The Philadelphia Flyers are looking to extend their winning streak to four games Thursday night hosting the visiting Utah Mammoth. But they’ll have to do it without two regulars. According to the team, forward Travis Konecny and defenseman Nick Seeler will both be out of the lineup Thursday evening.
Lineup update: Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar will start in net.
Forward Travis Konecny (upper-body injury) and defenseman Nick Seeler (lower-body injury) are unavailable for tonight’s #UTAvsPHI matchup. pic.twitter.com/vLULPOGDmE
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) March 5, 2026
If the morning practice is any measuring stick, it appears that Konecny might be closer to returning to the lineup than Seeler. Konecny, who missed the game Monday night against Toronto, was seen at the Flyers’ practice facility Thursday morning. He didn’t participate in the line rushes but was seen skating with the defensemen.
Travis Konecny at morning skate. He did not take line rushes and is here helping on defense. pic.twitter.com/9rXSsHapxL
— Jordan Hall (@JHallNBCS) March 5, 2026
Konecny has 23 goals and 34 assists for 57 points this season and continues to be the Flyers most consistent forward. It’s unclear exactly what the issue is with the winger, but the team has stated it’s an upper-body injury. Meanwhile, Seeler will miss tonight’s game after apparently blocking a shot in second period. His last shift in the second was with just under four minutes to go in the middle frame, leaving the Flyers to go with just five blueliners the last 24 minutes of regulation and beyond. There’s no word on when Seeler might be ready to return as he’s dealing with what Philadelphia says is a lower-body injury.
It’s unclear who the Flyers will go with tonight to replace Seeler, but it will most likely be a choice between Noah Juulsen and Adam Ginning. In the morning practice, Juulsen was paired with Emil Andrae while the other pairings included Travis Sanheim and Rasmus Ristolainen as well as Jamie Drysdale with Cam York. Ginning was called up a few days ago by the Flyers from Lehigh Valley.
Of course, the biggest elephant in the room might be not the health status of Rasmus Ristolainen but his status with the club given the impending trade deadline tomorrow afternoon. Ristolainen has been tied to a handful of teams who could be interested in the veteran’s services. If he was removed from the lineup for “roster management” purposes, then it’s almost a given the Flyers would simply put Ginning into tonight’s game. Ginning would most likely be paired with Sanheim as he has played with him in previous games this season.
The loss of Konecny obviously leaves a hole in the offensive production for Philadelphia. The lines will see not much difference, with the fourth line seeing Nic Deslauriers with Carl Grundstrom and Garnet Hathaway. Deslauriers — who has also been the subject of some trade talk for teams looking for an enforcer-type of depth player — played against Boston and Toronto.
Elsewhere, the only other news is that goaltender Dan Vladar will get the start again, his fourth in the five games since Philadelphia returned from the Olympic break. Vladar was sensational against Boston and was a steadying presence against the Leafs, particularly in the second period when the Flyers were on their heels more than their toes.
Again, with the trade deadline almost 24 hours away, a lot of things could change between now and tonight. Time will tell if the lineup the Flyers plan on going with this evening will be the ones taking to the ice against an equally desperate Utah club. There’s no word if the newly acquired defenseman MacKenzie Weegar will be in the lineup for the Mammoth tonight.