The puck drops on the Flyers season on Wednesday, and the group they will take into the 2026-27 season largely is set, with three players needing to be cut before final rosters are submitted to the NHL on Monday.
The three final cuts are expected to be forward Garrett Wilson, who’s on an American Hockey League deal; goalie Aleksei Kolosov; and defenseman Helge Grans, who could start the season on injured reserve after suffering a lower-body injury on Thursday.
So as the Flyers played their final preseason game on Saturday against the visiting Washington Capitals, general manager Danny Brière spoke to the media during the first intermission.
Updating the injuries
The Flyers have been without high-motor forward Denver Barkey since he suffered a lower-body injury in the team’s preseason opener against the Capitals.
Barkey, 21, skated by himself on Wednesday and joined the nongame group on Thursday, in a noncontact jersey. But while coach Rick Tocchet told the media he was a possibility for Saturday, the forward left practice, according to the Nasty Knuckles podcast, reportedly grimacing. He did not skate in Saturday’s optional.
“He’s going to miss a little bit of time,” Brière said. “Shouldn’t be too, too long. I don’t know if he’s going to be ready for the first game, but if not, it shouldn’t be very long after that.”
If Barkey cannot play for a bit, the Flyers have Carl Grundström and Nikita Grebenkin, who played his first game since March on Thursday, available to slot in. The likelihood of Cole Knuble, who had an outstanding training camp but was sent down to Lehigh Valley on Friday, being recalled is slim, with Brière saying, “We have enough players here as it is.”
Goalie Dan Vladař also is on the shelf after suffering an upper-body injury Tuesday against the Boston Bruins. On Wednesday, Tocchet said “I think we dodged a bullet,” and Brière all but confirmed that on Saturday.
“It looks very promising. He should be ready for Game 1,” he said. “Probably could have played if we had played a regular-season [game] tonight, but we just want to play it safe and let him get as close to 100% for the start of the regular season.”
The Flyers’ No. 1 goalie left in the first period after mishandling a dump-in; he was down with his arms extended on the ice, and forward Tanner Jeannot crashed the net for the rebound. It didn’t look like there was significant contact between the two, but Vladař let go of his stick immediately and appeared to be holding his right arm awkwardly before Michael Eyssimont scored.
Vladař practiced with the nongame group on Saturday at the Flyers Training Center for approximately an hour.
On Matvei Michkov
Brière also shared his thoughts on Michkov after the young forward came into camp slimmer and having spent the summer working on his skating.
“It’s been good to see. There’s still a long way to go, but definitely training camp, the scrimmage [last Saturday], he looked very good in that,” Brière said.
“He looked really good in the first game he played [on Thursday]. I thought he was moving well again today in the first period,” said Brière, who noted that the power play, which Michkov plays a key role on, looked good.
“So, so far so good. … So there [are] encouraging signs there with Matvei that he can come back to what we expected him to be. So very pleased with the work that he put in this summer and the attitude that he showed up with to training camp.”
Michkov had a goal in his first preseason game.
On the rising youngsters who were sent down
The Flyers sent four players down on Friday. Along with Knuble, forwards Jett Luchanko and Jacob Gaucher and defenseman Oliver Bonk were returned to the Phantoms.
Brière liked their camps and said Bonk is “knocking on the door,” but with a shortened training camp, the Flyers opted to “with the status quo, give some of the young guys a chance to play a lot of minutes, play every situation, rather than play in a backup role here.”
The hope is that with the extended ice time, “When we need them, they’re ready and they feel ready to go and help out,” Brière said.
But the fact is Knuble, Luchanko and Bonk had fantastic camps. Luchanko flashed his speed and a newfound eye for shots on goal, putting three on, while chipping in three assists.
Knuble showed he has a high motor — like Barkey — a keen ability to put pressure on the opposition, and some offensive pop, especially around the net. He entered Saturday leading the Flyers with two goals, and tied with Luchanko with three points.
And Bonk is just so steady and calm on the blue line that he looks like a grizzled 20-year veteran.
“The message to them was, keep doing what you’re doing. You’ve done everything you could have done at training camp. Keep developing your game,” Brière said. “Staying here in the case, for example, of an Oliver Bonk, staying here as a seventh or eighth defenseman does you no good. We’d rather have you facing the top players in the American League every night, playing 22 minutes, playing some power play and some PK.
“I think it gives them the chance to be more successful when they’re needed for a bigger role at this level.”
On David Jiříček
At the trade deadline, the Flyers acquired young defenseman David Jiříček from the Minnesota Wild. Brière previously revealed that the Flyers had serious discussions about him before the 2022 NHL draft and then again before he got traded from the Columbus Blue Jackets — who drafted him — to Minnesota in 2024.
It has long been expected that Jiříček would break camp with the Flyers because he is no longer waiver-exempt. He inked a two-year, $3 million contract extension in April.
Entering Saturday, Jiříček played two preseason games and had three shots on goal, including a low, high-powered slap shot from the point on a power play — something Brière called “a weapon.” But he was minus-2 and on the ice for two more goals in the second period of Saturday’s game against the Capitals, one coming from a turnover by him.
“I thought David played OK,” the GM said during the first intermission.
“Didn’t get beat by anyone to lose his job, so he’s going to be given the chance. I thought he had a solid first period today. He’s going to start on the roster, and it’s going to be up to him to show us that he deserves the minutes and he deserves to stay in the lineup.”
