September 04, 2026
Eric Hartline/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
There are eyes on Dan Vladar and the Flyers now.
The Flyers are already back at their training center in Voorhees, working out and skating well ahead of training camp's official start on Sept. 17.
And for the first time in what might as well be forever, things are different.
They were different the second Tyson Foerster returned from what should've been a season-ending injury and after Dan Vladar stood tall in that Game 81 shootout against Carolina.
They were different as soon as the lamp lit from that one-timer Trevor Zegras fully stepped into against Pittsburgh, which sent a penalty box full of Flyers and an Xfinity Mobile Arena swarmed in orange into a hockey hysteria that the building hadn't felt in years.
They were different when Cam York, in a blur, launched his stick into that same euphoric crowd, once he scored that winning overtime goal to fully put away the Penguins after what might as well have been forever, too,
And they were different even after a young team emerged from the handshake line from a four-game sweep to the eventual champion Hurricanes, to one last wave of "Let's go Flyers" chants and a standing O.
The Flyers broke out. They made the playoffs. They took a first round off their greatest rival, and then took on the soon-to-be Cup champs, and all things considered, hung in there better than most.
And they gave Philadelphia a reason to pay attention again, along with a reason for the rest of the league landscape to turn its collective head.
Down the stretch of last season, when the odds were at their slimmest, and then into the postseason, once they finally got there, the Flyers surprised mostly everyone.
And greater than anything, a rebuilt and upstart team gave its fans reason to believe again, after so many aimless and apathetic years that never made it worth it to care.
But with that, things are different now – for the better, absolutely, but with a weight to it.
There are expectations. The playoffs aren't a hope anymore for these Flyers. They made it there. Now that's the floor, and they won't be catching anyone by surprise this time.
The next challenge is in how to push things a step further, now that a young roster has seen what the playoffs are, what it takes to endure what is set to become an 84-game marathon there, and then how much more it takes to survive within those extra postseason games for however long they can make a run last.
That's probably the real hard part: forming that next step forward, with all eyes watching, and all other teams knowing they have to gun it after them.
Porter Martone will be entering his first full NHL season, after jumping right in with the Flyers late last year to become a key part of the playoff push.
"It's dangerous because I'm talking, like, from the fan standpoint, like, it was so good the way the season ended," general manager Danny Brière explained back on July 1, after the first day of NHL free agency wrapped. 'It was on a high, you know? So you gotta be careful, even from our side, to not get disappointed because there's nothing that happened today that was a huge flash.
"If we have a chance, we'll jump on it, but I think this team is going in the right direction. I'm really excited about the future of this team. We're still one of the youngest teams in the NHL. We took a big step forward last year and, you know, there's a chance, and a good chance, that we take a little bit of a step back this year. We're ready for that. But I'm excited where this young group of guys are going."
That "step back" remark from Brière did catch attention – and generated a bit of worry – from Flyers fans listening in as soon as he said it.
Mind you, he said that trying to temper expectations just two days before he tendered the home run offer sheet to star Anaheim center Leo Carlsson, and with it already out there, thanks in part to goaltender Dan Vladar, that while Brière tried to keep the team's ambitions measured in public all last season, internally, the playoffs were always the goal from the start.
They were good enough for that, at that point, and right now, at least on paper, still are.
Trevor Zegras became a perfect fit for the Flyers.
Eric Hartline/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
The Flyers didn't end up with Carlsson, who would've accelerated their process overnight. The Ducks matched the big-money offer, because they had to.
And yeah, that still leaves the Flyers wanting for a true and elite No. 1 center meant to go straight to the top of the lineup, but it hardly leaves them short of a balanced lineup that is capable of skating with anyone on any given night.
They have a largely returning roster that only just tapped into how good it can really be.
They're about to get a full year of Denver Barkey, Alex Bump, and Porter Martone, who were each key rookies in last season's playoff push, and with Martone expected to take a run after the Calder Trophy for rookie of the year in this coming one.
They're bringing back Trevor Zegras, who finally found comfort as a regular center down the stretch, and Jamie Drysdale, who evolved his fluid skating into a much more well-rounded and stronger defensive game.
They'll have Travis Sanheim as their leading defenseman, who played a playoff-caliber game that finally caught greater attention starting with his Olympic run for Team Canada; Travis Konecny as the fiery, veteran heartbeat of it all; captain Sean Couturier, who reinvented himself into a vital fourth-line heavy hitter; Vladar as a, finally, capable starting goaltender and, hopefully, Joseph Woll as a much steadier backup.
And then there's Matvei Michkov, the young and talented Russian forward who struggled mightily through a sophomore slump, but who went into the summer on what head coach Rick Tocchet dubbed a "vengeance tour." By the looks of pictures that have gone around on social media in the past week or so, Michkov looks in shape and ready to go, and could be a key cog in an offense that Tocchet did say before the summer that he wanted to ramp up for the next run – maybe, too, Michkov can finally bring an answer to a long ineffective power play.
Matvei Michkov has a lot to prove this coming season.
The Flyers do have the pieces. Not all of them, sure, but enough to show that a puzzle is coming together.
It added up to a playoff breakthrough last season.
But now things are different.
There's excitement again, hope, and with that, expectations.
And as much as Brière might try to publicly temper expectations again, this team's baseline, with what they have so far, is going to be to make the playoffs again.
The floor has been raised.
Now it's about setting the bar higher.
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