s contract expiring at the same time as Drysdale’s, after the 2029-30 season. The final member of the top-four blueliners, Rasmus Ristolainen, is in the final year of his contract.
“I love it here,” Drysdale said on locker cleanout day. “I’ve made that very clear, kind of the second that I got here. Everyone’s treated me amazingly since I’ve gotten here.”
Acquired for Cutter Gauthier from the Anaheim Ducks in January 2024, alongside a second-round pick that the Flyers eventually used to select forward Jack Murtagh, Drysdale struggled early on to find his footing in Philadelphia. But there’s a reason why his teammates awarded the defenseman the Pelle Lindbergh Memorial Trophy in April as the team’s most improved player.
“We’re excited to have Jamie remain a key part of our organization for years to come,” Flyers general manager Danny Brière said in the team’s press release.
“Since we acquired him, Jamie has worked extremely hard and taken big steps in his development, and has established himself as a reliable piece on our back end with the ability to impact the game in all situations. We believe his best hockey is still ahead of him, and he’s going to play an important role in strengthening our blue line as we continue to build.”
After several injury-plagued seasons, Drysdale skated in 78 games this past season, missing three games due to an upper-body injury from a blindside hit in January and the last game of the regular season to rest. It was the most he’s played since skating in 81 during his second NHL season of 2021-22.
He averaged a career-high 21 minutes, 33 seconds per game, set a new mark in goals (eight), and tied his previous best in points (32). According to Natural Stat Trick, the Flyers had a 50.5% goal share with Drysdale on the ice.
“I think I took a few steps this year,” he said. “The biggest step, I think, was just confidence level. That might not be like an actual hockey thing, but I think just coming to the rink and believing that I was a good player and could make an impact. That was probably the biggest kind of shift for me. And I guess that kind of carries all over the ice.”
Maybe that confidence played a role in his biggest improvement: his plus-minus. It still isn’t in the positives, but it jumped from minus-32 in 2024-25 to minus-3 this season.
The Flyers believe defenseman Jamie Drysdale is just scratching the surface of his potential.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
“I saw some guys take a big step, Jamie, especially in the way that he defends,” Sanheim said at locker cleanout day. “It was awesome to see from my point of view, and the way that he may continue to get better and better with more minutes and harder competition. I’m excited to see where his game gets to as we move this thing along.”
In the first postseason action of his career, Drysdale posted two goals, tying him for the team lead with several players, and two assists. His goal in Game 1 against the Pittsburgh Penguins was the first playoff goal by a Flyer since Ivan Provorov’s overtime winner against the New York Islanders in Game 6 of the second round of the 2020 bubble.
But the blueliner knows that last season was just one chapter in his hockey story. He’s heading off for the summer to work on his game because, while happy with his season, he thinks he can bring a lot more to the table.
“I think just puck play, to be honest with you, that’s kind of the biggest thing,” he said when asked what he wants to improve on. “With that, obviously, shot, shooting it, things like that.
“And then, just hanging onto pucks, making more plays in the offensive zone. And I think that’s just something that I can work on, something that I will work on. Just taking guys on, maybe more one-on-one, things like that, just making more plays overall is the thing that I’ll focus on and lean into.”
BERLIN, N.J. — Blake Zielinski carried the puck around the ice at Pennsauken Skate Zone in Camden County on a muggy late June day. He skated around an Edgebosshockey mini-stick, dangled and weaved before putting a shot into the upper corner.
There was some hooting and hollering, a raised stick, and a celebration with one knee touching the ice before the winger with a big grin threw a hit into the glass at the end boards.
Peering through the glass along the sideline were Ed Snider Youth Hockey & Education campers who one day hoped to follow in Zielinski’s footsteps. Above him hung banners that also dotted the other sheet of ice at the Skate Zone. Each banner includes a name, a logo, and a year. There are Mattias Samuelsson-Buffalo Sabres-2018; Cam Dineen, who just signed with the Flyers, with Arizona Coyotes-2016; Tyler Boucher-Ottawa Senators-2021; Cayden Primeau-Montreal Canadiens-2017; and the late Johnny Gaudreau-Calgary Flames-2011.
A 15th banner is now set to join them: One for Blake Zielinski, Los Angeles Kings, 2026.
“Obviously being drafted is a dream come true,” he told The Inquirer via text while on the West Coast for the Kings’ development camp. “It’s what I’ve been working toward my entire life. There’s honestly no words that you can describe the feeling that went through me after my name was called. I couldn’t have done it without my family and everyone who helped along the way, and it’s just the beginning, for sure!”
While the beginning of Zielinski’s NHL dreams is on the West Coast in gray, black, and white, his origin story is in orange and black.
Blake Zielinski had to wait until Day 2 of the NHL draft, but not for long, as he was selected 80th overall by the Los Angeles Kings.Courtesy of Julie Zie
A natural skater finds his calling
On a quiet street in Berlin, Camden County, nicely manicured lawns dot the landscape. Inside one of those houses lies a basement that has seen its fair share of knee hockey, and the living room’s hardwood floor is scratched because of a makeshift puck made out of an old tobacco tin and tape. Three kids, Grant, Kylie, and Blake, the youngest, filled this house with memories.
The backyard is typical, with a comfortable sitting area, green grass, lighting, and a white fence. The fence looks tall, but it is actually not tall enough. Despite its majestic height, it cannot stop hard rubber disks from heading into a neighbor’s yard.
“I broke a couple of fences when I was younger,” Blake said with a chuckle. That is why two summers ago, Blake, his father, Joe, and one of Joe’s friends dug a foot down into the dirt, built a shooting platform — it has a BZ97 on it — and set up netting that stretches all around a hockey goal, almost touching the fence on both sides and going vertically to the sky.
Blake Zielinski shoots pucks in the backyard with his dog, Mabel, at his family home in Berlin.Isaiah Vazquez / For The Inquirer
This spot, regardless of the weather, has seen several buckets of pucks find the netting — preferably between the pipes of the 6-by-4-foot goal — or stopped by Mabel, the family dog.
All of these moments have been tinder, lighting up easily as Blake’s love of the game and his skill level have grown to become a third-round NHL draft pick. But the initial spark came from the Flyers, of course.
“My first hockey game [that] I think I ever watched was the Flyers in the Stanley Cup Finals in 2010,” he said. “I was 2 or 3 years old, and I saw Patrick Kane score the goal on the Flyers, and it stuck with me. I don’t know why. But that’s one reason I really love hockey, and just, in general, after that, I just fell in love with it.”
Blake would often accompany his older brother Grant’s ball hockey games in Marlton, Burlington County. He was handed a stick and ball, and spent time hitting the ball off the rink before finally playing games from his preschool days until the eighth grade. The ice hockey itch came early.
By the age of 3, he wanted to skate, his mom Julie recalls.
“My friend Jenn [Edwards], I just happened to meet with her because our daughters played field hockey together and she said, ‘Oh, I’m a skater. … I can teach him,’” Julie said.
“So I said, ‘Let’s go.’ Put on his little jacket … he had a helmet. And went over to the Flyers Skate Zone, met with her. And she said, ‘He’s doing great. How long has he skated for?’ I said, ‘About 20 minutes.’”
Blake Zielinski skates for the first time, working with family friend Jenn Edwards, at the Flyers Skate Zone in Voorhees. According to his mother, Julie Zielinski, he threw the walker aside and “that was it.”Courtesy of Julie Zielinski
The family still jokes that Jenn said it just because she wanted to make money with lessons, but that was far from the case. It was easy to see Blake’s knack for moving on ice — and for the record, Edwards jokes in return that she wants credit for him becoming a draft pick.
A Flyers fan, and an audience with Johnny Hockey
Over time, Zielinski progressed through the youth hockey ranks in the Greater Philly Area. While his number has changed over the years — he was, coincidentally, given Danny Brière’s No. 48 by the Kings at development camp — some of it was with a No. 93 on the back. One of his favorite players growing up was former Flyers right wing Jakub Voráček.
“My first game, I was pretty young. I think I had this Voráček jersey. I got surprised for my birthday,” Blake said. “ … I think there used to be a restaurant in Wells Fargo where you can see the ice when you’re up there eating. Just enjoyed it with my family.”
The number of games he has attended over the years is too big to count. Joe would often take Grant and Blake on Thursday nights, and they would have to begrudgingly leave early because it was a school night, his sons often chirping at their dad if they’d left a game that the Flyers came back to win.
Recently, Blake was there watching the Flyers take on the Pittsburgh Penguins in almost every home game of the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, dreaming of what it would be like under those same bright lights.
Blake Zielinski’s suit jacket for the draft featured moments and memories from throughout his hockey career. More than 20 people were in Buffalo, N.Y., to hear his name called, including his 82-year-old grandmother, Patricia Mayer, and his billet mom from Iowa, Kelly Schofield.Isaiah Vazquez / For The Inquirer
“When he was in preschool, he made a book, and the whole book was based on the Flyers,” Julie said. “The rink, the number, all of it, the little stick figures. And it was, one day, when I grew up, I’m going to play for the Flyers. … He wore Flyers stuff all the time to school. And every picture was always Flyers or [a] rink or something.”
Blake would actually don orange and black, playing for Virtua and Flyers Elite, which is where people began noticing the kid racking up points. As a youngster, he skated with the kids of Flyers players and coaches, and he suited up for Tony Voce, the first Philly native to play for the Flyers organization, a few times, including at the World Selects Invitational.
And like any local kid, he plied his trade not only at Pennsauken and Voorhees, but also at Holleydell Ice Arena in Sewell, Gloucester County, working with South Jersey coaching legend Guy Gaudreau and skating a few times with his son Johnny in the summer.
“When I was on a summer team, Guy was coaching us; Johnny would always come on the ice a little bit and come around,” Zielinski said. “And so he came out to one of the practices, and he demoed one of these drills, and just came down — we were like 7- or 8-year-olds, and he just ripped it on our goalie.
“That was always one of the moments that I remember, just him coming down and always giving the kids in the community a good laugh, and just that was the person he was,” Blake recalled of the Calgary Flames and Columbus Blue Jackets forward, who was a fatal victim in an alleged drunken-driving incident while cycling along with his brother Matthew in August 2024 in South Jersey.
A young Blake Zielinski grew up dreaming of being a Flyer, he is now a member of the LA Kings organization.
The hockey world takes notice
At the age of 15, Blake started playing with the North Jersey Avalanche, a top-tier U16 squad based out of Ice House in Hackensack.
It took a village to get him up and down the state for practices and games, with his sister Kylie picking Blake up from school and dropping him off at Julie’s school before she got him to Joe’s office for the drive north. There were a lot of late-night dinners at home — often after midnight — before getting up early for school.
Although he eventually billeted in North Jersey, the long trips paid off. It was with the Avalanche that Providence College first saw Zielinski play; he will be a freshman there in the fall. And it was there that he was asked to head to Des Moines, Iowa, for a two-week stint in November 2024 with the Buccaneers of the United States Hockey League. He went out again in December and was in the airport in Chicago, eating and watching YouTube videos, waiting to head home, when he got the call that the Bucs wanted him to play the rest of the season with them.
“When I went out and watched him play in Des Moines, I was really impressed with how well he wanted the puck and was holding on to the puck in the game,” Friars coach Nate Leaman said during a recent phone interview.
Blake Zielinski scored 25 goals this past season for the Buccaneers.Courtesy of Des Moines Buccaneers
“He’s like the youngest guy in the game, and he was really good at getting the puck, holding on to the puck and making plays with the puck. Typically, you see young guys go in the USHL, and they’re a little timid, but I thought he did a really good job with that.
“He’s really crafty around the net. He can score. He’s another kid who is pretty physically put together,” he added about the 6-foot, 187-pound winger. “I think that’s good, but I think the big thing with him is just that you get him below the tops of circles, on the power play, around the net, he’s really crafty and quick in those situations.”
He notched 32 points in 41 games to finish the year, with the hockey world starting to take notice. Last summer, he opened more eyes when he helped the United States win gold at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, leading the team with four goals and nine points. In the semifinals, he was named USA Hockey’s player of the game after potting a goal and an assist and scoring in the shootout with a “T.J. Oshie move” to beat Canada, 4-3.
This past season was a busy one. Aside from 55 points in 53 regular-season games and two goals in three playoff games for the Bucs, he was a late addition to the U.S. roster at the CHL USA Prospects Challenge, a two-game series between top prospects for the 2026 draft from the Canadian Hockey League and the U.S. National Team Development Program Under-18 Team.
In December, as a 17-year-old, he was part of the U.S. team that won gold at the World Junior “A” Challenge, a U-19 tournament, notching two goals and four points in five games. And in January, he played in the Chipotle All-American Game, showcasing the top draft-eligible players from USA Hockey’s U-18 National Team and other teams in the USHL.
And at the end of the USHL season, Zielinski received the Gaudreau Award, an honor given annually to the player in the United States Hockey League who best embodies the legacy of Johnny and Matthew.
“Despite his elite talent, Blake competes with humility and respect for the game,” his coach for Des Moines, Derek Damon, told USHL.com. “He understands that success is built through team effort, and he consistently uses his ability not just to stand out, but to lift the performance and confidence of everyone around him.”
Jane (second from left) and Guy Gaudreau (middle) with Blake Zielinski at the Second Annual Gaudreau 5K & Family Fun Day in May.Courtesy of Julie Z
Soon Blake Zielinski’s banner will hang near the one with Johnny Gaudreau’s name on it. It went by fast for the Zielinski clan. One day, he was a kid, bigger than others his age, unable to stop, and now the hope is that another South Jersey kid will follow in the footsteps of Johnny and live out his NHL dreams.
“It’s just been a great ride, and the time went so fast, you didn’t have time to think about anything,” Joe said. The ride is not done, but, as Voce, who died in July 2024, would advise, have fun.
“I think that’s one of the biggest things,” Blake said. “When I was younger, just go out there and enjoy it. My dad said that a lot to me when I was growing up, you have to enjoy every day, every second, because you never really know what could happen.”
Let the countdown to the 2026-27 season officially begin.
In 76 days, Flyers hockey is back with the season and home opener on Sept. 30 against their cross-state rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins. The NHL begins the campaign the day prior, with five games including the Carolina Hurricanes raising their banner before hosting the Florida Panthers. It marks the league’s earliest start in North America.
On Wednesday, we also learned that the Flyers will play the following night against the New Jersey Devils in their home opener at the Prudential Center, in addition to also helping former Flyers goalie Sam Ersson and the Ottawa Senators open their home schedule on Oct. 8.
On Thursday, the NHL released the complete 84-game schedule — yes, there are two extra Metropolitan Division games this season for the Flyers. It is the first time the NHL season will play 84 games since the 1993-94 season.
Here’s everything we know about the Flyers’ 2026-27 schedule.
Noel Acciari (55), now wearing a Flyers uniform, will face his former team right off the bat in 2026-27.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
When is the Flyers’ first game of the 2026-27 season?
As mentioned above, the Flyers will host the Penguins on Sept. 30 at Xfinity Mobile Arena (7:30 p.m., TNT). The rest of the games scheduled for TNT, ABC, and ESPN, along with the NBCSP schedule, will be announced at a later time.
There will be some new faces on each team, with former Flyers forward Andrei Kuzmenko now on the Penguins and ex-Pens forward Noel Acciari facing his old buddies after inking a two-year deal with the Flyers on July 1.
“I’m glad to have them on my side now because they are very passionate, and they’re all up in your face,” Acciari said about the Philly faithful.
Of course, the Penguins will still have Evgeni Malkin, who re-signed after the Flyers eliminated Pittsburgh in six games in the opening round of the 2026 playoffs; Kris Letang, Bryan Rust, Erik Karlsson, and Sidney Crosby, who has 139 points in 93 regular-season games against the Flyers.
It will be the eighth time the Flyers host the Penguins in the season opener (5-2-0) and the ninth time they will open the season against Pittsburgh (4-3-1-0). The Flyers are 33-18-5-2 in home openers and 29-20-7-2 in season lid-lifters.
The Flyers will get their first chance for some revenge on the Hurricanes, who swept them in the second round of the playoffs, in North Carolina on Oct. 3.
Could Alex Ovechkin’s final NHL game come against the Flyers?Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
When does the Flyers’ 2026-27 season end?
The NHL will wrap up the season on April 10 when all 32 teams suit up.
Philly will face Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals in the first game of the day, at 12 p.m. at Xfinity Mobile Arena. It could be the regular-season finale of Ovechkin’s storied career.
Signed to a one-year deal, the NHL’s all-time goals leader (929) will turn 41 in mid-September. This season will be his 22nd in the NHL, but he recently told Match TV, a Russian sports channel, that he wouldn’t mind hitting 1,000 NHL goals. He has scored 54 goals against the Flyers in 82 regular-season games.
Old pal Cutter Gauthier will show his face in Philly a week before Halloween. Kyusung Gong
When do the Flyers face Cutter Gauthier and the Anaheim Ducks?
The Flyers faithful won’t have to wait too long to give Gauthier another warm welcome in Philly. The Ducks close out a four-game road trip with a matinee game at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Oct. 24.
Of course, there is a new wrinkle this year after Flyers general manager Danny Brière and the organization tendered an offer sheet with a five-year contract, worth an average annual value of $18 million, to center Leo Carlsson. The Ducks eventually matched, making the Swede the highest-paid player in terms of AAV in the NHL.
The Flyers will be in Anaheim on Jan. 3.
When are the Flyers playing during the day in 2026-27?
The Flyers play 15 games during the day, with eight in South Philly.
Sam Ersson will be back in Philly as a member of the Ottawa Senators in October. Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
When does _____ return to Philly?
Garnet Hathaway: Traded in late June, Hathaway and the Florida Panthers make their first appearance at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Dec. 14 and return on Jan. 26. The Flyers also visit Sunrise, Fla., on March 27.
Bobby Brink: Sent home to Minnesota at the trade deadline in the deal that brought David Jiříček to the Flyers, Brink and the Wild visit South Philly on Nov. 3. The Flyers are in Minnesota on Dec. 5.
Emil Andrae: After being traded in June, the Maple Leafs defenseman gets a chance to take on his former team at XMA on Jan. 7, with two games in Toronto on Nov. 30 and Jan. 9.
Sam Ersson: While the Flyers will help the goalie and the Senators — he was originally sent to Toronto with Andrae — open their home schedule on Oct. 8, the Swede returns to XMA on Oct. 17. The Flyers are also in Ottawa on Nov. 19.
Noah Juulsen: Signing with the Colorado Avalanche in free agency, the defenseman will return Oct. 19, and the Flyers will kick-start the dreaded “Death Valley Trip” in Denver on March 9 before heading to Las Vegas and Utah.
Flyers goalie Joseph Woll and defenseman Simon Benoît will return to Toronto for the first time on Nov. 30. Acciari will be in Pittsburgh for the first time on Jan. 31.
Do the Flyers play on Black Friday in 2026?
Yes. The Flyers return to their rightful place of playing the day after Thanksgiving after being booted last season because of an Eagles home game. The Birds lost 24-15 to the Chicago Bears.
This year, the Flyers will host coach Rick Tocchet’s old team, the Vancouver Canucks, on Nov. 27 at 3 p.m. Since 2006, the Orange and Black have not hosted a game on Black Friday only three times — the 2020-21 COVID-19-shortened season and the 2012-13 lockout-shortened season, with each starting in January, and last year.
The Flyers have an impressive record of 26-9-1-4 in games played after getting their fill of turkey and cranberry sauce (only from the can is acceptable).
Where is the Flyers’ road trip going during Disney On Ice in 2026-27?
Every year, following the NHL’s holiday break, the Flyers head out of town for an extended road trip as Disney On Ice descends on Philly.
Last year, the Flyers headed to Western Canada and Seattle. This year, the Flyers begin with a pit stop in Chicago, which Connor Bedard (shoulder surgery) is expected to be back for, before heading to the West Coast for matchups against the Kraken, Macklin Celebrini and the San Jose Sharks, the Ducks, and Scott Laughton and the Los Angeles Kings.
Although it is a nine-day trip, it is not the longest for the Flyers this season. Assuming they head straight from a Nov. 5 game against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden to Calgary, Alberta, the Flyers will be on a five-game, 10-day road trip. One nugget for this trip: This is the final year that the Flames are playing in the Scotiabank Saddledome before opening a new arena next season.
The Flyers have a four-game road trip that begins locally on Long Island (March 20) and continues to New Jersey (March 23) before rounding out in Florida, March 25 against the Tampa Bay Lightning and March 27 at the Panthers.
They also have a few three-game road trips: Oct. 5-10: Tampa Bay, Ottawa, Boston; Nov. 19-25: Ottawa, Montreal, Washington; March 3-13: Colorado, Vegas, Utah; April 3-8: Pittsburgh, Carolina, Columbus
Sean Couturier should reach the 1,000-games pinnacle with the Flyers this season. Karl B DeBlaker
News and notes about the Flyers’ schedule
With two games added to the schedule, the Flyers will play each of their Metropolitan Division opponents four times.
They have 12 back-to-backs, including a tough stretch Jan. 9-16 with five games in eight days.
The Flyers will play 16 weekend games at home, with 11 on Saturdays and five on Sundays.
On Monday, Feb. 22, the Flyers will play at 1 p.m. in Philly against the Montreal Canadiens. The game is early, not because it’s Presidents’ Day, which is the week prior, but because the game is being coined an “International Primetime Game.” According to the Flyers press release, the game is “specifically designed to reach a global audience through a European primetime broadcast window.” Goalie Dan Vladař is the headliner for the Flyers as it will be 7 p.m. in Czechia. The matchup at the Hurricanes on April 5, a 2 p.m. start, is another of the International Primetime Games.
If he plays in every game, captain Sean Couturier will skate in his 1,000th NHL game on Jan. 12 in Nashville. He will join Bobby Clarke (1,144) and Claude Giroux (1,000) as the only players to play in 1,000 NHL games solely with the Flyers. Forward Travis Konecny (723), and defensemen Rasmus Ristolainen (820), and Travis Sanheim (660) could also hit big milestones. Konecny would become the fifth player to hit 800 games as a Flyer, joining Clarke, Giroux, Couturier, and Bill Barber (903), and Sanheim would become the fourth defenseman to reach 700 behind Éric Desjardins (738), who he could surpass, Joe Watson (746), and Chris Therien (753).
The NHL’s All-Star Weekend will be held at UBS Arena on Long Island on Feb. 5-6. On the first night, 10 young stars, ages 25 or younger, will compete across eight events. The following day will be the All-Star Game, with five teams of 11 players representing Canada, Finland, Sweden, the United States, and a “World” team competing in a three-on-three, round-robin exhibition tournament. The Flyers will be off Feb. 4-12
It may be mid-July, but the Flyers brass is still working.
On Thursday, Flyers general manager Danny Brière spoke to the media via Zoom less than 24 hours after inking restricted free agent Trevor Zegras to a four-year, $36.5 million extension with an annual average value of $9.125 million.
Of course, it wasn’t the only topic, as this was the first time he was speaking since sending shock waves through the NHL by tendering a five-year, $90 million offer sheet to Leo Carlsson that the Anaheim Ducks eventually matched.
The Flyers still have a ton of cap space — Puckpedia has it at $20.4 million — and although Brière reiterated the mantra that they are always looking to improve the roster if it makes sense, he added, “What I can tell you is I’d be very comfortable going into the season with this lineup.”
Here’s what else Brière said.
Trevor Zegras became the highest-paid Flyer on Wednesday. Chris Szagola
On the Trevor Zegras contract
“Yeah, it’s a nice feeling,” Brière said of getting the contract done and avoiding salary arbitration next Wednesday. Had it reached that point, the Flyers would have had an option of only a one- or two-year deal set at the AAV decided upon by the arbitrator. If they had opted for two years, Zegras would have been an unrestricted free agent in 2028.
Brière continued: “Obviously, Trevor is a big part of our team, a big part of our future as well. Since we acquired him, it’s been extremely positive, and the way he carries himself, he’s lively in our locker room — he’s a big part of the locker room — but he’s also a big part of the community. People, they love him. So I’m glad it’s done. It’s much nicer to get a deal done, and a long-term deal done, rather than go through arbitration.”
There was some give and take with Zegras and his agent, Pat Brisson. Some wonder why the New York native, who said countless times this past season that he loves playing in Philly, wasn’t locked up for longer, but it sounds like four years were “the sweet spot” and that “they gave us some things that were more in our favor on a four-year deal.”
“He’s about winning. He cares about this team,” Brière said. “Even in this negotiation, he took charge. He’s the one who said, ‘I want to be in Philly. I love it here. I want to stay there.’
“So it’s a big reason why this contract was done, this extension was done, because Trevor was really involved, and Trevor was adamant that he wanted to be in Philly.
“ … He’s going to have to take a bigger part of the leadership process on this team. So I’m really excited about him and how he’s grown as an individual in the last year, especially with us. But I think it goes way back — he’s gone through a lot in his career, some ups and downs that weren’t always easy. I think that makes you stronger in the long run, and we’re fortunate that we’re the team benefiting from that.”
While the AAV looks more like the money doled out to a center, is that where the Flyers see him? Brière wouldn’t commit, saying it’s “not up to me to decide.” He did stress that the final contract to Zegras and the offer sheet to Carlsson, a center, had nothing to do with the other. “We wanted both on the team at the time when we made the offer sheet,” he said.
Brière talked for the first time since the Anaheim Ducks matched the Flyers’ offer sheet for center Leo Carlsson (91).John Locher
On the impact of the Leo Carlsson offer sheet
According to Brière, the league, including players and agents, took notice that the Flyers not only have deep pockets, but also want to be back on top.
“The answer is yes. I just can’t give you much detail, unfortunately,” he said, hinting at needing to avoid tampering. “But yeah, I mean, it was noticed. It was noticed around the league. But what I hope, too, is that it is noticed by our fans and by our players that we’re serious.
“The players did their part last year, and we’re trying to do ours, and we’re going to keep trying to improve the team to give them the best chance to just be a contender for years to come.”
Players are choosing to stay in Philly, like Zegras, like goalie Dan Vladař, who inked a five-year extension and is here for six years, and like forward Tyson Foerster, who signed an extension that will keep him around for nine more seasons. The next step is having a team that is trending to be a contender for the Stanley Cup, and while the Flyers did not get Carlsson, there were “many teams to choose from, and he selected us, which was a good sign.”
Did the massive AAV, which would have made Carlsson the highest-paid player annually, impact contract negotiations with Zegras and other restricted free agents? The Flyers still have to ink defenseman Jamie Drysdale, who has an arbitration hearing scheduled for Monday, Hunter McDonald and forward Nikita Grebenkin.
“No, I don’t believe it’s affected our other contract negotiations … The marketplace changes daily. There’s new deals being given or coming out on a daily basis,” he said, noting it may have impacted players who make above the high-end threshold.
“I think, in Trevor’s case, for example, when we were working on it three months ago and six months ago, the marketplace was totally different than it was last night when we were talking. So, not necessarily the offer sheet, but every other deal, yes, they were affecting our negotiation.”
Danny Brière said the team made some efforts to improve the power play but came up short in an outside acquisition. Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer
On not adding players for the power play
The Flyers’ power play is bad. This isn’t a new phenomenon under coach Rick Tocchet. It’s a problem that has persisted for five years and across three coaching staffs. It sounded like the Flyers wanted to take action to fix things, but while they were reportedly interested in signing unrestricted free agent John Carlson, who ultimately went to Tampa Bay, and Zach Werenski, who backed down from his trade request, they did not get either player.
“We took some swings there, too. I unfortunately can’t get into details because players are elsewhere, but we took some swings there,” the Flyers GM said. “We tried to improve the power play. We’re going to keep looking. At this point, most free agents are signed, so it’s more on the trade front. So if there’s a chance there, we’re going to look to improve that.
“But I also expect our guys to take a bigger bite of it. Adding a guy like [Porter] Martone, and [Denver] Barkey, and [Alex] Bump late in the season, you hope that they’re better at it with more experience. I expect guys like Trevor Zegras to improve on that. Matvei Michkov coming back and, after a sophomore — let’s call it a slump — we expect him to bounce back and have a big say in improving our power play.”
The right time to become a Flyer. The right time to play center. And now it was the right time to lock him in.
Late on Wednesday, the Flyers inked Zegras to a four-year, $36.5 million extension with an annual average value of $9.125 million. He will be an unrestricted free agent when the contract expires on July 1, 2030, and according to a league source, Years 3 and 4 come with a limited no-trade clause.
“We’re thrilled to have Trevor committed to our organization for the next four years,” general manager Danny Brière said in the press release.
“The growth he showed this past season, proving that he is the skilled player he entered the league as, reinforced our belief that he will be an impact player for the Flyers for the years to come. He’s the type of player who can help take our team to the next level, and we’re excited to continue building alongside him.”
Zegras became a restricted free agent on July 1 and filed for salary arbitration on July 5, two days after the Flyers tendered a five-year, $90 million offer sheet to Leo Carlsson that the Anaheim Ducks matched. The deal avoids an arbitration hearing that was scheduled for next Wednesday and gives him the highest AAV on the Flyers.
“Personally, I would love that,” Zegras said of staying in Philly at his end-of-season media availability on May 12. “I would love to be here for a long time. … I love the fans. I love the group that we have, and that would be something I’m excited about.”
Acquired last June, on the heels of two tough, injury-plagued seasons with the Anaheim Ducks, Zegras refound his love for the game in Philly. He posted career highs in goals (26), power-play goals (10), points (67), power-play points (23), and shooting percentage (15.6%) in 81 regular-season games, missing only the inconsequential last game of the season to rest for the playoffs.
Best friends Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale have relished getting to play together again with the Flyers.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
After tallying six goals and 18 points during the Flyers’ post-Olympic push — trailing just Matvei Michkov and Noah Cates — he led the team in postseason scoring with six points (two goals, four assists) in 10 games. Zegras was one of several Flyers making their postseason debuts.
But this season wasn’t just about his point total, even if it was higher than when he was runner-up for the Calder Trophy in his rookie year, or his sophomore season of 2022-23. It was about a former first-round pick, a big personality, and a once-rising star in the NHL, rediscovering his love of the game.
“It was big,” he said when asked if it was reaffirming to him. “For me, having that excitement about the game was great. To find that passion for winning and success as a team was big. And I think I lost a little bit of that drive and passion to win and be a really good team, and we definitely had, in my opinion, a great, successful season.”
Part of that rejuvenation for the 25-year-old New York native came from his connection with his teammates, like his old friends, Jamie Drysdale, whom he played with in Anaheim, Cam York, his former teammate on the U.S. National Development Team and at World Juniors, and veteran Christian Dvorak, whom he met through Dvorak’s former Montreal Canadiens teammate Cole Caufield. And a lot of it came from his connection to coach Rick Tocchet, whom he affectionately nicknamed “Taco” in training camp.
“Obviously, Tocc is a great guy, to begin with. … He’s a good guy to talk to,” Zegras said the day after he and Tocchet were spotted having a heated exchange in Game 3 against the Carolina Hurricanes. “The one thing I have a ton of respect for is [that] he’ll get in your face and tell you stuff, but then he won’t ever like sit you down for shifts at a time.
“He puts you right back on the ice. Whether or not it puts fire in you, or fuel, or is teaching you something, he always gives you that chance to go let you prove yourself the next shift, which I love.”
Tocchet echoed the sentiment that day, after doing it all season long. He called him a “very coachable kid” after mentioning in training camp that he challenged him to approach the game not “for clicks on social media” but to win hockey games. “That’s what he wants,” Tocchet said, and it showed whether he played at center or wing.
Trevor Zegras ranked second on the team last season, his first with the team, in points (67) and third in goals (26).Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
But that’s the million-dollar question heading into the 2026-27 season: Do the Flyers view Zegras as a center or a winger? The consensus around the league is that the AAV he received is typically doled out to a center. As noted, Tyson Foerster recently signed an eight-year contract extension with the Flyers for an AAV of $7.1 million.
Zegras came to Philly excited for the opportunity to return to his natural center position after two years of being forced to the wing by former Ducks coach Greg Cronin. Management was hopeful he could be the answer for their No. 1 center spot, but for the majority of the season, he played on Dvorak’s wing.
He officially shifted back to the middle after the trade deadline and put up 17 points in 20 games — 12 at even strength with a plus-six rating. The only issue is his face-offs, which sat at 34.1% overall in the regular season, 35.1% across the final 20 games, and 44% in the postseason.
“I liked playing in the middle down the stretch, just because there’s a little bit more space and you can kind of pick and choose where you want to go a little bit more,” he said.
“I think playing center in the playoffs was a good experience for me, just in terms of how different it was, how hard battles are, and all that type of stuff. So that was good.”
The Flyers still have three restricted free agents to sign in Drysdale, forward Nikita Grebenkin, and defenseman Hunter McDonald. Drysdale has a salary arbitration hearing scheduled for Monday. Grebenkin was not eligible for salary arbitration, and McDonald did not file by the deadline.
It feels like it — the team played into May by making the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time since 2020.
Although they got swept by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes, the Flyers will get a chance to start their 2026-27 season by picking up where they left off in the win column, with a rematch on Sept. 30 against their cross-state rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins, at Xfinity Mobile Arena (7:30 p.m., TNT).
This season, the NHL schedule is 84 games, with two extra Metropolitan Division games added. The full schedule will be announced at 1 p.m. on Thursday.
The last time the Flyers and Penguins met, defenseman Cam York threw his stick into the crowd after firing home the 1-0 overtime winner in Game 6 of the first round, sending the Penguins golfing.
Noel Acciari (55) can now call Matvei Michkov (39) and the rest of the Flyers teammates. Gene J. Puskar
Heading into the lid lifter, both teams will look different, notably with Noel Acciari switching sides from the Penguins to the Flyers. The forward leads a retooled fourth line after inking a two-year deal with an average annual value of $2.8 million. He is excited to be in orange and black now.
“Just being a part of that Pennsylvania rivalry, I got to experience it on the other side, which was a lot of fun,” he said on July 7. “And just seeing how passionate the fans are, which is unbelievable, and to be able to experience it with their cheering for you this time, I’m so excited for [it]. And I’m glad to have them on my side now because they are very passionate, and they’re all up in your face.
“It’s fun to play against, but at the same time, I’m happy I get to play on the same side.”
This year will mark the eighth time the Flyers start the season at home against the Penguins (5-2-0); the overall record in home openers is 33-18-5-2. It is also the ninth time they are opening the season against Pittsburgh (4-3-1-0) with an overall record of 29-20-7-2 when kickstarting a season. The Flyers have faced the Penguins more than any other opponent in season and home openers.
The following night, the Flyers will head up the turnpike to the Prudential Center for the New Jersey Devils’ home opener. The Flyers will also be in Ottawa for the Senators’ — and former Flyers goalie Sam Ersson’s — home opener on Oct. 8.
This year’s NHL schedule also features the 2026 Heritage Classic on Oct. 25, with the Winnipeg Jets hosting the Montreal Canadiens; Carolina taking on the Seattle Kraken in Finland on Nov. 12-14; and Ottawa and the Chicago Blackhawks in Germany on Dec. 18-20.
On New Year’s Eve, the Utah Mammoth and Colorado Avalanche will participate in the 2026 Winter Classic at the University of Utah’s Rice-Eccles Stadium.
Rice-Eccles Stadium in Utah will host the Winter Classic. Jeffrey D. Allred
And Feb. 5-6, the New York Islanders’ home of UBS Arena will host All-Star Weekend. On Feb. 5, 10 young stars, ages 25 or younger, will compete across eight events, and the following day will be the All-Star Game — with a twist. Five teams of 11 players representing Canada, Finland, Sweden, the United States and a “World” team will compete in a three-on-three, round-robin exhibition tournament.
Breakaways
Lehigh Valley’s American Hockey League home opener is Oct. 3 against the Hartford Wolf Pack. … Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale, who each filed for salary arbitration on July 5, have their hearings scheduled for next week, according to Puckpedia. Drysdale is scheduled for Monday and Zegras for Wednesday. Arbitration can be avoided with a contract between now and the morning of the hearing. … Former Flyers forward Rodrigo Ābols signed a three-year deal with SC Bern of the National League, the top men’s league in Switzerland. The Latvian made his NHL debut with the Flyers at the age of 29 on Jan. 21, 2025. Across 64 regular-season games with Philly, he had five goals, 15 points, and won 53.8% of his faceoffs while averaging a little over 10 minutes a game. He suffered a season-ending injury in January that forced him to also miss representing his country at the 2026 Winter Olympics. … Former Flyers goalie Ivan Fedotov returned to the Kontinental Hockey League, signing a two-year deal with Spartak Moscow.
Weeks have passed since the NHL draft, development camps across the league have wrapped up and there are still a few months to go until preseason hockey is underway.
But there’s still plenty happening to keep give fans their hockey fill, including Scott Wheeler of The Athletic releasing his list of Top 100 drafted NHL prospects on Tuesday morning.
The list of 100 prospects is made up of players who fall into two qualifications: skaters under age 23 and/or skaters not yet fully established with their clubs. The latter requirement is left up to Wheeler’s discernment. The players are then ranked from 1 to 100, and sorted into six tiers.
The ranking includes 24 players from this year’s draft and 25 from last year’s, with the other 51 ranging from the 2022 to 2024 drafts.
But despite the 38 picks the Flyers had across those five drafts, Philly had just two players make this list with Porter Martone coming in third on this list as a top-tier prospect and David Jiříček just inching his way onto the list at 97 as a sixth-tier prospect.
Alex Bump, Jett Luchanko, Jack Nesbitt, and Oliver Bonk were each part of the final cuts, and were considered by Wheeler to be tier six prospects.
Porter Martone was ranked No. 3 on the Athletic’s drafted prospects list, and nearly made No. 2. Isaiah Vazquez / For The Inquirer
Martone played just 19 games with the Flyers last season, nine in the regular season and 10 in the playoffs, making the 19-year-old eligible for the list on both qualifications. During the regular season, he had 10 points in his nine games, four goals and six assists, and his 14 shots on goal were the most by a rookie in his first two games in the league.
During the playoffs he became the first teenager in league history to score a game-winning goal in each of his first two career playoff games. He added three assists to those two goals to finish with five points in the playoffs.
With just the Nos. 1 and 2 overall picks in the 2026 draft, Penn State product Gavin McKenna (Toronto Maple Leafs) and Ivar Stenberg (San Jose Sharks) ranking ahead of him, the 6-foot-3 right winger is described by Wheeler as a “modern powered forward who blends size with skill, poise, physicality and scoring ability.” Wheeler says he debated ranking him No. 2.
Wheeler continued on to mention Martone’s build, battle for the puck and puck handling skills, and willingness to drop the gloves, among other attributes, but also noted that there are instances where he falls to poor play selection, turnovers, bad penalties, and other issues. His biggest note was about Martone’s skating which he said “can kick out from the knees” and will need to improve so the rest of his game can improve, but again noted the teenager’s many attributes.
“He’s going to score goals, make plays and be able to impose himself in the NHL when he really comes into his own,” Wheeler said. “He has the talent to become a high-end point-producing winger. The skill and hockey sense are real, and the consistency of his effort level and toughness have developed over time, too. He’s one of the top forward prospects in the game.”
Michael Misa of the Sharks finished out the top four, making Misa the second San Jose player in the top tier and one of six Sharks to make the list.
The Detroit Red Wings and the Vancouver Canucks also had six prospects each. The Blackhawks had the most appearances in the top 100 with eight prospects, followed by the Calgary Flames and the Nashville Predators who had seven each.
David Jiříček played in one NHL game in 2026-27 and projects as a key part of the Flyers’ future. Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
Helping close out the list was Jiříček who was drafted sixth overall by the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2022. One of 30 defensemen in the ranking, the 22-year-old was acquired by the Flyers at this season’s trade deadline in exchange for Bobby Brink.
The 6-4 blueliner played one game with the Flyers in the last game of the regular season and was later called back up for the playoffs after the Phantoms season ended, but did not see ice time.
Wheeler said Jiříček has a number of desirable attributes including his point shot, commanding presence, and strong frame, but said he is stilted in his backwards skating and pivots, which causes him to struggle to keep up in a fast-paced game.
Jiříček’s offensive contributions, such as being a puck transporter and a puck handler or distributor, were also commended by Wheeler, but he noted that while Jiříček has tools one would look for in a top defenseman, he also lacks some of the most important tools including play reading ability.
“Because his decision-making and footwork don’t seem to be improving enough, he no longer projects as a top-four D and now looks more like a potential third-pairing type with some offense,” Wheeler said.
Flyers left wing Alex Bump was among the players who just missed the cut for the top 100. Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
As for the rest of the Metropolitan Division, the New York Islanders had five prospects make the list, the most out of any team in the division, followed by the Washington Capitals with four.
Cross-state rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins, had three players make the list with Harrison Brunicke (74) and Rutger McGroarty (84) coming in the fifth tier while Will Horcoff (92) came in tier six.
The New York Rangers also had three with Alberts Šmits (9) and Gabe Perreault (19) in the second tier and Liam Greentree (91) in the sixth.
The Blue Jackets, Carolina Hurricanes, and New Jersey Devils also had two prospects each on the list.
In a world where the salary cap is rising, free agency is dwindling and trade partners want the world, the opportunity to get a top-line center who fits the Flyers’ timeline required a drastic step.
So what’s next for the Flyers? Let’s answer some questions.
What is next for the Flyers?
Flyers general manager Danny Brière and his staff took a home run swing and ended up striking out. But the fact that they swung for the fences in this scenario was a solid attempt and showed that the organization is willing to pony up and take a big risk to acquire talent.
According to Puckpedia, the Flyers have a smidge above $29.5 million in cap space; however, as we have reported, that number includes center Jett Luchanko’s contract ($941,667), and Brière told The Inquirer in early June that the expectation is he will be in Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League this upcoming season.
Trevor Zegras is among the Flyers’ restricted free agents who need new contracts.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Regardless of whether Luchanko is around, that is a lot of cap space. Philly does need to sign its four restricted free agents: forwards Trevor Zegras and Nikita Grebenkin, and defensemen Jamie Drysdale and Hunter McDonald. Grebenkin and, especially, McDonald, could start the 2026-27 season with the Phantoms, meaning their salaries would not count against the cap.
Zegras and Drysdale’s new contracts should be around a combined $15 million AAV. Both players did file for salary arbitration — protecting them from getting an offer sheet — although the expectation is that it will not get that far.
But those are things that the team has to get done. After Brière and Co. tried to upgrade their team, are they finished? From what we’re hearing, it sounds like there was always a Plan B.
Who could the Flyers turn their attention to now?
It feels like the Orange and Black have been in on everyone this summer, but thus far have only upgraded their backup goalie, with Joseph Woll, and their fourth line with Noel Acciari, and added a depth defenseman in Simon Benoît. Necessary adds, but it still feels like more is needed.
The unrestricted free-agent market does not have a 1C remaining — and never really did with everyone signing extensions. How about a top-four defenseman with power-play punch? There’s not really one of those on the market either, but names like John Klingberg, who has some power-play experience, Carson Soucy, and Logan Stanley could be interesting depth additions.
But this is about the 1C spot that the Flyers have needed for years. There is always the offer sheet route again. Most would argue that’s not the best move considering how the hockey world functions and how it could burn bridges. But it is fair game, and there is still an intriguing name out there: Adam Fantilli.
The Flyers could be setting their sights on the Columbus Blue Jackets’ Adam Fantilli (right) after failing to land Leo Carlsson.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline reported Monday that the 21-year-old center could be the Flyers’ next target. It doesn’t sound like the Flyers want to go the route of another $90 million contract, but he does fit their timeline and has upside that still needs to be drawn out. According to Puckpedia, the Columbus Blue Jackets have more than $23 million in cap space, and while they have to re-sign Cole Sillinger and Jet Greaves, it doesn’t sound like matching would be an issue for them.
So that leaves the trade route. Mavrik Bourque and Mason McTavish have already been traded to the Nashville Predators and St. Louis Blues, respectively. Seattle Kraken forward Shane Wright continues to be a hot topic on social media as a possible solution to the Flyers’ need at center, along with teammate Matty Beniers. But the ask for Wright, a 22-year-old center, was reportedly high in June — the Flyers’ interest wasn’t high back then either — and there was also no indication that Beniers was available at that time.
Could the Flyers circle back on Shane Pinto or Dylan Cozens with the Ottawa Senators? Both are young centers with size and skill. Dylan Larkin was someone that the Flyers were reportedly interested in; however, the Detroit Red Wings center has a full no-move clause and wants to choose his next destination — MLive reported on Thursday that he added the Dallas Stars to the original list of the Minnesota Wild, Vegas Golden Knights, and Florida Panthers as teams he’d waive for a trade.
If the Flyers do acquire a 1C or top-four defenseman, does long-rumored trade asset Rasmus Ristolainen finally get moved? He is a top-four defenseman, but at almost 32 years old, the thought is the Flyers are aiming for a younger defenseman who fits their timeline a little better.
Could the answer then be an RFA defenseman who is not eligible for an offer sheet but sounds like he is on his way out of Carolina and could be available via trade? On the 32 Thoughts Podcast, NHL insider Elliotte Friedman suggested Alexander Nikishin, who played with Egor Zavragin in 2024-25 and briefly suited up with Matvei Michkov across two seasons for SKA St. Petersburg in the Kontinental Hockey League, was almost traded to the New York Rangers. He fits the Flyers’ timeline, can play on the power play, was plus-18, had a 58.39% Corsi For at five-on-five during the regular season, and has the valuable experience of winning a Stanley Cup.
And are there other options that no one has seen coming? The general sense we’re getting is that the Flyers are still cooking.
Trevor Zegras (left) and Noel Acciari (center) are now teammates and are among the current center options for the Flyers.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
What does the lineup look like now without Leo Carlsson?
The Flyers have six players who can play center: Christian Dvorak, Noah Cates, Sean Couturier, Denver Barkey, Zegras, and Acciari.
Barkey didn’t look bad down the middle when called upon in the postseason, but the expectation is he will play wing next season. Couturier shared the middle spot with current unrestricted free agent Luke Glendening toward the end of last season, and for all intents and purposes, that’s probably the case with Acciari.
The biggest question mark: where does Zegras fit?
Brière told The Inquirer on March 7 that the team “felt he’s been a little better on the wing this year.” An hour later, Zegras was centering a line, and he held that spot for pretty much the rest of the season and into the playoffs.
So do they see Zegras as the answer for the No. 1 center slot heading into the season? Time will tell how Rick Tocchet lays out his lines; however, there is another layer to this. If Zegras is a center, his asking price for his new contract just went up.
But in the end, overall, where do the Flyers stand now? This is a team that is largely the same as last season, with a few small upgrades to the goaltending, the fourth line, and the defense. That is not the big splash everyone was hoping for.
They will still be a young team, with Porter Martone as a centerpiece, while Michkov will be expected to have a better season, and another young player, David Jiříček, will be in the lineup on the blue line as he is no longer waiver-exempt.
Brière suggested that “there’s a chance, and a good chance, that we take a little bit of a step back” in the upcoming season at his July 1 press conference. With Carlsson, that probably wasn’t happening. Without Carlsson, is that statement setting the tone?
