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Hurricanes Sign Oliver Kylington, Givani Smith To Professional Tryouts

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The Carolina Hurricanes have signed forward Givani Smith and defenseman Oliver Kylington to professional tryouts. Both players appeared in NHL games last season.

Kylington’s NHL action was split between the Colorado Avalanche and Anaheim Ducks. He only totaled 19 games, and five points, on the year after sustaining a string of injuries throughout the 2024-25 season. Kylington stepped away from the NHL from October 2022 through January 2024 to focus on his mental health. He returned for 33 games of the Calgary Flames’ 2023-24 season and won the 2024 Bill Masterton Trophy.

Kylington is now 28 and looking to reinstate his spot in the NHL. He bounced back and forth between the major and minor leagues from 2018 to 2021 – but broke out with 31 points in 73 games of the Flames’ 2021-22 season. At his best, he looked like a smooth-moving, two-way defenseman capable of holding both blue-lines. That talent could be enough to fill the in-between role vacated by Scott Morrow when he was traded to the Rangers in June. First, Kylington will need to prove he can still play at NHL pace.

Meanwhile, Smith will look to flex his might as a bottom-of-the-lineup bruiser. He has fluctuated between the NHL and AHL for the last few seasons, and averaged at least one penalty minute per game everywhere he goes. Last season, Smith recorded no scoring and 18 PIMs in 13 NHL games, and three points and 21 PIMs in 16 AHL games. Those performances brought his career totals up to 22 points and 268 PIMs in 168 NHL games, and 55 points and 287 PIMs in 167 AHL games. He could be a candidate for an AHL contract, if he doesn’t earn a deal with the Hurricanes out of camp.

Matthew Caldwell, Shawn Thornton Leave Panthers For NBA

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Florida Panthers’ team president and CEO Matthew Caldwell is set to leave the organization after 11 years to become the CEO of the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves and WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx, per David Dwork of The Hockey News. The report was confirmed by Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press. Additionally, former NHL pro Shawn Thornton announced he will step down from his role as Florida’s Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) to join the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks as a Senior Vice President and Chief Partnership Officer. Thornton joined Florida’s executive staff in 2017.

These moves stand as two major changes to the Panthers’ top level of business management. Caldwell joined the Panthers in 2014, amid some of their darkest years. He quickly took to a litany of responsibilities, and earned a promotion from Chief Operating Officer (COO) to CEO after just two years with the organization. He was 36 at the time. In the boosted role, Caldwell was able to take on efforts that helped to reshape the Panthers from an NHL bottom-dweller to a modern dynasty.

Caldwell played an instrumental role in the formation of Florida’s lauded front office and coaching staff. He supported the team to a franchise record in ticket sales, TV viewership, and sponsorship revenue and led the hiring of then-rookie general manager Bill Zito. Caldwell also supported the sale of local media rights to Bally Sports in 2022, Florida’s arena naming rights to Amerant Bank in 2023, and additional media sales to Scripps Sports in 2024. The trio of deals expanded coverage of Panthers hockey across Florida.

Success in the Sunshine State was only a small part of Caldwell’s career. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point and served five years as a Captain in the U.S. Army. During that time, he oversaw combat operations in Iraq, peacekeeping efforts in Kosovo, and soldier training in Germany. He received numerous accolades for that service. Caldwell turned towards a career on Wall Street after his military duty concluded, taking on the role of Vice President with Goldman Sachs. He also attended the Northwestern University School of Law for his J.D. and MBA degrees. The Panthers cover Caldwell’s accomplishments more in depth on their website.

Now, Caldwell will join the Timberwolves and Lynx on the heels of their sale to Marc Lore and former MLB legend Alex Rodrigues. In doing so, he will continue to sustain an illustrious career that Panthers Owner Vincent Viola knows they won’t be able to replace. Viola told the Associated Press:

There are very few opportunities I would advise him to pursue, but working with Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore on a global platform like the NBA is at the top of that list… Matt’s impact on our organization has been immeasurable and he leaves with our respect and gratitude

On top of that weight, the Panthers will also lose former bruiser turned proficient executive Shawn Thornton. Thornton played through 14 years and 705 games in the NHL. He was among the very last true enforcers in the NHL, and racked up an incredible 1,103 penalty minutes over the course of his career. Over his full career, Thornton averaged 12 points and 128 penalty minutes per 82 games played.

Thornton retired as a member of the Florida Panthers in 2017, at the age of 39, and quickly took to a front office role. His business career began as a Senior Vice President of Business Operations – filling a litany of roles, including heading marketing, sponsorships, broadcasting, game presentation, and community relations. He was promoted to the team’s Chief Commercial Officer in 2020, then to CRO in 2022.

Thornton has been a pillar of growth since the onset of his post-playing career. In addition to his role with the Panthers, he also runs the Shawn Thornton Foundation – geared towards raising funding for life-threatening diseases, including Parkinson’s Disease. That organization was formed in 2013.

Florida will now bear the burden of filling two major roles in their executive offices. It will be a tough task, though one the organization seems well set up for after winning back-to-back Stanley Cups and appearing in three-straight Stanley Cup Finals. They’re a true NHL dynasty, and averaged the fifth-most attendance in the league last season according to HockeyDB. This news will mark turnover and new opportunity for a club in the midst of their peak.

Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports.

NCAA Grants Eligibility To Two Former Pros

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In another milestone decision for collegiate hockey, the NCAA has granted eligibility to two players with experience in the AHL and ECHL. Forward Connor McClennon and defenseman Hudson Thornton will both suit up for the Bemidji State University Beavers, per Jared Rubado of The Bemidji Pioneer. This decision goes against the NCAA’s previous rule that stated any players who have signed pro contracts were ineligible from playing NCAA-sanctioned sports.

The future implications, or even the present justification, for this decision aren’t entirely clear. Bemidji State head coach Tom Serratore told Rubado that the team wanted to “throw some darts” after seeing the NCAA allow former pros to participate in other sports. They worked with both players to submit request to the NCAA Eligibility Center, formerly the NCAA Clearinghouse. Both McClennon and Thornton pointed towards their reinstated eligibility for U Sports – Canada’s collegiate league – as one of the reasons why they should be granted a move to the NCAA.

Bemidji also pointed towards the NCAA’s extension of eligibility to pros in both basketball and football. As pointed out by Rubado, the NCAA allowed Ethan Burg to join the University of Tennessee’s men’s basketball team on July 24, despite Burg’s participation in the Israeli Basketball Super League.

The NCAA is also currently facing a U.S. District Court ruling that challenges how the NCAA counts years of eligibility. Previously, the collegiate association would include years in JUCO, or Junior College, against a player’s maximum five years of NCAA eligibility. This new antitrust lawsuit would look to reverse that decision, and extend additional eligibility to three players at West Virginia University, as well as players at Vanderbilt University, Rutgers University, and Memphis University.

The NCAA has released a statement challenging the court ruling, though they may face a tougher task overturning it after extending eligibility to two pro hockey players. McClennon played nine total games between the AHL and ECHL, scoring just one point in the former league. He spent last season at the University of Alberta. Thornton’s pro experience is much more extensive. He appeared in 49 ECHL games, and scored 14 points, this past season, in addition to making his AHL debut. Thornton has never played at the collegiate level, though he previously expressed interest in joining the University of Saskatchewan for next season.

While the long-term impact of this decision hasn’t had time to settle, it marks another boom to the ever-changing junior hockey landscape. It seems unlikely that the NCAA will officially acknowledge changes to their eligibility until after they conclude multiple lawsuits and court cases, leaving questions of who teams can recruit up in the air for now. On the other side, NCAA eligibility could begin mirroring U Sports. Currently, AHL or ECHL players are eligible to join U Sports programs, but must sit out for a season of competition if they are on a pro roster after January 10th. Even those guidelines seem uncertain, though, as U Sports commits to future changes and expansions of their own.

Flames Seem Set To Trade Rasmus Andersson, Per Teammate

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The trade rumors surrounding Calgary Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson are reaching a peak as the 2025-26 season rolls around. Flames centerman Mikael Backlund said that Andersson seems to be clearly headed for a change of teams during the NHL’s European Media Tour, as captured by Micahel Russo of The Athletic. Backlund went into depth on the divide between Calgary and the top-pair defenseman, sharing that the two sides are at ends on what a new contract should look like. Andersson will enter unrestricted-free agency next summer, and is looking for a boost over his current $4.55MM cap hit, while the Flames are looking for a value deal. Backlund told Russo:

Yeah, [Andersson is] getting traded. It’s obvious… I talked to him, too, and he doesn’t want to be a distraction… It’s too bad that it’s come to this. I don’t think that they’re close to getting an agreement, but you never know. Things could change.

Backlund seems among the most informed when it comes to changes within the Calgary organization. He’s spent all 1,066 games, and 17 seasons, of his NHL career in a Flames jersey. The Flames named Backlund team captain in 2023, after five years of serving as an alternate captain. Andersson has also served as an assistant captain as far back as 2022, cementing a clear connection between the two teammates.

Backlund’s comments ring loud as a result. Andersson has appeared to be the odd-man-left ever since general manager Craig Conroy completed a fire sale of trades in 2023 and 2024. The flurry moved out defenders Chris Tanev, Nikita Zadorov, and Noah Hanifin – leaving Andersson as the only long-term Flame left on the team’s blue-line. He has since been supported by veteran MacKenzie Weegar and emerging pro Kevin Bahl, playing ahead of an otherwise very fluid Calgary defense.

This news spells even more changes for the Flames’ defense. There will be no preparing for losing a player of Andersson’s caliber, even despite rumors swirling through the last few seasons. He has emerged as a true top-pair offensive-defenseman, capable of driving play and sustaining offensive chances for his side, even amid poor defensive play. Andersson tied his career-high of 11 goals this past season, to go along with 31 points on the full year. It was a slight dip from his scoring totals over the last few year. He previously scored 50 points in the 2021-22 season, 49 points in 2022-23, and 39 points in 2023-24.

These comments will once again spark what’s been an aggressive trade market for Andersson. Calgary has fielded interest from across the NHL, with teams like the Columbus Blue Jackets and Carolina Hurricanes previously emerging as front-runners. There has also been rumors of a fit with Pacific Division clubs like the Los Angeles Kings or Vegas Golden Knights, should the Flames be comfortable with moving Andersson to a nearby foe. Vegas will notably be without top defender Alex Pietrangelo next season due to injury, creating a clear hole in their lineup. The Golden Knights would need to find roughly $1MM in cap space to afford Andersson’s cap hit, assuming Calgary would be willing to retain a maximum 50-percent.

Hurricanes Sign Ivan Ryabkin To Entry-Level Contract

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The Carolina Hurricanes have signed 2025 second-round pick Ivan Ryabkin to a three-year, entry-level contract. The deal carries $235K in signing bonuses and a $85K salary at the AHL level. The NHL salary grows each year – from $775K, to $850K, to $895K. Ryabkin is expected to delay the start of the contract by moving to the QMJHL’s Charlottetown Islanders this season, though rumors suggest he could make a push for the AHL roster out of training camp, per Elite Prospects’ Cam Robinson.

Ryabkin was once lauded as the top Russian in the 2007 birth year, and even considered a potential top-20 prospect after his age-17 season. That standing took a tumble over the course of his draft season, as concerns over his workout regiment and discipline grew with Russian club Moscow Dynamo. The resulting split prompted Ryabkin to the move to the USHL’s Muskegon Lumberjacks in January, after he scored just one goal and 12 points in 15 MHL games.

The mid-season move proved instantly profitable for both Ryabkin and Muskegon. The high-volume winger totaled 26 goals, 46 points, and 100 penalty minutes over a combined 41 games in the USHL. His scoring presence was the final heave that pushed Muskegon to their first Clark Cup Championship in franchise history. Ryabkin filled the sniper role to a tee, perfectly complimenting high-energy playmaker Tynan Lawrence and nifty power-forward Vaclav Nestrasil Jr..

News of his first NHL contract will make Ryabkin a must-watch player as training camps roll around. He still measures at a hefty 5-foot-11, 205-pounds, and stood out as an unpoised hitter on what was a heavily penalized Lumberjacks lineup. His scoring prowess at the junior level is unquestioned, but the 2025-26 season will be about proving his competition, drive, and level-headedness both on and off of the ice. Breaking into the minor-leagues at 19 would go a long way towards showing that growth. Ryabkin made his debut in the KHL and VHL – Russia’s top pro leagues – early into the 2024-25 season.

Snapshots: Kane, Penguins Hall of Fame, New QMJHL Franchise

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While Patrick Kane has accomplished nearly everything in his Hall of Fame career, one key achievement has eluded the American: Olympic gold. As the United States Men’s Olympic Orientation Camp started Tuesday, Kane, 36, made it clear that he wants more one shot at Olympic success, per NHL.com’s Nicholas J. Cotsonika.

“The one thing that’s kind of missing is a gold in best-on-best, right?” Kane said. “It would be fun to have that opportunity.”

While Kane was named as a participant in the orientation camp, his spot on the Olympic roster is far from secure. However, coming off a 59-point season — which included 45 points over the final 43 games — Kane believes he still has the game to make the roster based on his current performance, not his past success.

With three Stanley Cups, a Hart Memorial Trophy, an Art Ross Trophy, a Conn Smythe Trophy, and over 1,200 career points, Kane has built one of the greatest careers by any American player. But the long-time Blackhawk and current Red Wing feels he still has what it takes to get Team USA over the hump.

“Yeah, that’s all it is, is gold, and trying to get over the hump of Canada,” Kane said. “They’ve won the last two Olympics in best-on-best and the last two World Cups in best-on-best. Yeah, that’s what it’s all about, to win the gold.”

Elsewhere in the hockey world:

  • After a 12-year hiatus, the Pittsburgh Penguins are reintroducing their Team Hall of Fame, announcing 10 new inductees. The list includes six former players and four former coaches or executives. Players Tom Barrasso, Ron Francis, Jaromir Jagr, Chris Kunitz, Larry Murphy, and Kevin Stevens, along with Scotty Bowman, Eddie Johnston, Jim Rutherford, and Ray Shero, were selected, per a team release. The release stated that the 10 honorees will be inducted over the course of the next three seasons. While the specifics of who will be inducted first have not yet been announced, the team is planning a ceremony for the first home game against the Columbus Blue Jackets on October 25, per Triblive’s Seth Rorabaugh. Penguins GM Kyle Dubas personally called nine of the 10 inductees to inform them of the honor. In the case of Shero, who sadly passed away in April, Dubas called his sons, Rorabaugh adds.
  • The residents of Lewiston, Maine may have a familiar activity to enjoy, as NHL.com’s Mark Divver reported today that the city could be in line for a new QMJHL franchise. As Divver notes, Lewiston previously had a QMJHL franchise from 2003 to 2010. At that time, the team played out of the famous Colisee, which had a capacity of 4,000. The Colisee is most known for hosting the iconic 1965 fight between Muhammad Ali and Sonny Liston.

 

 

Simon Després Signs With LNAH’s Saint-Hyacinthe Bataillon

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A former first-round pick of the 2009 NHL Draft is returning to his native Quebec to continue his professional playing career. In a team announcement, the LNAH’s (Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey) Saint-Hyacinthe Bataillon shared that they’ve signed defenseman Simon Després to a contract for the 2025-26 season.

Després was selected by the Pittsburgh Penguins a few weeks after the organization reached its first Stanley Cup Final since the 1991-92 season. The Laval, Quebec native was playing for the QMJHL’s Saint John Sea Dogs at the time, finishing his tenure with the team after the 2010-11 season, during which he managed 25 goals and 134 points in 240 games, including six additional goals and 39 points in 58 postseason contests.

Given that the team had won the Stanley Cup in 2009 and continued as one of the best teams in the league for the next few years, there was no need for the Penguins to rush one of their top prospects to the NHL level. Still, despite spending most of his time with their AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, Pittsburgh gave Després plenty of opportunity to make his mark at the game’s top level.

Unfortunately, no such impact was made, at least on the offensive side of the puck. Over the next three and a half years, Després partook in 144 games as a Penguin, scoring five goals and 33 points with a +27 rating while averaging 15:54 of ice time. Pittsburgh had been looking for more offense from Després. Still, he was a sneakily positive defensive option, maintaining a 53.2% CorsiFor% (CF%) at even strength, and a 92.8% on-ice save percentage (oiSV%) at even strength, while also averaging nearly two hits per game.

Regardless, the Penguins felt they had seen everything they needed to regarding Després’ future with the organization, and they finally traded him to the Anaheim Ducks in 2015 for defenseman Ben Lovejoy, who had been a teammate of Després in the first two years of his NHL career. Unbeknownst to Després at the time, his move to Orange County would mark the end of his NHL career.

Severely limited by concussions, Després finished with one goal and 10 points as a Duck from the trade in 2015 to the end of the 2016-17 campaign. It’s difficult for any player, especially one who hasn’t established himself as a legitimate talent, to recover after nearly two years away from the game. Despite a five-game stretch with the AHL’s Laval Rocket during the 2018-19 season, Després has spent the rest of his professional career overseas, recently scoring six goals and 29 points in 52 games with the EIHL’s Glasgow Clan last season.

Minor Transactions: Hurlbert, Boltmann, Uens

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American forward J.P. Hurlbert, widely tabbed as a first-round pick in the 2026 draft class, will spend his draft year north of the border with the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers, the team announced.

It’s a sharp course reversal from the growing trend of CHL-committed players coming to the United States to play college hockey, as they’re now eligible to do before their usual run in junior hockey would have concluded. Hurlbert is still a University of Michigan commit – that hasn’t changed – but he wasn’t expected to join the team until his age-18 season in 2026-27. He’s still expected to attend while making the Blazers a brief detour on his development path, buying himself out of the U.S. National Team Development Program in order to do so.

Hurlbert, a Texas native, joined the USNTDP’s under-17 squad last year after playing his youth hockey with the Dallas Stars Elite program. He finished third on that club in scoring with a 19-18–37 line in 56 games, adding three assists in five games for the Americans at the under-17 World Hockey Challenge.

The 17-year-old joins a Kamloops roster headlined by Penguins 2024 second-rounder Harrison Brunicke on defense – assuming he doesn’t make Pittsburgh’s opening night roster. At forward, he’ll have Blackhawks pick Nathan Behm, a third-rounder this year, to help him out.

More minor moves from around hockey:

  • Former Flames defense prospect Jake Boltmann is landing in the Stars organization on a contract with ECHL Idaho, per a club announcement. The 23-year-old righty was a third-rounder by Calgary in 2020 but wasn’t signed following his fifth season of college hockey, so assuming he’s submitted the proper paperwork, he’s now an unrestricted free agent in the NHL’s eyes. The 6’1″, 201-lb rearguard had 20 points and 108 PIMs in 126 games with Notre Dame over four seasons before transferring to Northeastern for a fifth year. He had a 2-10–12 scoring line with 39 PIMs and a -2 rating in 35 showings for the Huskies last year.
  • Ex-Panthers farmhand Zachary Uens has signed an AHL deal with the Kraken’s affiliate in Coachella Valley. The 24-year-old was an unrestricted free agent after being non-tendered back in June before the expiry of his entry-level contract. A 2020 fourth-round pick, he saw fringe action for Florida’s AHL club in Charlotte but played mostly in the ECHL, most recently for the Savannah Ghost Pirates. The 6’2″ lefty spent all of last season there, logging 17 points and 68 PIMs in 62 games.

Bill Daly Talks Schedule Changes, CBA Talks And Effectiveness

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Some NHL executives and players were in Milan, Italy, last week as part of the league’s yearly media tour – this time in the place the league will be sending its players to the 2026 Winter Olympics. Deputy commissioner Bill Daly was part of the contingent there and sat down for an interview with Michael Russo of The Athletic, discussing some items that have been left unaddressed from last month’s Collective Bargaining Agreement extension and Memorandum of Understanding approval.

One of the key changes in the agreement is a jump from an 82-game regular season schedule to 84. That will take place beginning with the 2026-27 campaign, and Daly essentially confirmed that means an earlier start date – with regular-season games now potentially beginning in September.

It’s not as if there was another direction to go. More in-season breaks and elongated playoff scheduling in the later rounds have made for some exceedingly late finishes to the season in recent years, leading to key events such as the Stanley Cup-clinching game, the draft, and the opening of the following season’s free agency period taking place in a sub-two-week period.

“I think that 82 to 84 games is going to be beneficial to both sides,” Daly said. “It comes in connection with a shortened training camp. I think that can help us on our overall calendar length. I think we’ve started our regular seasons earlier as a general matter and our playoffs earlier, which some of the media have suggested we should.”

The other most forward-facing change in the new MOU is, for the second decade in a row, a reduction in maximum contract length. After the 2012 lockout ushered in an era of eight-year extensions and seven-year free agent deals, those caps are both decreasing by a single year in the new agreement.

That was arguably the league’s highest priority entering negotiations with the NHLPA alongside the LTIR reform that also got achieved, Daly said. “We’re in a situation where we have a number of contracts that are entered into for maximum term, with the parties recognizing that the player’s not going to be really worth what the contract will pay him in the out-years of the contract. So, the more purely monetary benefits of longer-term contracts are kind of scaled back a little bit. That’s really the benefit.”

Previously, excessively frontloaded contracts were retroactively penalized with a recapture penalty. That was an exceedingly rare thing to trigger, though, and only happened if the player decided to retire and walk away from their contract instead of failing physicals and remaining on LTIR for the duration of their career. Along with the term reduction, there have been more safeguards put in place in the new MOU to restrict year-to-year variations in compensation in multi-year deals, but chopping off a year to spread the total package across will be the most effective way to reduce the number of artificially lowered cap hits and AAVs league-wide.

As for when all these changes take effect, the previous presumption was that none of the new policies announced last month would be enforceable until September 15, 2026, when the current MOU expires and the new one begins. That won’t necessarily be the case, Daly said, although NHLPA assistant executive director Ron Hainsey had previously confirmed that the current contract term limits will still be in effect for the 2026 offseason and won’t be reduced until that September date.

Nonetheless, Daly clarified there will be multiple stages of implementation regarding all the changes laid out in the MOU. “I don’t want to presuppose their approval, so I’m not going to answer the question specifically. But it does deal with every item that we agreed to as part of the memorandum of understanding. One bucket of items will go into effect as early as this year. One bucket of items will go into effect as of July 1 of next year — so, the league year, the full league year. And then there’s a list of items that don’t go into effect until Sept. 16 of next year.“

Are The Flyers Close To Turning The Corner On Their Rebuild?

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It feels like the Philadelphia Flyers have been in a perpetual rebuild for the last decade, but really, it’s been two separate attempts at a rebuild. This most recent edition essentially kicked off in March of 2023 when prior Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher was fired and replaced by current GM Daniel Briere.

Flyers fans might not have had much to cheer about the past ten years; however, that window of futility is beginning to close, and a new window, one of opportunity, is starting to open. The issue for the Flyers, and this could be one for their cross-state rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins, is that they don’t have those high-impact top-end young assets, which will hurt their ability to build around their young pieces.

That’s not to say that the Flyers have failed their rebuild, but their prospect pool isn’t overly impressive for a team that has been in what feels like a forever rebuild and is currently ranked 18th overall by The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler, although that was before their 2025 draft haul. Some fans might have concerns about a repeat of the Flyers’ last rebuild that Ron Hextall oversaw, but Briere appears to be more assertive than Hextall and likely won’t be so passive when it comes to building the team he wants.

Now, in fairness to the Flyers’ prospect ranking, they have graduated a couple of terrific prospects to the NHL already, in Bobby Brink and Matvei Michkov, which lowers their ranking. They also had several players age out of Wheeler’s rankings, making it somewhat premature to say that the pool is devoid of future talent.

That being said, if you look down the Flyers’ NHL roster, there isn’t a lot of talent under the age of 25, and the rebuild seems to lack the cohesiveness that some of the better rebuilds and retools have shown. When a team like the Pittsburgh Penguins emerged from the basement of the NHL standings, they did so with two significant waves of talent entering the NHL full-time in back-to-back summers.

Sidney Crosby didn’t start his NHL career alone; he was joined by Marc-Andre Fleury, Ryan Whitney, and Maxime Talbot. The following season, Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal, and Kris Letang arrived, and the Penguins remained in the Stanley Cup picture for the next decade.

The Flyers don’t seem to have such waves of talent inflows in their rebuild, which is certainly not ideal. That isn’t to say that Philadelphia can’t or won’t go through a rebuild like that.

Still, it does seem like the waves of talent are becoming fewer and farther between, which could delay the process and lead to a few more years of struggles for the Flyers before they finally turn the corner. The 2025-26 season could get ugly in Philly, as they still lack solid goaltending and have gaps all over their roster.

There will, however, be signs of hope this season as Jett Luchanko, Oliver Bonk, Alex Bump, and Nikita Grebenkin will likely all compete for NHL roster spots, which should lead to some exciting competition. Speaking of fun, bringing in Trevor Zegras from the Anaheim Ducks was one of the most entertaining moves of the summer and could make for great theater if Zegras can get close to the form he showed a few years ago.

Injuries and inconsistency have lowered the 24-year-old’s trade value, and the Flyers managed to acquire him cheaply from the Ducks. If he can return to his 2021-22 level, the Flyers will have the chance to sign Zegras long-term and make him part of their future, or trade him for a better return than what they sent to Anaheim.

The trade was a smart move for Briere, who was aggressive in acquiring the talented forward. It’s possible that the deal doesn’t work out, but since Philadelphia gave up so little (Ryan Poehling, a 2025 second-round pick, and a 2026 fourth-round pick), it was worth the risk.

The other significant move the Flyers made this summer was hiring former Flyers player and Jack Adams Award winner Rick Tocchet as Philadelphia’s new bench boss. Tocchet, who has won two Stanley Cups as an assistant, should bring some structure and accountability to the Flyers, which was missing last season.

Tocchet’s relationship with Zegras will be interesting to watch develop, as he has a history of getting through to talented players who may not be interested in playing two-way hockey. In Pittsburgh, Tocchet was respected as Mike Sullivan’s go-between when it came to Phil Kessel, and those years in Pittsburgh were some of Kessel’s best NHL seasons, with likely some of the credit going to Tocchet.

Aside from those two major moves, the Flyers stayed quiet this summer. They made only depth signings with Christian Dvorak (one-year deal), Dan Vladar (two-year contract), Noah Juulsen (one-year deal), Dennis Gilbert (one-year deal), and Lane Pederson (one-year deal). These signings won’t propel the Flyers into the playoff race, but they will strengthen the team’s depth and give some of the younger prospects more time to develop in the pro ranks.

Despite all the changes, this season will probably still be a tough one for the Flyers since they lack enough young players to step up and compete in the Eastern Conference. And that’s okay; in fact, it could work out well for the Flyers if they start to rise while the New York Rangers and Islanders begin to leave their peak years.

The Flyers are in the later stages of their rebuild, but it’s still too early to call it the home stretch, as they await another wave or two of quality prospects that will form the next core.

Photo by Nick Wosika-Imagn Images

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