Skating toward the start of the Philadelphia Flyers’ rookie camp, which opens in about three weeks.
Captain Sean Couturier, the Philadelphia Flyers' No. 1 center, is healthy as he tries to rebound from a poor second half in the 2023-24 season.
Who is the Flyers’ most important player this season not named Matvei Michkov?
For me, it’s Sean Couturier on offense, Jamie Drysdale on defense. The Flyers need Couturier to resemble the guy who was a terrific all-around player a few years ago. They need Drysdale, who is now healthy after an injury-plagued season, to show why Anaheim made him the No. 6 overall pick in the 2020 draft. (That was the year the Flyers wisely took Tyson Foerster at No. 23.)
It would also help if Drysdale showed marked improvement on the (sickly) power play.
Among the other ultra-important Flyers this season: Goaltenders Sam Ersson and Ivan Fedotov. Ersson, understandably, looked tired in the second half of last season. But he was very good in the season’s first half, and he heads into camp as the team’s No. 1 goalie. That said, the 6-foot-7, 214-pound Fedotov has the potential to take the job away.
The goalie competition will be one of the best storylines in camp.
Trivia
Who had the Flyers’ first regular-season goal last year?
Hint: He finished with a career-high 50 points and played in all 82 games for the second straight year. (Answer at the end.)
Help needed down the middle
The Philadelphia Flyers’ weakest position is center. Couturier is expected to start the season as the No. 1, with Morgan Frost the likely No. 2. Couturier, who had sports-hernia surgery in the offseason, had one goal in his final 37 games last season.
“We expect Sean to be the player he was in the first half of last year,” general manager Danny Briere said recently. “It’s not an excuse, but he was banged up” in the second half.
On a stronger team, Couturier, is better-suited as a No. 2 center and Frost as a No. 3.
That’s at least a year away. Maybe in the summer of 2025, when the Flyers have cap space, they will land a No. 1 center and slot Couturier and Frost differently. Tony DeAngelo ($1.7 million cap hit) and Cal Petersen ($3.85 million) are among the players who come off the books next year. Ditto Ryan Johansen ($4 million), who could come off the books this year.
Here are the centers who, at the moment, will be unrestricted free agents in the summer of 2025, per Spotrac, which lists centers who also can play wing. I’ve listed only players who will be 30 and under at the start of the 2025-26 season: Sam Bennett (produces and plays with grit), Leon Draisaitl (his contract, which will likely be back with Edmonton, will be astronomical), Christian Dvorak (meh), Carter Verhaeghe (has blossomed into a star), Robby Fabbri (solid, but not top-liner), Jack Roslovic (meh), Luke Kunin (has never reached his potential), Cody Glass (see Luke Kunin), Trent Frederic (good size, but only a middle-six guy), Nico Sturm (meh), Morgan Geekie (think Ryan Poehling), Brett Howden (meh), Pius Suter (Scott Laughton type), and Isac Lundestrom (underachiever).
Bottom line: The pickings aren’t overwhelming. Briere may have to find a No. 1 center in the trade market.
Michkov’s expected debut
Rookie right winger Matvei Michkov, 19, is expected to make his debut Sept. 13 as the Flyers face the New York Rangers in a prospects game at the PPL Center in Allentown. That game will be live-streamed by the Flyers, and the Sept. 14 game against the Rangers be will televised, per Bill Meltzer.
Early dates to remember
Sept. 12: Rookie camp starts in Voorhees.
Sept. 19: First on-ice day of training camp.
Sept. 22: Flyers open their preseason schedule at Washington.
Sept. 26: Flyers host the Islanders in their first home exhibition game.
Oct. 11: Season opener in Vancouver.
Oct. 19: Home opener, also against Vancouver.
Trivia answer
If you said “Joel Farabee, ” you are a diehard fan who, like me, probably knows lots of useless information. Example: Lou Angotti was the Flyers’ first captain (and a wonderful man).
