The Flyers’ first scrimmage of camp offered the kind of early September glimpse that doesn’t mean much on a scoreboard but can still tell you plenty about who looked sharp, who looked rusty and who already seems to be clicking.
Team Orange came away with a 4-3 win at the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees, New Jersey, but the bigger story was Matvei Michkov. In a session that mixed intersquad play with special-teams work, Michkov stood out as the most dangerous forward on the ice. He repeatedly drove play, protected the puck through contact and kept finding teammates in spots where they could do damage.
The most eye-catching part of the afternoon was the way Michkov meshed with Alex Bump and Denver Barkey. No lines are locked in yet after three days of a 13-day camp, but that trio looked comfortable together almost immediately.
They pushed the puck up ice with purpose, and Michkov in particular kept setting the table. He created one strong chance after another, and the best version of him on Saturday looked like a player ready to be a much bigger offensive problem than he was for much of last season.
One of his best sequences came after Travis Konecny delivered a clean hit behind the net. Michkov absorbed it, stayed with the puck and slipped a pass to Bump, who finished to make it 2-1 for Team Black.
Michkov kept at it later, too. Noah Powell got in on him on another shift, but even while on his knees Michkov managed to hold possession and move the puck into open ice. Oliver Bonk was there to finish the play and tie it 3-3.
By the end of the day, Michkov had done enough to look like the best of the 20 forwards who took part.
The scrimmage also had a feisty edge. Michkov took plenty of bumps along the way, including a brief exchange with Hunter McDonald.
Rasmus Ristolainen used his size to put him on the ice at one point, and Simon Benoit nearly delivered a heavy hit on Denver Barkey, who just managed to avoid it. The pace and edge seemed to be welcomed by the coaching staff, and nobody left with an injury.
There was more friction late in the second of the two 15-minute five-on-five segments when Spencer Gill and Porter Martone got tangled up. No punches were thrown, but neither player was eager to back off.
Teammates jumped in, and Travis Konecny even playfully punched Trevor Zegras in the back of the head during the scrum. Martone came away holding his wrist, though he returned for his next shift and nearly roofed a puck past Carson Bjarnason.
Martone wasn’t the only young player with a mixed day. Jett Luchanko was fine, but he didn’t really pop the way he had during Rookie Camp and the Rookie Series against the Rangers.
He didn’t look overwhelmed, but he also didn’t have that extra burst that stood out earlier. Monday night’s opening exhibition game against the Caps might be a better chance for him to show more.
The Flyers’ power play, meanwhile, still looks like a project. The scrimmage spent plenty of time on special teams, but not much of it inspired confidence.
Michkov did spend time with Trevor Zegras, and there was some chemistry there, but nothing truly jumped off the page. Martone also saw work alongside Tyson Foerster, Noah Cates, Konecny, Christian Dvorak and, at times, David Jiricek.
There were some looks, but the unit still needs a lot more reps before it starts looking anywhere close to dangerous.
In goal, Dan Vladar and Joseph Woll handled the first half and both were solid. Woll even found himself awkwardly wedged under the crossbar at one point while standing, though he escaped without issue.
The second goaltending pair featured Aleksei Kolosov for Team Black and Carson Bjarnason for Team Orange, and Bjarnason had a rough start. Tyson Foerster opened the scoring in a three-on-three segment, Danila Klimovich followed with a power-play goal high over Bjarnason, and then a shot by Helge Grans deflected off a teammate and in for a 3-0 Team Black lead.
Bjarnason settled in after that as Team Orange battled back. He also took a shot from Martone off the mask but stayed in the game.
Zegras had one of the cleaner outings among the Flyers’ skaters. He knows there’s a lot on his plate as he works to become a dependable center down the middle, but he looked comfortable in the scrimmage and scored a beauty that left Kolosov with no chance. He spent much of the game alongside Owen Tippett and also had a brief run with Michkov.
If Zegras can keep building with Tippett, and if Michkov keeps looking this comfortable with Barkey and Bump, the Flyers may be looking at a few line combinations with real promise before the regular season even begins.
In Other News...
Flyers Camp Is Already Turning Into A Fight For Top-Six Jobs
Training camp has barely gotten underway, and the Flyers are already getting a clear look at how crowded the forward picture has become. Most of last years playoff roster is back, a few offseason additions are in the mix, and the early drills have carried the kind of edge that usually tells coaches plenty about who is ready to take on bigger minutes. Travis Konecny and Tyson Foerster were part of that competitive tone, then sat down together in a joint press conference as the team opened camp and started sorting through its top-six possibilities.
Foerster, in particular, enters camp with a chance to make his case after last seasons interruption, and Philadelphia is paying close attention to how he responds with a full summer behind him. The Flyers are evaluating their forward depth with the season ahead, and that makes every rep in camp count a little more than usual. When veterans and younger players are all fighting for the same spots, the early battles can say as much about the lineup as any depth chart written in September. [Read more 🡒]
Flyers May Have A Real Barkey Decision To Make This Season
Denver Barkeys path into this season has taken on a little more intrigue than a standard camp battle. After getting a look at center in a few playoff games last year, the Flyers winger has spent the offseason weighing whether a permanent move down the middle could make sense, and the coaching staff has been willing to entertain it. Rick Tocchet has been open to exploring the idea, which is enough to make this a real subplot as the Flyers sort out their forward group.
Barkey has already started preparing like a player who knows the conversation is serious. He has been studying video to sharpen the details of the position and plans to work with captain Sean Couturier as he tries to build more comfort at center. For a young Flyer, it is the kind of decision that can reshape not just his own usage, but the way the club thinks about its depth chart heading into the fall. [Read more 🡒]
Flyers Prospects Are Making One Roster Battle A Lot More Interesting
The Flyers last training-camp scrimmage before the preseason game had the feel of a final audition, with roster players and bubble hopefuls mixed into a lively 4-3 Orange-team win over the Black team. Tyson Foerster, Danila Klimovich, Alex Bump, Helege Grans, Trevor Zegras, Oliver Bonk and Denver Barkey all found the scoresheet, giving the coaches plenty to sort through as camp turns from evaluation mode toward roster decisions.
A few of the younger names made the exercise even more interesting, especially Jett Luchanko and Matvei Michkov, both of whom stood out in the flow of the scrimmage. David Jiricek also drew notice with a strong performance in the kind of setting that can quietly shift a battle on the back end, and the Flyers now have one more reminder that their next round of decisions may be more competitive than it looked a week ago. [Read more 🡒]