Flyers winger Bobby Brink has set a career-high in goals for a season with 13 this year, and with roughly one-third of the season left to go. He probably will be hard pressed to achieve the 41 points he amassed last season, yet he could conceivably find himself in the 33-point to 35-point range at his current clip. Besides his production, Brink has also established himself as one of the hardest-working forwards the Flyers have. It’s a far cry from the forward the Flyers drafted back in 2019. At the time he was coming off a 68-point season with the Sioux City Musketeers of the USHL. And in 2021-22 he had 57 points at the University of Denver while also being an impressive +27 on the plus/minus scale.
Yet since the Flyers drafted him in 2019, the offensive prowess Brink showed in previous tiers hasn’t been visible. Through 196 National Hockey League games, he’s at just under a 0.5 points-per-game pace (92). And he seems to be at best a middle six winger on a team that is still struggling mightily to score goals and generate chances. He’s no longer exactly a youngster as he’ll turn 25 in July, but isn’t quite at the age where you would want to completely give up on him. In short, Brink is a bit in no man’s land with the Flyers for a few reasons. Although he’s been one of the keys in the effectiveness of the line with himself, center Noah Cates, and winger Tyson Foerster, Brink is going to start facing some heat from those who are eager to make their case for a roster spot, namely Alex Bump, Porter Martone, and Shane Vansaghi. Toss in the fact the Flyers already have a glut of wingers like Travis Konecny, Owen Tippett, Foerster, Matvei Michkov and (most likely) Trevor Zegras at their disposal, and you see that Brink — as much as he is liked — might not have much of a future in Philadelphia’s top nine.
What makes Brink appealing
When Bobby Brink entered the league, he was seen as a small forward who knew how to play one side of the puck. In his own end, he wasn’t exactly going to be mistaken for Sean Couturier. Brink had issues in terms of defensive coverage and simply having the will or smarts to retrieve pucks in his own end and make the necessary clears. The low point was when he was on the wrong end of a defensive miscue and screed from John Tortorella in a blowout against Tampa. Torts instructed him using different four-letter and seven-letter words to get to the bench and off the ice. Tortorella once even suggested Brink was averse to checking as he probably didn’t know how to spell the word. In short, he wasn’t doing much offensively and was becoming a defensive liability.
But all of that changed over time. Brink developed a work ethic that didn’t seem to gel with his physical stature. Whether it was body positioning, a willingness to finish his checks, or simply putting in the grunt work to win far more one-on-one puck battles than he lost, the forward’s game was enhanced. He wouldn’t be mistaken for a sniper like Foerster or Tippett, but he could be dependable when it came time to shutting down another line. As well, Brink will remain a restricted free agent at the end of this season when his two-year $3 million deal ($1.5 million average annual value) is done, so the Flyers (or some other team in a trade) will still retain his rights for his next contract.
So while there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of high-end talent that Brink has shown thus far, he remains a cheap, dependable winger that can fit into a variety of roles when called on. That makes parting with him difficult, but making him a bit more enticing as trade fodder for another club.
Is Brink a fit for the future?
With the current depth on the wing, and the lack of centers that the Flyers currently have on their roster, Brink probably has a few things working against him through no fault of his own. For one, his size doesn’t exactly make him a power forward. Nor does it make him fourth-line material. A typical fourth-line player tends to be big, aggressive, not afraid of physicality but essentially spotted 10 to 12 minutes a night. It’s an energy line, and the type of line that Brink isn’t equipped for moving forward. He wouldn’t be a great fit along the likes of Nikita Grebenkin, Garnet Hathaway or Rodrigo Abols, among others.
Nor does his skill set put him at a level like Michkov, Foerster, Konecny, nor Tippett. Perhaps the biggest hurdle Brink has is trying to keep his spot in the lineup that should have Porter Martone arriving either in the latter stages of the 2025-26 season or next season barring injury. As well, Denver Barkey has definitely made inroads into keeping a spot the rest of this season and looking forward into next. Barkey has a small sample size — and seems to have hit a little bit of a wall lately — but he seems intent on ensuring he’s with the big club next October. Toss in others such as Phil Tomasino, Alexis Gendron, Alex Bump and others who are with Lehigh Valley, and the current horde of wingers the Flyers have becomes almost too much. It’s not that Brink isn’t currently better than some of those players mentioned, it’s just that he truly hasn’t distanced himself enough from a lot of current and foreseeable Flyer wingers.
If Brink remains with Philadelphia, chances are he’s not developing into a 30-goal or 35-goal scorer a few years from now. He would be useful in some respects, but if you’re looking at a contending team, he would be life and death to be in the top nine forwards. As a result, Philadelphia could be looking at trading Brink. The answer is when they might pull it off.
At the deadline? The Draft? The summer?
It’s safe to say that Bobby Brink is going to be with the Flyers the rest of the season. Unless a deal falls on Flyers general manager Danny Briere’s lap that has him landing a quality, young high-end center in exchange for Brink and other pieces, a hockey trade at this time of the year seems a long shot. Especially given how many teams still believe they have a chance to make the playoffs. The handful of games between the end of the Olympic break and the deadline could be pivotal in seeing what Briere does and where the team stands. So, it would be a safe bet to suggest Brink will be with the club the rest of the season.
When the season concludes is where things get a bit more foggier. The Flyers could extend Brink for a Foerster-esque short-term bridge deal to see where he is and the team is in two seasons. Or, knowing a trading partner would have control of Brink for the foreseeable future, Philadelphia might kick the tires on a few teams to see if Brink is a piece that can land an asset or high-end draft pick. Again, Brink isn’t a guy that’ll see the Flyers jump several spots in the first round if they part with him in a trade, but a package with him and other parts could do the trick. However, much like the trade deadline, it seems like it’s a bit of a long shot.
If Brink is going to be moved, it’s probably going to be after free agency. It’s almost a given that Philadelphia will give Brink a qualifying offer before the June 30 deadline. They would be idiots to let him go to unrestricted free agency without the offer and lose him for nothing. Teams will have most of their rosters lined up for 2026-27 by then or at least see what holes need to be filled and start phoning other general managers. So while Brink and the Flyers could agree on an extension, it certainly wouldn’t mean Brink’s deal would come with a no trade or no movement clause. A 25-year-old forward on what should be a frugal cap hit could entice a team to take a chance on Brink, and in return the Flyers could be getting an asset for both now and down the road.
It’s hard to root against a smaller player like Bobby Brink who battles hard each game. He’s developed into a fan favorite of sorts for his work ethic. That said, it’s harder to see where he fits in the grand scheme of things as a Philadelphia Flyer, especially if they want to become contenders.