The Flyers are barely into training camp, and the competition is already showing up in the smallest spaces.
That was on display Thursday during a two-on-two drill, when Travis Konecny beat Tyson Foerster to a puck and finished with a quick turnaround shot that found the net. Konecny celebrated and made sure Foerster knew about it, too. Not long before that, Foerster had gotten the better of rookie Porter Martone and hit him with the classic “too small” taunt.
The Flyers’ social media team later posted another angle of both exchanges, and the message was pretty clear: the intensity is here right away.
Konecny and Foerster laughed about it afterward in a joint press conference, and Foerster said the chirping was part of a relationship that already had some history.
“We were talking about a couple of camps ago when I was a rookie and I blew him up out there, so he said it was going to be a hard camp,” Foerster recalled. “We’re going against each other out there.
We’re trying to make each other better. So we always have good competition and it’s a lot of fun.”
That edge makes sense for a Flyers group that is mostly running back the same roster from last year’s playoff team, with a few depth additions mixed in. The core is familiar, and early camp has already brought the kind of push-and-pull that comes with a roster full of players trying to carve out roles.
Foerster is one of the names to watch in that battle. He missed most of last season with an elbow injury that was supposed to end his year after surgery, but he returned in March to help the Flyers push into the playoffs and then beat the Penguins in the first round.
Before the injury, he was on a 39-goal pace, with 10 goals in his first 21 games. He was especially productive from the middle of November until the injury on December 1, scoring six goals in a seven-game stretch.
Now he’s among the forwards looking to take another step, and maybe even challenge for the team lead in points. That spot belonged to Konecny again last season, when he posted 68 points - 27 goals and 41 assists - in 77 games. Trevor Zegras finished right behind him with 67 points - 26 goals and 41 assists - in 81 games in his first season in Philadelphia.
There’s plenty of traffic in the Flyers’ forward group, which is exactly why these early camp battles matter. Along with Konecny and Foerster, the mix includes Porter Martone, Matvei Michkov, Owen Tippett, and possibly Trevor Zegras on the wing. That gives the Flyers more names than spots for the top six, and it also leaves room for a strong third line.
The center picture isn’t locked down, either. Jett Luchanko is again pressing for a roster spot, and the Flyers also have several forwards who can slide into a hybrid role, the way Zegras did last season.
For now, though, the story of camp is simple: the Flyers are competing hard, and they’re doing it with teammates who know exactly how to push each other.
In Other News...
Flyers May Have A Real Barkey Decision To Make This Season
Denver Barkeys path into this season has taken on a little more intrigue than a standard camp battle. After getting a look at center in a few playoff games last year, the Flyers winger has spent the offseason weighing whether a permanent move down the middle could make sense, and the coaching staff has been willing to entertain it. Rick Tocchet has been open to exploring the idea, which is enough to make this a real subplot as the Flyers sort out their forward group.
Barkey has already started preparing like a player who knows the conversation is serious. He has been studying video to sharpen the details of the position and plans to work with captain Sean Couturier as he tries to build more comfort at center. For a young Flyer, it is the kind of decision that can reshape not just his own usage, but the way the club thinks about its depth chart heading into the fall. [Read more 🡒]
Flyers Prospects Are Making One Roster Battle A Lot More Interesting
The Flyers last training-camp scrimmage before the preseason game had the feel of a final audition, with roster players and bubble hopefuls mixed into a lively 4-3 Orange-team win over the Black team. Tyson Foerster, Danila Klimovich, Alex Bump, Helege Grans, Trevor Zegras, Oliver Bonk and Denver Barkey all found the scoresheet, giving the coaches plenty to sort through as camp turns from evaluation mode toward roster decisions.
A few of the younger names made the exercise even more interesting, especially Jett Luchanko and Matvei Michkov, both of whom stood out in the flow of the scrimmage. David Jiricek also drew notice with a strong performance in the kind of setting that can quietly shift a battle on the back end, and the Flyers now have one more reminder that their next round of decisions may be more competitive than it looked a week ago. [Read more 🡒]
Matvei Michkov Already Looks Like A Different Kind Of Flyers Threat
The Flyers first scrimmage of the season in Voorhees offered an early look at the groups new energy, and Matvei Michkov wasted little time standing out. In Team Oranges 4-3 win over Team Black, the young forward kept the pace lively in an intersquad setting that also featured strong showings from Alex Bump and Denver Barkey, with the game giving coaches and fans a first real glimpse at how some of the teams emerging skill might fit together.
Michkovs work was particularly noticeable because it fit the tone of the day: competitive, physical and played with enough edge to feel like more than a simple workout. The scrimmage had its share of scraps and hard contact, including a late scrum involving Porter Martone, but it ended cleanly with no reported injuries, a useful early checkpoint for a Flyers group trying to build momentum without losing bodies this early in camp. [Read more 🡒]