Now that Matvei Michkov has inked his entry-level contract and finally arrived in Voorhees, New Jersey, we can expect the Philadelphia Flyers to look a lot different at the forward position in the 2024-25 season, even if the team is returning a mostly unchanged roster.

Michkov, 19, is expected to make the jump to the NHL roster immediately and, in theory, is taking the roster spot previously occupied by the now-bought-out Cam Atkinson.

Before his scoring struggles, Atkinson was an important part of the Flyers’ offense and was a regular contributor on both the power play and the penalty kill. Michkov will more than atone for Atkinson’s absence on the power play, but how the penalty kill shakes out is still a mystery.

For example, Atkinson averaged 1:20 minutes per game short-handed, which was sixth amongst Flyers forwards. Ryan Poehling, Scott Laughton, Travis Konecny, Noah Cates, and Garnet Hathaway were the only forwards who played more minutes per game on the penalty kill.

Flyers captain Sean Couturier was seventh; can his body hold up in order to take on a larger responsibility on special teams? Or does head coach John Tortorella assign that responsibility to sophomore forward Tyson Foerster, a 22-year-old winger who blew the Flyers’ minds with his mature play and adept defensive work?

Whoever it is, it’s not going to be Michkov, and that’s one of many things Tortorella and the Flyers will have to sort out sometime between now and opening night in October.

For this exercise, I’m going to have the mindset of getting the best out of every player, just as a coach would (I’m not the coach). Oh, and we’ll talk about that dreaded power play unit, too.

Flyers Lines

Tyson Foerster – Sean Couturier – Travis Konecny

Owen Tippett – Morgan Frost – Matvei Michkov

Joel Farabee – Noah Cates – Bobby Brink

Scott Laughton – Ryan Poehling – Garnet Hathaway

Extras: Nicolas Deslauriers

Flyers Defense

Cam York – Travis Sanheim

Nick Seeler – Jamie Drysdale

Egor Zamula – Rasmus Ristolainen

Extras: Erik Johnson

Goaltenders

Sam Ersson, Ivan Fedotov, and Alexei Kolosov

Why Kolosov? I’ll expand on that in a future piece.

Let’s start with the simple stuff, then work our way up.

The Flyers’ defense is pretty much a lock to look like this all season unless someone regresses or injuries take place. The same can be said of the forwards, and in that case, Deslauriers and Johnson are your two de facto fill-ins. As for potential call-ups, it’s likely Adam Ginning, Ronnie Attard, and Emil Andrae are the first three on deck.

At forward, that’s less clear, but if this is still truly a rebuild, should it really matter who comes up as long as the player is a young forward gaining valuable experience? In that case, I suppose Elliot Desnoyers would have the first look if, and only if, he has a strong training camp and comes out swinging after a dreadful 2023-24 campaign.

We know that the Foerster, Couturier, and Konecny combination worked well last season, and as long as Couturier doesn’t suffer a bunch of injuries behind the scenes again, the Flyers should have no issue turning to this trio again. It’s not exceedingly likely, but if Couturier gets some of his scoring back and Foerster finds the consistency to match his shooting talent, this group could combine for 100 goals by themselves.

I chose to put Michkov with Morgan Frost and Owen Tippett for two reasons. One is that Frost and Tippett are two of the team’s best and quickest skaters, so they’ll be able to punish teams that try to encroach on Michkov’s working space along the walls and in the neutral zone.

The other is that I think Michkov’s hockey IQ will make Frost and Tippett better players. Those two have struggled with their decision-making in the offensive zone in different ways, but this line has the unique balance of Tippett being the natural shooter, Frost being the natural passer, and Michkov being both.

As long as those three play off each other and to their strengths, they should be able to produce loads of goals for the Flyers. Key word: should.

Oh, and defense be damned. The Flyers are going to give up goals anyway, so they might as well have some fun doing it.

My third line is a little outside the box with Noah Cates at center, but Tortorella likes Cates there and I agree with him. Cates has an unrelenting motor, is incredible along the boards, and is probably a better player with the puck than most people are willing to give him credit for.

Conversely, Joel Farabee and Bobby Brink are not as strong in those aspects, but they’re both two of the team’s better playmakers. Together, as long as someone is putting the puck in the net, I would expect each of these three to score 40 points or better.

Scott Laughton was really bad in 2023 and really good in 2024. I don’t think Cates’s role on a line with Ryan Poehling and Garnet Hathaway was one that cannot be replicated or replaced, and Laughton will still get close to his usual dose of minutes on the second power play unit and on the penalty kill.

Having a fast, experienced fourth line that can play defense is valuable in the NHL, so the Flyers should have no problem giving this group a spin together.

Lastly, the power play.

Unit 1

Travis Konecny – Sean Couturier – Matvei Michkov

Owen Tippett (Bumper) – Jamie Drysdale (Point)

The strategy is simple: let Michkov and Drysdale create. Everybody else’s job is to shoot pucks and generally score. I also think it’s wise to simplify things for Tippett and make him play off what’s in front of him while also allowing him to use his speed and size to create angles for his teammates.

Couturier, generally, is good in front of the net, and his connection with Konecny should allow for plenty of scoring chances and chaotic sequences alike.

Unit 2

Tyson Foerster – Scott Laughton – Bobby Brink

Joel Farabee – Travis Sanheim

OK, I didn’t like Cam York a ton as the power play ‘QB’ last year. He moved the puck well, but wasn’t aggressive enough with it and his shot isn’t strong or accurate enough to make up for that. As long as Travis Sanheim isn’t logging tons of minutes again, I’d like to see him get a try there.

Brink, on his strong side, can create lots of chances and will be able to shield the puck better in order to buy himself time to imagine a passing line and take advantage of it. Laughton, too, excels on that right side; he scored a few nice one-timers from there if my memory serves me well.

That leaves Farabee for the netfront and Foerster for the weak side one-timer opportunities. And if you want anybody in this group shooting the puck, it’s Foerster.