Way late into Friday night, thanks to the scheduled start in Western Canada, it'll finally be time to see what Matvei Michkov and the Philadelphia Flyers are really about.
The 19-year old phenom out of Russia is here now, two years sooner than expected, and so is this past summer's 13th overall draft pick Jett Luchanko, a whole lot quicker than anyone expected – at least for a handful of games.
The Flyers are running it back with mostly the same roster from last season otherwise, a roster that nearly grabbed a surprise playoff appearance until it ran out of gas in the home stretch.
But general manager Danny Brière will tell you that's OK. The organization is still trying to rebuild the team, and its sights are set on being a Stanley Cup contender for years down the line.
They're not there yet.
However, this season could be a pivotal step toward that future. Here are a few thoughts on it before the Flyers take on the Canucks Friday night in Vancouver to get the 2024-2025 campaign underway...
Rounding third
The Flyers' third training camp with John Tortorella at the helm began, but the air felt different this time.
The yellow rope was out for the infamous Day 1 bag skate, once again, but the players' general response to it had shifted a bit.
Yeah, they still dreaded it. And yeah, the legs felt dead afterward. But the approach almost felt more business-like, like there was more certainty about who they are and what they were doing.
And there's comfort now, too. The players know Tortorella. He knows them. It was only bound to happen with time.
But on Day 1 of camp, the Flyers' head coach was weary of that.
- MORE FLYERS
- Jett Luchanko earned the shot to prove the Flyers' future can be here now
- Matvei Michkov makes the plays 'you don't teach,' the ones the Flyers need to move forward
- Flyers training camp: How the players endured John Tortorella's notorious Day 1 skate
They're a young team (more on that shortly), and they still have a ways to go in their process, especially after just falling shy of a surprise playoff berth last season.
Which is to say they can't get too comfortable, or rather, complacent. Not now.
"Year 3 is such an important year in a program because of human nature," Tortorella said at camp's opening. "We know one another now, and you don't want to cheat, but you kind of give sometimes, and sometimes maybe, you know, I know them. I don't need to lean on them. Those are the things I've got to coach myself and coach with the team."
The youth movement is here
Of the 23 names the Flyers submitted for their opening night roster, 13 of them will be 25 years of age or younger by the time the puck drops Friday night in Vancouver. Nine of those 13 will be younger than 25.
The youth movement is happening, and now recent first-round picks Matvei Michkov and Jett Luchanko are leading its charge.
Obviously, Michkov is coming in from Russia – a couple of years earlier than initially expected – with a ton of hype. Only 19 years old, the phenom winger has the skill, vision, and innate creativity to score goals from anywhere to become one of the NHL's next major stars, and with that, stands as the face of the Flyers' future.
Michkov has shown glimpses of everything he can be in the preseason, scoring goals and making the kinds of plays "you just don't teach," Tortorella said late last month, and while the head coach added that the Flyers are going to work on his defensive responsibility as he goes, they're otherwise letting him go.
Because he has the type of high-end, potentially game-changing skill they've been waiting years for. Tortorella isn't going to try and suppress that.
"I'm not interested in turning him into a checker," Tortorella said. "We want to lay the foundation, and it's going to take time. It's just my job as far as play away from the puck.
"Are we going to beat him over the head with it? No, because we are starving for the type of plays that he can make, the instinctive plays that he can make."
The ones that'll put goals on the board that the Flyers just couldn't score before.
Luchanko was just drafted 13th overall in June, and just turned 18 in August. He was billed as a speedy center out of Guelph, but was generally perceived to be a couple of years away from the NHL roster, at least.
Then camp and the preseason happened, Luchanko held his own, and now he's getting a shot, much, much faster than most would've guessed.
"Going into training camp, I never thought he had much of a chance," Brière said after the Flyers' roster was submitted. "More of an outside chance, small outside chance, to be honest. But he's blown us away from Day 1."
Luchanko only had two assists during the preseason, but Brière and Tortorella both said it was the little details in his game that grabbed them – the level of maturity he carried into camp, his speed up the middle of the ice, and an early dedication to checking and a strong two-way game.
So they're carrying him on the roster into the season to see what else he can do when the games start to count – it looks like he'll be centering a line with Joel Farabee and Bobby Brink going into Friday, per NBC Sports Philadelphia's Jordan Hall.
Then the Flyers will have nine games to decide whether to keep Luchanko around as a full-time NHLer or send him back to Guelph in the OHL with a list of things to work on ahead of next summer.
In the end, the Flyers will make the decision that's best for his long-term development, Brière and Tortorella both said.
But that he's getting a look now could prove big for the organization's future, and with that opportunity, Luchanko has the chance to prove that maybe the future can be here right now.
Either way, the youth movement is on.
Whose net?
Sam Ersson has had the whole summer to prepare for being the No. 1 goaltender, and Ivan Fedotov the same to be the backup while getting more time to get acclimated with the team and the area.
Then at the last minute, whatever the hangups were with Alexei Kolosov got resolved and he reported in from Belarus. The 22-year old goalie prospect is here now to be the Phantoms' main goalie down in the AHL, and likely with an NHL call-up at the ready if the Flyers need to reach down the depth chart.
They have a plan, which is saying a lot considering it's goaltender for the Philadelphia Flyers we're talking about here, and while Tortorella has praised Ersson's mental toughness and work ethic in camp – and going further back to last season – the coach was blunt: He's not sure how this is going to go.
"It scares the crap out of me," Tortorella said of the Flyers' goaltending back on October 1. "It's Ers' first time really being the guy. As much as I love him mentally, I don't know how that all works out.
"So we can't get ahead of ourselves here, and I want to make sure you guys understand. I love where the organization's going. I think guys have improved, but we've got some hurdles to figure out here, especially with our goaltending because it's a whole different landscape to start a new regular season."
It's stood for decades and won't stop now, at least for the time being going in: It just isn't the Philadelphia Flyers if there isn't some uncertainty between the pipes.
But maybe Ersson, Fedotov, and Kolosov just a slot below can finally offer a clear answer.
A matter of health
The Flyers got banged up and exhausted in the second half of last season.
Jamie Drysdale missed time with a shoulder injury and needed surgery for a sports hernia after the season. Sean Couturier faded down the stretch and needed offseason surgery for a sports hernia himself. And Rasmus Ristolainen, at a time when the Flyers could've used a big, physical defenseman, disappeared on IR until he got surgery in the spring to repair a ruptured tricep.
As the captain and a top-six center, the Flyers need Couturier to stay on the ice and take on the tough matchup minutes to have a chance.
Similarly, Drysdale, who has a high ceiling as a mobile, puck-moving defenseman, needs to stay on the ice to gain experience and realize it.
And overall, the Flyers need to be braced for the grind of an 82-game season, so they don't falter down the stretch again like they did in the back half of last year.
A matter of skill
Talent is going to make the difference, too.
Travis Konecny can be a terror with the puck streaking down the boards, Owen Tippett is knocking on the door of the 30-goal threshold if he can just get a little more consistent, and Morgan Frost got more confident as a play-driving center as last season wore on – basically after sitting through another scratching then calling a meeting with Tortorella.
But that wasn't enough.
The Flyers' leading strategy to winning games last season depended on smart defense, outworking opponents, and trying to catch them sleeping with a strong transition game.
That wasn't going to last though, and Tortorella tried to warn as much when the playoff race started getting real. The battles got harder, teams got meaner, and the goals were created out of the corners rather than through the neutral zone.
The Flyers just weren't equipped for that.
They're running it back with almost the same roster as last season, plus Michkov and Luchanko, with the hope that some of the key returning names – Frost, Tippett, Joel Farabee, Bobby Brink, and Tyson Foerster – continues to take more steps.
Quicker ones, too.
"If we're going to be a good team, and a team that's playing later on after the regular season, we're gonna have to be a faster team," Tortorella said back on October 1.
A matter of will
Nothing is guaranteed, and Tortorella certainly won't promise or predict anything.
The Flyers got close to the playoffs last year, to a lot of people's shock until it all stalled out, and their star of the future in Michkov is here.
Again, they have a ways to go. Anyone in the front office will be the first to tell you that. But the team that's there now can push thing forward.
It's just a matter of how far over the next run of 82 games.
"I think once you see we can be a really good team, I think we set that standard last year," Frost said after practice on September 27. "We're a hard team to play against. Obviously, you've got to put it together for a full 82, but I think if we stay consistent, then we should be right where we want to be."
The journey to finding out starts Friday night in Vancouver.
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