The Flyers opened free agency by adding a familiar kind of piece: a veteran bottom-six forward who can help shore up the depth chart right away.
On Wednesday, NHL insider Elliotte Friedman reported that Philadelphia signed Noel Acciari to a two-year contract worth $5.6 million, which carries a $2.8 million AAV. Acciari, 34, gives the Flyers another experienced option up front as they keep building out the lower half of the lineup.
Acciari spent the last three seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins, a Metropolitan Division rival that the Flyers knocked out in six games in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Now he flips sides and lands in Philadelphia after that postseason exit.
The move also points the Flyers away from one of their own pending free agents. Luke Glendening had been in the mix to stay, but with Acciari coming in, Philadelphia is presumably moving on there.
The Flyers have also reportedly brought back Carl Grundstrom, another depth forward who factored into the mix last season. With Nick Deslauriers and Garnet Hathaway gone, Acciari and Grundstrom now look like the replacements for those veteran roles.
There’s also a clear skill fit here. Acciari has made his living as a dependable faceoff option, winning 53.4% of his draws with Pittsburgh.
Glendening was even better in that department during his brief time with the Flyers at 57.2%, but his offensive production didn’t come close to Acciari’s last season. Acciari finished with 12 goals, 13 assists, and 25 points in 67 games for the Penguins.
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Flyers Add Another Piece As Briere Keeps Reworking The Bottom Six
The Flyers keep adding familiar bottom-six help, and Zach Aston-Reese is the latest name to join the mix on a two-year deal. It is another depth move for a team that has spent the day reshaping its forward group, with veteran Noel Acciari also coming in and Tyson Foerster already locked up on an eight-year extension that begins in 2027-28.
For Aston-Reese, the fit is straightforward: he brings a track record of bouncing around the league and filling a role on the lower lines, which is exactly the kind of stability the Flyers have been chasing as they rework the supporting cast around their core. The larger question now is how all of these additions sort themselves out in camp, because the Flyers are clearly not done tinkering with the bottom six just yet. [Read more 🡒]
Flyers Quietly Added An Intriguing Young Forward Fans Will Want To Track
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For Philadelphia, the move looks aimed first at building out depth for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, where an in-house swing on a young forward can be worth the wait. Klimovich has shown enough at the minor league level to keep him on the radar, and the next question for the Flyers is whether this is simply a sturdy AHL pickup or the kind of inexpensive bet that can turn into something more down the line. [Read more 🡒]
Predators Get Their First Real Test Of This Draft Class
Development camps are a useful reminder that the summer calendar belongs as much to prospects as it does to the veterans already penciled in for bigger roles. In Philadelphia, that meant another look at a group that included first-round pick Maksim Sokolovskii alongside returning young players Porter Martone, Denver Barkey and Alex Bump, all of them getting work in the same setting as the organization keeps building around its next wave.
Sokolovskii drew plenty of attention from the start, and not just because he was the Flyers top pick. The 2026 draft class is still in its early evaluation stage, which is why these camp skates matter so much, and the 6-foot-7 defenseman is already giving the club and its prospects a sense of how much size and skill he can bring to the blue line. For Philadelphia, the next question is how quickly that first impression turns into something more lasting once the drills give way to a longer summer of development. [Read more 🡒]