The Flyers are adding a new face to their hockey operations staff, and one of the more unusual jobs in the sport is getting a bigger role.
Daniel Spencer, who spent the last three years as the club’s local emergency backup goalie, is now stepping into that position full time. In the expanded role, he’ll travel and practice with the Flyers on a full-time basis, working strictly as a member of the organization.
Spencer’s hockey background includes four years of Division III play at Finlandia University, where he earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in 2019. He is also a Gloucester Catholic alumnus and served as assistant hockey coach there from 2022 to 2025.
The Flyers also noted that Spencer has been involved with the NHL for a couple of seasons in his previous emergency backup role, but without the travel component that now comes with the job. The local EBUG setup kept him in the Philadelphia area and available in a pinch; the full-time version brings him onto the road and into regular practices with the team.
Along with Spencer’s promotion, Philadelphia announced two more additions to its hockey operations group. Kyle Blackstone joins as massage therapist, bringing seven years of experience and the ownership of Blackstone Massage & Recovery, which he founded in 2021.
Through that work, he has served as a massage therapist for the University of Pennsylvania’s Track & Field, Cross Country, Basketball, Squash and Rowing teams, and has also worked with athletes from the high school level through the professional ranks. In his Flyers role, Blackstone will work with Melissa Rucker on therapeutic massage and soft-tissue treatments aimed at player recovery, mobility and overall physical well-being.
The Flyers also added William Heim as assistant athletic trainer for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Heim arrives after two seasons with the Tahoe Knight Monsters of the ECHL, where he handled communications around orthopedic injuries, rehabilitation and return-to-play progressions.
He also spent time as a clinical athletic trainer at the University of Utah from 2023 to 2024. Heim earned a Bachelor of Science in Athletic Training from Lasell University and a Master of Science in Health and Human Performance from Oklahoma State University.
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