The 2025-26 regular season gets underway for the Flyers on Thursday night as they take on the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers. The 82-game journey embarks with the hopes of increased growth and development and a desire to show a franchise on the way up.
As the season begins, here’s a look at five storylines for the Flyers season.
Will a Goalie Step into a Primary Starter Role?
It’s an annual question mark when it comes to the Flyers. The goaltending: will it improve, will someone emerge, can it deliver the results the Flyers need to be competitive?
The Flyers have Sam Ersson back between the pipes and added Dan Vladar in the offseason in the backup role. But this remains a wide open competition.
Ersson will get every chance to be the starter. The Flyers management has expressed a belief in him. Vladar can just as easily step up and get a more prominent role with strong play. But the Flyers cannot afford to have goaltending that ranks last in the league and falls so far below league average. It will be a long season if that’s the case.
Can Trevor Zegras Return to Form?
The most significant move of the Flyers offseason was the acquisition of Trevor Zegras. Any time you can add a 24-year-old with a chance to make him a key part of your core moving forward, you do it. Danny Briere did, but knew the caveat behind such a move.
Briere noted that 24-year-olds aren’t available without having a few down seasons. Zegras has made it clear that a move away from center to wing in his last two seasons in Anaheim, coupled with injuries, slowed his otherwise consistent production from earlier in his career.
Can Zegras return to that form in Philadelphia? It’s a contract year for the forward, and the Flyers are certainly hoping that they have every reason to commit to Zegras long-term and make him part of the future. The skillset is there. Can Zegras execute enough to be an undeniable part of the future?
Will Matvei Michkov Hit a Sophomore Season Wall?
Matvei Michkov had his ups and downs as a rookie. The positives: Michkov finished with 26 goals and 63 points, great numbers for your first NHL season at just 19, 20 years old. The bad: there was plenty of inconsistency, some in part to the coaching style of John Tortorella, some due to hitting the rookie wall.
As you gain more experience, and more is known about the player, the more the rest of the league keys in on how to stop you. Michkov now enters his second season in the league. Will the determined 20-year-old take another step, or will there be some more struggles?
Can York, Drysdale Unlock More Offense?
If this season is important for a player like Trevor Zegras to further establish himself as a top-six member of a forward group, it’s equally as important for Cam York and Jamie Drysdale on the back end. The two defensemen offer a similar skillset – mobile, able to provide some offense, and former first-round picks looking to become firmly part of the core going forward.
York signed a long-term deal in the offseason, but it’s no secret that his 2024-25 season left a lot to be desired. Some of that had to do with his relationship with the coach, which all came to a head in March at the time Tortorella was fired. With the shackles off, can York improve his offensive game and be the defenseman he was a couple of seasons ago? The answer will have to wait some, as York starts the season on IR.
For Drysdale, health is not a question after playing 70 games, his most since he was 19. But Drysdale needs to take another step to place himself into at minimum a second-pairing role.
Does Any Youth Emerge?
One of the underwhelming parts of Flyers training camp was the amount of young talent that stepped up to take command of a roster spot. Nikita Grebenkin had a great camp to follow up his rookie camp performance, and made the team. Jett Luchanko did enough to earn an extended look at the NHL level to start the season, but may only be here for another tryout of up to nine games before the Flyers decide to send him back to juniors.
Outside of those two, no one really stood out. Oliver Bonk was hurt for the duration of rookie camp and training camp, and never got a true chance to make the roster. Alex Bump didn’t perform well enough to make the NHL. Emil Andrae and Helge Grans weren’t able to seize the opportunity to make a defensive group that has some holes.
An NHL roster is always evolving, and each of these players is just a call away in the minors. Can some of the youth emerge to become an even bigger part of the core?