The Flyers don’t score a lot. They fall behind a lot, too. But they’ve been resilient, and they’ve found ways to fight back.
Nick Tricome
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Tag: rick tocchet
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The Flyers are the NHL’s comeback kids, for better or worse
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Cam York returned to the Flyers’ lineup, now he’s finally getting back on the power play
Cam York will be on the power play Saturday night for the Flyers.
He’ll be back there for the first time in a long time when the team takes on the Minnesota Wild at Xfinity Mobile Arena, on a unit consisting of himself, Trevor Zegras, Noah Cates, Bobby Brink, and Tyson Foerster, based on Saturday’s morning skate reps.
Moreover, the Flyers need him there.
“Well, I think if you look at it, you got [Jamie Drysdale], Yorkie and then [Travis Sanheim],” head coach Rick Tocchet explained. “Sandy’s been playing a lot of ice time, so you gotta save some minutes. So any of those three guys, we wanna get them reps.”
And for York, to see what he can generate offensively.
When it comes to the minutes, his return to the lineup in Thursday night’s 5-2 loss to Winnipeg already gave Sanheim a bit of a breather – well, relatively.
York skated 22:32 of ice time in his first game back from a lower-body injury to begin the season, while Drysdale played 24:08 and Sanheim 24:35, after Sanheim averaged 27:15 and topped out at 29:34 through the first three games.
“He’s still gonna get the minutes, for sure,” York joked about Sanheim from his locker. “I think he’ll be happy he doesn’t have to play 28-plus. That’s tough to maintain that for 82 games, and if we can kind of ease those minutes on him, I think he’ll benefit from that.”
Along with the distribution of them as the Flyers go.
York appeared to be eased back into things on Thursday night. Even though he skated above 20 minutes, it was nearly all at even strength while Sanheim and Drysdale handled the bulk of the power play time.
York said he felt good and comfortable getting back on the ice in game action, and feels good about the prospect of getting his first look of the season on the power play Saturday night.
He got plenty of reps in camp, and during the morning skate, he put a black practice jersey on to signal his spot on the man-advantage while Sanheim put on an orange jersey to take up a role on the penalty kill.
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Eric Hartline/Imagn Images
Cam York and the Flyers are hoping time on the power play leads to more points from the defenseman.
York, notoriously now, was removed from the power play and had a down season last year as former coach John Tortorella was on his way out.
Tocchet, as the new head coach, is giving him the opportunity again, with the belief from the organization that not only can York return to form as a top-pairing defenseman, but as one who is also capable of much more on the offensive side.
York is still going to have to commit to all the little details on the defensive side under Tocchet, and he said as much throughout the summer and on Saturday morning, but his chance to do more with the puck, get his name on the board a bit more often, and help the Flyers score more in the process? That starts Saturday night against Minnesota.
“I think just getting the puck touches and more minutes, you’re gonna have probably more points than if you weren’t on the power play, obviously,” York said. “It kinda gets that mojo going again. I had that a few years ago, and I think it helped my game and my confidence. Excited to hopefully get back into that.”
Hopefully, it gets more going for the Flyers, too.
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Flyers thoughts: Tyson Foerster, Noah Cates, Bobby Brink never missed a beat, remain their best line
Three games in, and the line of Tyson Foerster, Noah Cates, and Bobby Brink has remained as the Flyers’ best.
Cates crashed the crease and scored the Flyers’ lone goal in Game 1 down in Florida on a perfectly executed offensive zone faceoff.
Brink stepped in toward the faceoff circle from off the wall and fired a shot home in Game 2 against Carolina, and had the would-be winner in overtime later on had goaltender interference not waved it away.
Then in the home opener on Monday night, back up against Florida, Foerster notched the first goal from drifting down to support Sean Couturier, who slipped him the puck to send him skating in toward the net for a clean shot that made it through.
At every turn, that combo has made an impact.
They haven’t missed a beat coming back from last season – might’ve even gained a step, too – and for a team that’s under a new head coach in Rick Tocchet and still very much trying to iron out the early kinks elsewhere, that’s been huge.
Foerster and Cates each have a goal so far, Brink has two, they all have three points and plus ratings, and as a line together, they’ve skated with a 56.25 high-danger chances for percentage, per Natural Stat Trick.
They haven’t missed a beat, especially so for Foerster, who suffered an infection in his elbow over the summer and wasn’t even sure ahead of training camp if he’d be ready in time to start the season.
But he made it, and picked up right where he left off.
“Just do the same stuff,” Foerster said. “Just do the same stuff we did last year. Defense first and offense is going to come with the way we play. Dump it in, we get on the forecheck, we have a good forecheck, and we get the puck back. Make plays, and we take it to the net.”
Sometimes it’s just that simple, but hey, it’s working.
A few other thoughts on the Flyers…
Michkov’s minutes
There’s been an early focus on Matvei Michkov, but not because he’s been putting up highlights.
It’s been the opposite, actually. He’s been quiet, a bit concerningly so, and moreover, he’s been sitting as the initial games have pushed later and later in.
Michkov didn’t touch the ice in the overtime loss to Carolina on Saturday, and with Monday night’s home opener against the Panthers still tied pressing further into the third period, the 20-year-old sat tight on the bench.
He has no goals or points so far, has taken a penalty in each of the first three games, hasn’t skated above 15 minutes in either of them, and has only three registered shots.
Tocchet acknowledged earlier in the week that Michkov suffered an offseason ankle injury that hampered his training and left him needing to catch up on his conditioning as a result.
Michkov spoke after practice on Wednesday in Voorhees, alongside his usual translator Slava Kuznetsov, and had no interest in using the injury as an excuse.
“That I’m not scoring or making any assists in the last three games, it’s not anyhow connected with the injury,” Michkov said via Kuznetsov.
But there have been lapses, too.
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James Guillory/Imagn Images
Matvei Michkov has had a slow start to the season.
On Monday night, for example, Florida was skating down with the puck into the Flyers’ zone within the final minute of the second period.
Michkov chased down to backcheck, trying to help take Gustav Forsling away as the passing option on the initial rush, but as soon as the first shot was stopped, he took a wide turn to start trailing up toward center ice, all while the Panthers still had control of the puck.
Sam Reinhart scored on a scramble around the goal line seconds later to get the Panthers on the board.
“He’s just gotta differentiate when is the time to take off and when it’s the time we need him to hang in there,” Tocchet said of Michkov, who did qualify that he believes his game is improving. “That’s the one thing he’s gotta figure out.
“I get it. He wants to be an offensive player, but you can’t take off when we don’t have the puck.”
It’s a learning process, Tocchet continued, and for the whole team.
“We’re trying to create a culture,” the coach said. “It’s not about one player.
But for Michkov…
“He is obviously a player that is a special guy,” Tocchet said. “We gotta hone his talents, but it’s gotta be somewhat in a team game, and he’s willing to do it because I think his last two practices have been great.
“He did video again today. He came up for us and goes, ‘Coach, I need video,’ and he talked about some other stuff where he felt his legs felt better the last couple days, which is good.”
So maybe chalk it up to a slow start for now.
As for the defensive part, though…
“Should play more in the offensive zone and be more offensive,” Michkov joked. “Then you don’t have to defend as much.”
That is one way to do it.
Built to handle it
Travis Sanheim has skated some incredibly heavy minutes to begin the year, from 25 minutes at minimum to nearly a half-hour in the case of Saturday night’s overtime loss to Carolina.
It’s a lot, but Tocchet has been a fan of Sanheim going back to when they were on Team Canada together in the 4 Nations Face Off last February and trusted him to be able to handle it.
Sanheim has answered the call without issue.
“He works out, he does the right things off the ice, that’s why he can play 30 minutes,” Tocchet said. “The guy came in in unbelievable shape for us. It goes hand in hand. He’s a professional, and that’s why he can play big minutes.”
That said, neither Tocchet nor the rest of the organization are looking to throw that much at Sanheim from game to game.
His usage has been a consequence of the Flyers having such thin defensive depth to begin the season, which wasn’t helped by Cam York going on Injured Reserve when they had to submit their opening night roster.
Until they can get York back – Rasmus Ristolainen, too – the Flyers are going to need to find a way to get more out of Jamie Drysdale, Adam Ginning, and Emil Andrae, at least to get by.
“We gotta develop some guys here to get more minutes off of,” Tocchet said. “We’re in the business of winning, but we’re also in the business of maximizing some players.”
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James Guillory/Imagn Images
Travis Sanheim has racked up a ton of ice time in the early going.
Speaking of…
York just might be ready to come back, though, for the Flyers’ next game at home Thursday night against the Winnipeg Jets.
He skated through practice in the standard black jersey, and after the Flyers left the ice, Andrae’s name was removed from the roster to indicate that he’s reporting to Lehigh Valley in the AHL, which opens up a roster spot.
“It’s day-to-day,” Tocchet maintained of York’s status. “He’s a possibility. We haven’t penciled him in yet.”
But the signs are lining up.
It’s a big year for York, who is looking to bounce back after a rough 2024-25 season and then some after signing a five-year contract extension in the summer.
It’s just starting on a bit of a delay.
Just fire away
Jett Luchanko has appeared in two games so far, Saturday night in Carolina and Monday night against Florida, skating in a limited 8:49 and then 7:40 of ice time.
Just like last season, the 2024 first-round center has a nine-game trial run before the Flyers have to decide between keeping him as a full-time NHLer or sending him back to juniors in Guelph.
They have seven more games to make a call.
Tocchet said Wednesday that he likes Luchanko’s speed, yet still, he needs to see the 19-year-old shoot, and not hesitate to do it.
“He has to start shooting the puck,” Tocchet said. “That’s one thing if he’s gonna get more ice time. I mean, there’s times he has the puck in the middle of the ice and he’s passing the puck at the front of the net. That’s a mental block for him right now…If he would shoot the puck, it’ll actually make him look faster.”
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James Guillory/Imagn Images
The Flyers are still deciding what’s best for Jett Luchanko’s development.
The Flyers are caught between a bit of a rock and a hard place with Luchanko when it comes to his development.
He’s too young still to go straight to the AHL, where he could get valuable and consistent pro minutes, but might not be fully ready yet to stick in the NHL, all while having outgrown juniors.
Sending Luchanko back to Guelph wouldn’t hurt, but it isn’t ideal either. Keeping him up full time with the Flyers, though, but at the cost of sitting him constantly or only giving him limited minutes unless he suddenly breaks out, that could.
“We’ll evaluate as it goes on,” Tocchet said. “I don’t think it’s gonna hurt him for a week or two, but you start talking months and months, yeah, it could hurt the development of a player, 100 percent.”
They have to be careful here.
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Nick Tricome
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Rick Tocchet establishes Flyers’ ‘staples’ on first day of training camp
The Philadelphia Flyers touched a puck on the first day of training camp, for the first time in three years.
There’s no more rope, the notorious John Tortorella signature of a hellish Day 1 bag skate, but that part of camp was always going to be different.
The real change for the players on the ice Thursday morning in Voorhees was that there was no conditioning at all. New head coach Rick Tocchet jumped straight into establishing systems and concepts, the Flyers’ new “staples” as he called them.
Tocchet trusted the players to be in shape and ready, he told the local media at the Flyers Training Center after Thursday’s first practice. So instead of skating both the new and old faces into the ground, he moved them straight into adapting how the team should play from here on out.
First and foremost, he wants the Flyers to hold on to the puck.
“I expect them to work hard,” Tocchet said. “I don’t have to get it out of them, in a sense. I need to get these guys in concepts, what we want to do. We need to hold on to pucks. We don’t wanna throw pucks [away]. We wanna be a better possession team, you know? So we got to work on that stuff.”
But obviously, Tocchet continued, they’re not going to take all of that in within a single day.
It’ll be an adjustment from the past couple of years, for sure.
Under Tortorella, speed, relentless checking, and jumping on opponents in transition up the ice combined into the style that the Flyers adhered to.
Two years ago, it resulted in a surprise playoff push that stalled out, but did carry all the way to Game 82.
Last year, the momentum was lost. Players either got banged up, regressed, or did both. Tortorella’s message rapidly wore thin , and down the stretch, the team spiraled until the organization made the call to fire him.
Tocchet is changing up the approach.
He’ll still be holding his team accountable, but realizes there’s only so much time in camp to implement a new system under a new coaching staff before opening night arrives.
“It’s gonna take some time, you know? They’re gonna have to get used to some of the stuff that we’re gonna do,” Tocchet said. “But they should be working hard. I shouldn’t have to demand it out of them. If there’s times when I have to, I will. But right now, for me, the concepts and systems and details, we call it ‘staples,’ like the details of handling the puck off the wall or in a certain situation that comes, that’s what we’ll continue to work on.”
Hopefully, with a personnel better shaped to excel at it.
The Flyers still have a lot of hard-skating and furious checkers. It was the line of Tyson Foerster, Noah Cates, and Bobby Brink’s whole M.O., and what made them the team’s most consistent group for much of last season.
But they also have a bit more talent that can get more creative with the puck coming in. Matvei Michkov is entering his second season after leading last year’s rookie scoring race, Trevor Zegras came in from Anaheim with plenty of offensive upside still to his game, and someone like Owen Tippett, if he can get back to being consistent, could be a borderline 30-goal scorer with his laser of a shot (on either hand).
So getting used to controlling the puck more will be a key for the Flyers as October nears. But just as much, Tocchet was sure to stress, is what they do when they don’t have it.
“The one thing that, for me, that I’ll never change is play without the puck,” Tocchet said. “We want the goalie to play half the net, you know? We want to make sure that players know if we gotta give something up, where the puck’s gonna be. That’s really important to me.”
And will help to take some stress off goaltenders Sam Ersson and Dan Vladar in the months ahead if the Flyers can execute on that consistently.
“You got a goalie playing post to post, there’s a lot of slot shots, there’s backdoor plays…You’re gambling, right?” Tocchet said. “I don’t wanna gamble. I wanna be calculated in the way we play.
“But obviously, we got some creative guys, you know? When we have the puck, like I say, ‘Go have a party, man. Do what you gotta do.’ But when you don’t have the puck, I expect guys to know what they’re doing. I think that’s a big thing for me, going into this year.”
But it’ll take time. It’s only the first day.
Captain cooperation
Another notable difference in camp this year relates to Sean Couturier.
The Flyers’ captain didn’t have a great relationship with Tortorella, and was pretty direct about that at the end of last season. Their personalities clashed, and so did their views of how Couturier should play.
Now, Tocchet hasn’t been around as head coach for long, but already, the back and forth seems a lot more open and fluid.
“Already had some really good conversations with him,” Couturier said. “Probably more over the last three months than I had over two years with Torts, so it’s fun to just go back and forth and get to know each other, listen to each other’s thoughts on the game. I think we’re just trying to push in the same direction. Our goal is the same, and, you know, there’s no ego.
“He’s told me, ‘It’s not about Rick Tocchet.’ I’m kind of the same way. It’s not about me. So we’re all about what’s best for the team, and trying to get this team to the next level.”
Couturier is also entering the season as maybe the healthiest he’s been in years after a lengthy run of back issues from several seasons ago.
He’s known for being a strong defensive center, and before his back problems started to pile up, he was a Selke-winning level skater.
Maybe he can recapture some of that form a bit, along with some offensive production as he skated in between skilled Russian wingers Michkov and Nikita Grebenkin in the initial camp lines.
For now, Tocchet wants him to prioritize that.
“I want him to worry about his game,” Tocchet said of Couturier. “The leadership, it’ll come. I’ll help him out on that. I want him to worry about his game. So we’ll talk about that sort of stuff. He’s already done it. There’s been a couple of times where he’s come up to me, asked me about, ‘Hey, can we do this? Can we do that?’ That’s the relationship I wanna have.
“But I want him to worry about his game. Sometimes you put so much pressure on a captain that he’s gotta worry about everything. Next thing you know, his game suffers from it.”
He doesn’t want that for Couturier.
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Nick Tricome
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