The Flyers have their opening-night group set, and the final list came in just under the wire.
Philadelphia announced its 23-man roster with 30 minutes to spare before Monday’s 5 p.m. EDT deadline, and the finish was about as tidy as expected. The team will open the season with the maximum number of players, while Denver Barkey starts the year on injured reserve.
Barkey’s situation is not expected to drag on for long. General manager Daniel Briere said Saturday that the forward’s absence should be brief, and the Flyers have some flexibility because his IR placement can be backdated to September 22, the day after he was injured. That means Barkey could be removed from IR as soon as tomorrow, giving the Flyers room to maneuver if needed.
That temporary roster opening helped keep both Carl Grundström and Garrett Wilson in the fold. Grundström cleared waivers last week, which made him a candidate to be sent down, but the Flyers chose to keep him on the roster anyway. The 28-year-old earned that look after a strong run last season, when he played 47 games and finished with nine goals and 13 points.
Wilson’s path was a little more unexpected. He entered camp on an AHL-only contract with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms and was only a camp invite, but that changed on Sunday when he and the Flyers agreed to a one-year, two-way NHL deal worth $850,000. Wilson, who appeared in three games for Philadelphia last season, then became a real roster option, and the Flyers confirmed Monday that he would stay with the big club for now.
The appeal there goes beyond the box score. At 35, Wilson isn’t being kept around for a big scoring role, and his last NHL action before last season came in 2019.
But he brings the kind of edge the Flyers may feel they need now that Nicolas Deslauriers is in Carolina, and he’s never been shy about dropping the gloves for teammates. He also carries weight in the room, having served as captain in Lehigh Valley for years and mentored a wave of younger prospects.
Elsewhere on the roster, the decisions had already mostly been made. David Jiricek’s rough preseason finale on Saturday may affect where he opens the year in the lineup, but after Oliver Bonk was sent down Friday, there was little doubt Jiricek would make the final cut.
Simon Benoit was already close to a lock and became even safer after the Bonk move. Nikita Grebenkin, once he showed he was fully healthy in the closing days of camp, also looked set to stay.
Porter Martone and Alex Bump both made the Flyers’ opening-night roster for the first time in their careers. Newcomers Noel Acciari and Joseph Woll will also be in Orange & Black for Wednesday’s opener. Outside of Barkey’s IR placement, there were no surprise injury issues.
Helge Grans will start the season as an injured non-roster player after getting hurt Thursday. That designation does not mean he is sticking with the Flyers all year; once he is healthy, he cannot be sent to the AHL until he is fully cleared, and the expectation is that he’ll be waived and assigned there. That was always the likeliest outcome unless he put together a major preseason surge.
The lineup itself still needs to be sorted out, but the roster is now done as the Flyers head toward the start of the 2026-27 season.
In Other News...
Flyers Opener Will Test How Much Tocchets Second Year Really Changed
Rick Tocchet spent practice day talking less about the novelty of Year 2 and more about what should already feel familiar for the Flyers as the opener approaches. After a preseason loss, the team got back to work with Sean Couturier and Travis Konecny both acknowledging there is still room to sharpen up, even as Tocchet pointed to the groups growing comfort in his system and the added maturity he wants to see carry over once games start to count.
Dan Vladar was also on the ice, which is at least an encouraging sign for a club getting ready to face Pittsburgh in its season opener. His availability is still something to monitor, but the larger test for Philadelphia is simpler: whether a second season under Tocchet looks like a true step forward or just a team that understands the plan without fully executing it yet. [Read more 🡒]
Flyers Have A Bigger Question Than Last Years Playoff Return
Looking ahead to the 2026-27 season, there is reason to think the Flyers could finally have a lineup with more finishing talent baked into it. Matvei Michkov and Porter Martone are both viewed as the kind of young scorers who can change the shape of a forward group, and the broader sense around the roster is that Philadelphia may be getting closer to having enough punch to support a real step forward.
The bigger question, though, is how all of that scoring talent fits with the rest of the picture, especially in a league where stability in net and true top-end finishing can swing a season. Joseph Woll is part of that conversation as a possible solution behind the crease, while Tyson Foerster has also been mentioned as a player who could take another jump. The Flyers have spent enough time trying to climb back into the mix that the next test is no longer just getting there, but finding out whether the pieces around their young core can actually hold up once they do. [Read more 🡒]
Flyers Opening Night Roster Reveals A Few Surprising Lineup Clues
The Flyers settled their 23-man opening night roster for the 2026-27 season, and the shape of it offered a few early clues about how they plan to open the year. The group breaks down to 14 forwards, seven defensemen and two goaltenders, with Garrett Wilson among the names on the list and a defense corps that now includes newcomers David Jiricek and Simon Benoit.
The most immediate development is in net, where Dan Vladar and Joseph Woll are slated to form the opening-night tandem. That pairing gives Philadelphia a clear answer at the position for now, while the rest of the roster suggests the team is already leaning on some new pieces as it heads into the season. [Read more 🡒]