December 03, 2025

With Tyson Foerster down, the rest of the Flyers are challenged to get 'five percent better'

Going without Tyson Foerster for the next 2-3 months is a brutal blow to the Flyers, but they have to operate in "next man up" mode and make do.

By Nick Tricome
PhillyVoice Staff

Eric Hartline/Imagn Images

The Flyers will collectively have to find a way to make up for Tyson Foerster's production while he's sidelined.

Tyson Foerster is down for the next 2-3 months, and for the Flyers, that's a lot of goals gone and a lot of versatility lost.

But they'll have to make do, with everyone who is still skating.

"Could everybody give himself five percent better, you know?" head coach Rick Tocchet asked of his team following Wednesday's morning skate at Xfinity Mobile Arena. "You add all those up, it helps, right? Obviously, you can't do too much, but for me, we have a few guys that can play better, that five- or 10-percent better to help out."

When it comes to immediate lineup construction, Nikita Grebenkin is getting his chance further up the forward order. He ran drills on a line with center Noah Cates and right winger Bobby Brink on Wednesday morning, which should open him up to more minutes and a more offensive role when the Flyers take on the visiting Buffalo Sabres later that night.

As the prospect return in the Scott Laughton trade with Toronto last March, Grebenkin made the Flyers' opening night roster for this season, but had so far seen limited usage and minutes in a fourth-line role more suited to checking rather than bringing the creativity with the puck he was projected to carry over from Russia.

But starting Wednesday night, Tocchet will be giving the 22-year-old winger a better look to tap into that latter skill set.

"For him, I just want him to play [with his] mind free," Tocchet said. "But he's gotta skate. He's gotta hold on to pucks."

"It's a big chance for me," Grebenkin said. "I want to help the team every time...Let's go play."

Jerome Miron/Imagn Images

Winger Nikita Grebenkin will see more minutes and offensive opportunity with Tyson Foerster out.

The more-established names on the Flyers' roster, meanwhile, have to push after more.

Before Foerster's upper-body injury forced him to exit Monday night's 5-1 loss to Pittsburgh, he had just scored his team-leading 10th goal of the season and was easily the Flyers' most productive two-way skater at even strength, on the power play, and on the penalty kill, too.

The 23-year-old winger established himself as a clear piece of the Flyers' core with the past two years, but this season was looking like his breakout into NHL stardom before this week's injury put it all on hold.

Now, obviously, the Flyers are going to have to make up for that difference in scoring, and Matvei Michkov, Owen Tippett, Travis Konecny, and Trevor Zegras are the immediate names who come to mind for stepping up in that regard – all four will also be on a power play unit together with defenseman Travis Sanheim on Wednesday night.

But quieter, and perhaps greater, to the Flyers' sustained success over these next couple of months, at least, without Foerster is making up the difference in skating, checking, and staying within their plan.

And sustaining that is going to take more from the whole lineup.

"When you lose somebody like that, it's a committee thing," Tocchet said. "I know it's an overused word, but it is a committee. There's not one guy that can make up for a loss. To me, it's a team thing. So hopefully everybody has five percent better."

Tapping into that is going to take the strength of the locker room.

"I think it's a big leadership thing," Tocchet continued about keeping the team afloat without Foerster. "I mean, obviously, coaches have to lead, but it's a dressing room thing. It's the next man up. It's not letting excuses in that room. When the coaches leave, it's like, 'Hey, we got this.' So we really rely on a chunk of leaders to really [message], 'Hey, we can still be a good hockey team. We can still win games, we can still do a lot of things.' The 'poor is me' stuff, that can't linger in that room."

"In this league, you gotta step up, next guy up," said Cates, Foerster's regular center going back to last season. "Everyone's gotta pull on the rope."

And find that next five percent.