Flyers general manager Daniel Brière believes winger Tyson Foerster “should be ready for the season,” he told Bill Meltzer of NHL.com and Hockey Hot Stove.
Foerster had an elbow surgery earlier in the offseason aimed at addressing an infection he developed following an injury sustained while playing for Canada at the World Championship. Brière told Meltzer that “everything looks good right now” in terms of Foerster’s recovery, signaling the results of his reported follow-up MRI in late July were promising.
That knowledge may have played a small part in their joint decision to have 2025 top pick Porter Martone make the jump to NCAA hockey with Michigan State this season instead of having him compete for an NHL job in camp. A Foerster absence in camp and at the beginning of the regular season would have opened up another opportunity for one of the Flyers’ myriad young wingers to get a taste of NHL action, but if the team is anticipating him being available, that’s a top-six job they no longer need to worry about for the first few weeks of the year.
Getting a healthy Foerster out of the gate is a crucial step toward any postseason hopes the Flyers have. The 23-year-old is fresh off a career-high 25-goal season – second on Philly last year behind star rookie Matvei Michkov – and signed a two-year, $7.5MM extension in May to keep him away from restricted free agency. He’ll be penciled into a top-six role, which could be on a line with captain Sean Couturier or offseason trade pickup Trevor Zegras if he’s deployed down the middle.
This kid is going to put up 30 goals this season.
Let’s be clear, if Briere was involved in any way it will be a bad decision.