The Flyers came out of a busy summer looking a lot like the team that got them back to the playoffs in 2025-26. The big swing was the record-setting offer sheet attempt at Leo Carlsson, but Anaheim matched it, leaving Philadelphia with a roster that doesn’t look dramatically different heading into 2026-27.
That doesn’t mean nothing changed. One move could matter a lot in the net: the Flyers brought in Joseph Woll from the Toronto Maple Leafs. He’s set to take over as the backup for Samuel Ersson and should see plenty of starts to lighten the load on Dan Vladař.
The upgrade is hard to miss. Ersson started 29 games last season, but the results were rough - he allowed 97 goals on 81.7 expected goals, according to HockeyViz’s model.
Woll, coming off his worst NHL season, still finished well ahead of that mark, giving up 124 goals on 122.3 expected goals. For Philadelphia to take a step backward in goal, Vladař would have to stumble badly.
As it stands, the Flyers look solid between the pipes.
The bigger questions sit elsewhere, especially up front. Porter Martone, after his freshman season at Michigan State University, made an immediate impression in a small sample with the Flyers.
The signs were encouraging as a play-driver, and in 2026-27 he’s likely to be counted on as a core piece. If Martone can handle that kind of responsibility and help drive the forward group, the rest of the roster gets easier to fit around.
If he can’t, the path back to the postseason gets a lot tougher.
Matvei Michkov is another major swing factor. There was plenty of debate about how he was handled last season, and both sides had valid points in hindsight.
The bottom line is that he’s still extremely young, extremely talented, and already flashing the kind of finishing touch and playmaking that point to star potential. What he still needs is more consistency at 5-on-5.
He’s smart, he creates chances, but he hasn’t yet produced at a true star level. Any real jump from Michkov, no matter how he’s deployed, would be a huge boost.
Young breakouts can reshape a team fast - just ask the Buffalo Sabres.
Philadelphia’s biggest roster hole may be on the blue line. Despite a lot of offseason chatter, the Flyers still haven’t solved their defensive depth issue.
With Emil Andrae and Noah Juulsen gone, the options for a bottom-pairing spot next to Nick Seeler are Simon Benoit, Oliver Bonk, and David Jiříček. That’s not exactly a reassuring list.
HockeyViz had Benoit among the league’s worst defensemen last season, Jiříček has already been traded twice, and Bonk has only two NHL games to his name.
That matters even more because of Rasmus Ristolainen’s availability. Since 2023-24, he has missed 44% of all possible regular-season games for the Flyers.
If he misses time again, the team will have to rely on one of those unproven options. That’s a real concern.
So where does that leave Philadelphia? In a deep Eastern Conference, the Flyers probably need Martone and Michkov to take meaningful steps if they want another playoff run.
They finished as the eighth-best team in the East last season, and several teams behind them improved over the summer. On balance, their odds of getting back in look about like a coin flip.
But the bigger story may be whether their young players and prospects keep moving forward.
In Other News...
Flyers Fans May Need Patience With Danny Brieres Late-Summer Plan
Late summer has brought a familiar kind of Flyers checklist under Danny Briere: keep the important restricted free agents in the fold, patch holes with depth moves, and trust the young core to keep moving forward. Instead of swinging for a headline-grabbing addition, Philadelphia has leaned into smaller trades and modest free-agent signings, a path that suggests the front office views this stage of the rebuild as one built on patience more than splash.
The work has still mattered, with contract extensions, a trade to help in goal and on the blue line, and even an offer sheet for Leo Carlsson before Anaheim matched it. But with the 2026-27 season approaching, there is no sign of a major talent upgrade coming before opening night, leaving the Flyers to bet that incremental gains can add up while the bigger move waits for another day. [Read more 🡒]
Flyers Prospect Rankings Just Sparked A New Debate About The Pipeline
Corey Pronmans latest U23 rankings from The Athletic gave the Flyers prospect pool a fresh round of attention, and it was easy to see why. Philadelphia placed four names on the list, with Matvei Michkov, Jack Nesbitt and Jack Berglund joining Porter Martone, who landed among the leagues most highly regarded young talents. When a team has that many players showing up in a respected national ranking, it naturally fuels the conversation about whether the pipeline is starting to look deeper and more legitimate than it has in years.
The debate around the Flyers is not just about who made the list, but also about who did not. Five prospects were also included among Pronmans top 100 U23 players selected after Round 1, with Berglund, Matthew Gard, Denver Barkey, Shane Vansaghi and Martin Psohlavec all getting recognition. Even with that group on board, the omissions are part of the story too, and they leave room for more discussion about how Philadelphias long-term young talent stacks up against expectations. [Read more 🡒]