5 Flyers thoughts: The next core is starting to form

It's been a long stretch of quiet in the NHL with still another month to go until Flyers training camp gets going. 

There have been a few beats to touch on, however, including the Flyers' newest star stepping onto the ice. 

Here are five thoughts in the dog days of summer...

Michkov's on the ice

When Matvei Michkov finally arrived stateside, he mentioned wanting to get on the ice and start skating as soon as possible, which he was able to do just ahead of his introductory press conference late last month. 

And it looks like he's definitely getting his ice time over in Voorhees, per new teammate Egor Zamula's Instagram (via the Nasty Knuckles podcast):

Training camp will be here soon, which will finally give fans a chance to see Michkov skate in Flyers orange in person. 

While on the subject, the Flyers and their AHL affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, announced this year's run of rookie exhibitions with the New York Rangers on Friday. 

On Friday, September 13 and Saturday, September 14 at the Phantoms' PPL Center in Allentown, the Flyers' prospects will play the Rangers' prospects in a set of scrimmages that are now set to include Michkov alongside other names of note in the pipeline like Oliver Bonk, Denver Barkey, and Jett Luchanko. 

Per the Phantoms, tickets for both games will go on sale Monday morning at 10 a.m. (ET) at PPLCenter.com if you want to check them out.

The core they're committing to

So Michkov is here, Travis Konecny is signed, Tyson Foerster carved out his spot on the roster, and Owen Tippett got his deal for the long haul back in January. 

There's a long way to go still, and you'll hear the Flyers' front office stress that constantly, but a new core does seem to be starting to form here. 

Based on the long-term contracts in place, and the logic that Foerster and Michkov aren't going anywhere, here's how the forwards are shaping up:

And the defense:

Farabee is included with the forwards, because while there have been trade rumors in the past few months, he did just have a career season (even if it didn't much seem like it in the latter half), has a big presence in the locker room, is still under contract for a few more years and is still only 24. The argument is there that there is still more to his game and that the Flyers can afford to wait and see where the cards fall.

York will be due a contract after this season, but with how far he's come along in this past one and how young he is (23), that will more than likely get done. Sanheim is locked in for the next seven years, and Drysdale, even though he'll be due up in 2026, was traded for with a long-term vision in mind for him from the Flyers. So long as he can stay healthy, he should be sticking around, too. 

Then, of course, Konecny and Sean Couturier, with their big contracts, aren't going anywhere. 

So these are the long-term pieces with moderate to considerable resources invested into them that the Flyers have on their roster so far. 

Obviously, Bonk, Barkey, Luchanko, and Hunter McDonald are the big prospects in the system, and then there are the heavy amount of draft picks awaiting next summer.

It's all still a work in progress, but you can at least start to see the puzzle the Flyers are trying to put together – and in the hopes that it will all eventually work.

Tipping point

Going back to Tippett, his part in the long-term picture – between Michkov's arrival, Konecny's contract negotiations, and the fact that his own contract got wrapped up way back in January – kind of got lost in the shuffle. 

But he did just have another career-best season in his second with full and consistent ice time, and has the belief from head coach John Tortorella and the rest of the organization that he can be a "special" player for many more years to come. 

Heck, he's already the winning piece from the Claude Giroux trade with Florida from two years ago, which few would've figured at the time. 

But can he be more?

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Tippett scored 28 goals last season, which was second on the team behind Konecny's 33, though he did so with a few cold stretches in there where he couldn't seem to find the back of the net no matter what he tried. 

But say he irons those inconsistencies from last season out? At his best, Tippett is a hard-skating power forward who excels at driving through into the offensive zone and to the net, plus he boasts a lightning-quick shot if he can get the puck in space to fire it off. 

So if he can sustain his best more evenly throughout the 82-game schedule, could he hit the 35- or even 40-goal mark? 

If so, his age 25 season could end up as yet another breakthrough. 

Alright, the Kolosov situation

Goaltender Alexei Kolosov came over from Belarus and joined the Phantoms in the AHL late last season, but only played in two games. He then went home for the offseason but did so with rumors that he was homesick during his first stay in Allentown, which began feeding into the thought that he might not come back – a point that fluctuated in speculation as the spring and summer went by, but then suddenly had a lot fly around about it last month without any real degree of certainty (and in an admittedly very slow part of the NHL offseason when there was little else to talk about).

Here's all that can be said right now for sure: Kolosov signed his entry-level Flyers contract in the summer of 2023 and joined the Phantoms toward the end of last season to start it. The contract is active and there hasn't been anything to suggest that it's been voided, which is to say that any reaction to what might be happening with Kolosov just seems premature – for right now, at least.

Get to training camp. If he's there, then it's open and shut: he'll be the Phantoms' goalie. If he's not, then there really is a problem. 

But we're just not there yet and just won't know until then – though it does have to be acknowledged that the Phantoms did just sign a goalie. 

A revamped rink

Back in June, Flyers Charities announced a $200,000 donation to 11-year olds Natalie Van Druff and Lilly Walter in their efforts to save their local street hockey rink over in New Hanover Township.

The donation, which helped push through a renovation proposal that Van Druff, Walter, and the Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation made to the township, gave them the funds to revamp the rink with all new flooring, boards, benches, penalty boxes, and nets to replace a previously unsafe asphalt surface and chain link fence.

The renovations were done over the summer, and this past Monday night, Van Druff, Walter, New Hanover Township, and Flyers Charities held the grand opening:

May there be many more days at the rink for the kids to come.

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