NHL hockey is almost back, and the Philadelphia Flyers are heading into 2026-27 with a few storylines that could shape the season right away. Porter Martone sits near the top of the Calder Trophy conversation, David Jiříček and Jett Luchanko are staring down crucial years, and Dan Vladař has become a fascinating case as the team looks for stability in net.
Martone has a real shot to do something the Flyers have never done: win the Calder Trophy. The award has been around for nearly 100 years, but Philadelphia still hasn’t produced a winner.
Shayne Gostisbehere came close in 2015-16, and Matvei Michkov was in the mix during 2024-25, but the franchise is still waiting. Martone enters this season as the favorite to take home the honor, according to The Athletic’s Sept. 1, 2026 ranking of the NHL’s top 20 Calder candidates.
There will be plenty of competition. Toronto winger Gavin McKenna is expected to play in a loaded top six, possibly with John Tavares and William Nylander.
That kind of setup gives him a strong path. The Flyers, by comparison, don’t have that same level of help around Martone, even though the 2026 first-overall pick has the edge of already having NHL experience.
That experience matters. Martone has played 19 NHL games, and he made them count.
Between the regular season and playoffs, he posted 15 points, 55 shots, and a plus-7 rating. Stretch that across a full 84-game season, and he’d be right in the thick of the Calder race.
The other two names to watch are Jiříček and Luchanko, and both are entering seasons that could say a lot about where they fit long term. Jiříček, now 22, has already logged parts of four NHL seasons, but he still hasn’t been able to establish himself.
The Flyers acquired him at the trade deadline by sending Bobby Brink the other way, and he spent all but one game in the AHL. If he does turn it around, the ceiling looks like a No. 5 two-way defenseman who can help on the power play.
Luchanko’s situation is different, but just as important. The 20-year-old still has more runway, yet the Flyers haven’t exactly gotten the payoff they hoped for when they made him the biggest surprise of the 2024 NHL Draft.
Philadelphia moved back from 12th to 13th overall to take him, even though some saw him as a second-round type. Zeev Buium was still available at 12, and Konsta Helenius was there at 13.
It was a major call then, and it still looks like one now.
His production last season in the Ontario Hockey League wasn’t the kind that settles any debate. Luchanko finished with nine goals in 48 games, though he did add 41 assists.
For a draft-plus-two forward, that’s not enough to silence questions. He’ll spend 2026-27 with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, where he has a chance to show more.
The Flyers would love to see him turn that into a full-time NHL role by 2027-28, with a future as a two-way middle-six center if everything breaks right.
Vladař is another name worth watching, especially after some outside chatter about regression. Alex Chauvancy recently pointed to him as a candidate to come back to earth this season, and the case isn’t hard to understand. His run with the Calgary Flames was described as “fine enough” as a backup, and few saw him as the kind of goalie who could essentially carry the Flyers to the playoffs in 2025-26.
Still, the numbers from Natural Stat Trick tell you why Philadelphia believes in him. Vladař finished with a .906 save percentage and 13.8 goals saved above expected. The Flyers also committed to him in a big way, signing him to a five-year deal with a $5.5 million cap hit that begins in 2027-28.
The club did make one notable change in goal. Samuel Ersson was sent to the Maple Leafs with some young assets, and Joseph Woll came back in the deal. The Flyers expect that swap to be a major upgrade behind Vladař.
Outside of those tweaks, this is largely the same roster from 2025-26. The question now is whether those modest changes are enough to push Philadelphia back into the playoffs.
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For the Flyers, it is another reminder of how tightly the trade market can be linked to contract timing. Philadelphia has been linked to Quinn Hughes, but any real movement there comes with the same kind of complication that can slow things down elsewhere: teams want clarity before they pay a premium, and extension talks can be just as important as the players on-ice fit. [Read more 🡒]