The Philadelphia Flyers have had one consistent line for nearly the last year.

Tyson Foerster, Noah Cates, and Bobby Brink were put together by John Tortorella last November, and they formed one of the most consistent lines not only for the Flyers but in all of hockey during their time together.

However, new head coach Rick Tocchet has already had to do some line juggling with Tyson Foerster out of the lineup. He did reunite that line upon Foerster’s return, but it looks like Tocchet may finally be breaking up that trio.

Here is how the Flyers lined up in practice on Wednesday, per NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Jordan Hall:

Tyson Foerster – Noah Cates – Travis Konecny
Matvei Michkov – Sean Couturier – Bobby Brink
Trevor Zegras – Christian Dvorak – Owen Tippett
Nikita Grebenkin – Rodrigo Abols – Garnet Hathaway

Foerster and Cates are sticking together on that line, with Konecny replacing Brink on the right side.

That slots Brink down to the second line with Michkov and Couturier, which should hopefully provide some forechecking and playmaking from the right winger.

The bottom two lines stayed together, and rightfully so. Zegras, Dvorak, and Tippett combined for all five of the Flyers’ goals in St. Louis as well as the only goal in Dallas.

Grebenkin remains in the lineup on the fourth line with Abols and Hathaway, which means that Nic Deslauriers is the healthy scratch.

Is now the right time to break up Foerster – Cates – Brink?

Even with Foerster missing a few games, this is by far the most-used line by the Flyers this season. They’ve played 147 minutes together at 5-on-5, per MoneyPuck, with an expected goals share of 51.4% while being outscored 4-3.

This has largely come against the opponent’s best lines, though, and it’s interesting timing to break them up with two home games coming up.

The Blues have had more than their fair share of struggles this season, so keeping that line together to shut down St. Louis’ top line would’ve made sense. Perhaps Tocchet wants to spread the matchups around, though, since the Blues do have a decent second line with Pavel Buchnevich and Jordan Kyrou on the wings of youngster Dalibor Dvorsky.

Still, it’s tough to see the Flyers’ most consistent line taken apart. It had to happen at some point, but you’d think that it would be out of necessity during a losing streak or to get some offensive spark going. That’s not the case for the Flyers, who have points in five of their last six games.

Line changes could get Michkov, Konecny going

One of the exciting changes to the lines is Michkov getting a new winger to play with. Brink doesn’t need the puck as much as Konecny does, as the small winger does his work in the corner and battling along the walls. That should help the Flyers win possession with Michkov and Couturier on the ice, allowing the young Russian to work his magic in the offensive zone.

It’s also potentially a great sign that Michkov is feeling a lot more confident. He scored in three straight games recently, creating his own shot on two of them.

This won’t be a completely new line, either. They’ve played 34 minutes together with 43.5% of the expected goals share.

On the other hand, moving Konecny to the right side of Foerster and Cates could get him going a bit more. Yes, he had an eight-game point streak snapped in St. Louis, but he just hasn’t looked like his usual self out there.

Putting Konecny on a line with Foerster and Cates can allow him to play a more straightforward game while being able to be the one who leads the rush up ice and controls the puck in the offensive zone.

We’ve seen Konecny and Foerster have success with Couturier as their center back in the 2023-24 season. They had 60.6% of the expected goals share in 229 minutes together. Cates is the new Couturier in a few ways, so perhaps they can replicate that.

Zegras – Dvorak – Tippett still holding strong

This line has been the Flyers’ second-most-used line this season, with an impressive 69.2% expected goals share in their 102 minutes together. Tocchet broke them up when Foerster returned last week, but they were put back together in St. Louis, and it paid huge dividends.

Zegras is the crafty playmaker, Tippett the speedy shooter, and Dvorak the solid two-way presence in the middle. It makes a lot of sense on paper, and the chemistry has shown on the ice.

These three all have six goals this season to tie for the team lead. Zegras leads the team with 13 assists and 19 points, and Dvorak and Tippett are third and fourth with 13 and 11 points, respectively.

We’ll see how these new lines fare on Thursday night at home against the St. Louis Blues, and if they can stay together through that game to Saturday night’s showdown with the New Jersey Devils.