Thursday marked the beginning of the 2025 Flyers training camp. If you’re looking for a reminder of the schedule and camp roster, check out our story with all of the 2025 Flyers Training Camp information!
Here are the groups from Thursday’s action:
Flyers Injury Updates
One thing that immediately jumped out was the absence of Oliver Bonk from the groups on Thursday. The Flyers’ top defensive prospect was in a non-contact jersey during Tuesday’s rookie camp finale. Briere mentioned that Bonk would be held out as a precaution until he is fully healthy.
*Update: The Flyers announced that Oliver Bonk is day-to-day with an upper-body injury*
A big injury update: Rasmus Ristolainen got some individual skills work in prior to Group A hitting the ice. Ristolainen was the only person on the ice while he was skating.
Group C
Based on the list of players from Group C, it’s relatively safe to assume that this is the AHL group. 2025 2nd round draft pick Matthew Gard and recent trade acquisition Tucker Robertson headlined Group C on Thursday.
There was not much that stood out from Group C. Massimo Rizzo had a few good sequences, showing flashes of the player that he was in college. He was arguably the most impressive player in my eyes, with Oscar Eklind not too far behind.
Of this group, Eklind likely has the best shot at seeing the NHL at some point this season. However, nobody from this group will be getting a look for the NHL.
Group A
Flyers Group A Lines and Pairs:
Bump-Zegras-Konecny
Grebenkin-Couturier-Michkov
Pederson-Nesbitt-Hathaway
Kaplan-Abols-Gaucher
*I could not tell who was centering the fourth line between Abols and Gaucher*
Seeler-Drysdale
Sanheim-Gill
Murchison-Vlooswyk
Gilbert-Moline
Vladar
Kolosov
From the first group, we got the first look at some of the Flyers’ core NHL guys since last season. There was not too much to take away from it, as most of Thursday was players just getting their legs. However, with the lines and pairs, there were a few things certainly worth noting.
The first of which was the first line out on the ice. Alex Bump, Trevor Zegras, and Travis Konecny as a line could make a whole lot of sense. Three players with a lot of skill, and two solid two-way wings around Zegras, who is an offense-first player. This could certainly be a fun opening night line.
The other big takeaway was Nikita Grebenkin skating with Sean Couturier and Matvei Michkov. Typically, first-day lines don’t mean a whole lot. However, Grebenkin, working with those two early on, tells me that the Flyers are giving him a serious look. I don’t think the team would put him with two current Flyers if they did not want to see what he could do.
Group B
Foerster – Dvorak – Barkey
Gendron – Luchanko – Tippett
X-Cates-Brink
*The rest of the forwards from Group B rotated in lines, in and out, including a rotating forward with Cates and Brink*
York – Grans
Zamula – Andrae
McDonald – Juulsen
Ginning – Samson
Ersson
Bjarnason
There was significantly less to see from Group B than there was in Group A. Tyson Foerster was skating and participated in every drill. However, he remained in a non-contact jersey. During his media availability after the session, he said he is almost 100% and envisions being in a regular jersey by next week. He also said that he is confident he’ll be available for the season opener.
Karsen Dorwart took a big hit into the boards by Owen Tippett early in the first part of Group B’s skate. He looked shaken up, but continued, and eventually looked like he was unbothered. However, after a quick break, Dorwart was not on the ice for the second stint of the skate, and Matthew Gard filled in.
Other than that, not much else occurred in Group B’s skate.
Takeaways From Flyers Training Camp Day One
The first day of training camp is typically just players getting their legs back under them. In previous years, especially for the Flyers, it was used as a long conditioning day for the Flyers. In the first year under Rick Tocchet, things were a bit different. For one, there was no rope used during today’s skate.
Many players, including Travis Konecny and Sean Couturier, mentioned how it was a fresh feeling talking and learning systems on the first day, really hitting the ground running. Tocchet seems to waste no time.
As far as the “on the ice” takeaways from Thursday, the one thing that initially jumped out was the immediate chemistry between Konecny and Zegras. The two, as previously mentioned, were on the first line in Group A. Zegras seemed to know when and where Konecny wanted the puck at all times. They could become a high-end duo for the Flyers this season.
Noah Cates also seemed not to have lost a step from last season, as well as Cam York, who looked a bit more refreshed and relaxed. Of course, it was day one of a very long season. Things will always look better now. That is just what jumped out on Thursday.
The team will continue camp on Friday, following the same schedule from Thursday.