Last-minute move Flyers must make ahead of 2026-27 season

The Philadelphia Flyers finished the 2025-26 season with a surge that helped them overcome a mediocre first two-thirds of the season and allowed them to make the playoffs. Once they got into the postseason, head coach Rick Tocchet and his players proved they were not satisfied. They defeated their long-time rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The end of their run came when the Flyers were swept out of the playoffs by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes. General manager Daniel Briere followed with a somewhat strange remark. Instead of building on the team's hot play during the most crucial games of the year, Briere issued a warning.

“There’s a chance, a good chance, that we take a little bit of a step back this year,” Briere said in early July.

Those words lingered over the organization throughout the summer, and Briere finally explained what he was thinking as the Flyers opened training camp and started preparing for the start of the regular season Sept. 30 against the Penguins.

Young players must continue to make progress

The Flyers had a number of young players who were successful after they were promoted to important roles with the team. However, there's nothing about that kind of initial success that means their younger players will continue to make progress because career development may not be linear.

“The part that keeps me up at night is (if) some of our players feel complacent, feel like they’ve made it,” Briere told the media. “Let’s face it, we’re still a young team. We had guys that had success last year. You saw what happened with Matvei (Michkov) — had a lot of success the first year; it’s tougher the second year.”

Michkov is probably the most talented player on the Flyers' roster. He had a very promising rookie season as a 20-year-old in 2024-25 with 26 goals and 37 assists for 63 points.

The Flyers had every reason to think that was a jumping off point for Michkov and he would score 30 to 35 goals as a right wing on the team's top line last season. It did not play out that way as there were questions about Michkov's conditioning at the start of the year and they lingered throughout the first half of the season.

Michkov finished the year with 20 goals and 31 assists, and that marked a downturn of 12 points in his production. He did not do anything to upgrade that performance in the playoffs, as he had just 1 assist in 8 playoff games. On the positive side he went from a minus-18 rating in his rookie season to a zero rating last year.

The Flyers are looking at Porter Martone, Alex Bump and Denver Barkey who all made contributions as the team was winning games at an unexpected rate at the end of the season. The Flyers closed the regular year with a mark of 14-4-1 in its last 19 regular-season games.

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Martone certainly had the look of a marksman during his run with the Flyers. He scored 4 goals and 6 assists in his 9-game regular-season run after he joined the team following his notable success at Michigan State in 2025-26.

Bump had 5 goals and 4 assists in 17 games at left wing, while Barkey had 5 goals and 12 assists in his 43 games at center.

Top line combinations should be productive

While the younger players were the focus of Briere's remarks, it appears that the top two lines look fairly solid. Christian Dvorak will center the top line with veteran Travis Konecny at left wing and Martone on the right side. Trevor Zegras is the No. 2 center between left wing Tyson Foerster and right wing Owen Tippett.

The third line could be a true difference maker, and much of that is on Michkov. He needs to get back on track on the right side of center Noah Cates with Bump on the left side. If that line becomes a key offensive factor — with Michkov scoring 30 goals or more — the Flyers will be a very difficult opponent to beat.

If the Flyers are going to make any key moves before the start of the season, they are likely to come on the blue line.

The top defensive pair of Travis Sanheim and Rasmus Ristolainen appears to be solid and dependable. Cam York and Jamie Drysdale comprise the No. 2 pair, but Nick Seeler and David Jiricek on the No. 3 pair have quite a bit to prove. Jiricek has some offensive skills and will likely see time on the No. 2 power play, but becoming a solid and consistent defender is something that he has to demonstrate to Tocchet and the coaching staff.

If Jiricek does not pass muster, look for Oliver Bonk or Ty Murchison to fill that spot. The Flyers could also look to make a trade to fill that spot if none of the three players are up to the task.