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Yahoo
a day ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Flyers Roster Battles Become Clearer with Porter Martone Taking NCAA Route
Porter Martone's commitment to the NCAA's Michigan State means one less winger is battling for a roster spot with the Philadelphia Flyers this fall. By extension, those players likely to make the NHL roster and those likely to be on the bubble have become increasingly clear. Rookie forwards Alex Bump and Nikita Grebenkin are both expected to vie for a roster spot, and Bump has already drawn plaudits from Flyers AGM Brent Flahr, as is tradition, ahead of his first NHL training camp. Grebenkin already garnered seven games of NHL experience playing for former Flyers head coach Craig Berube and the Toronto Maple Leafs last season, and impressed in his brief stint with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms after arriving in March. Flyers Prospects Among Favorites to Win NCAA Title The future of the Philadelphia Flyers is all about the player development of today, and many of their top prospects are set to be the chief competitors for this season's NCAA title. From there, the Flyers' dire salary cap situation muddies things, but assuming new head coach Rick Tocchet isn't willing to make Nicolas Deslauriers an every-night player to start the season, and assuming Tyson Foerster isn't ready to play, there's one more opening at the forward position. Deslauriers is a pure winger, so the Flyers may favor a player who can play center to round out the roster. Names like Karsen Dorwart and Rodrigo Abols come to mind, but with his size and experience, the latter is more likely to steal a roster spot. Or, with the consideration of adding some speed to the bottom-six, it would be foolish to count out veteran sparkplug Anthony Richard. I think 2024 first-round pick Jett Luchanko will have a real opportunity to compete and play in preseason games, but it was quite apparent in his NHL stint with the Flyers last season that this level of competition was too much for him at this point in his development. The addition of Christian Dvorak in free agency effectively nuked Luchanko's chances of making the NHL roster outright, and the Trevor Zegras experiment at center, if it goes awry, won't have its plug pulled until later in the season. Flyers Depth Chart 1.0: Early Prospects Outlook, Roster Depth The Philadelphia Flyers didn't make too many additions to the roster this offseason, but they did enough to shake up the organizational depth chart for the time being. Luchanko doesn't have that kind of time, and he didn't exactly set the OHL ablaze in his D+1 season last year. The 18-year-old center deserves to have a full training camp with the Guelph Storm and go from there. Bump is as sure as sure can be at this stage, so long as he doesn't completely tank in training camp and the preseason. Martone, who turns 19 in October, would have been Bump and Grebenkin's greatest threat to an NHL roster spot, but by going to Michigan State, the 2025 No. 6 pick won't even be competing for that privilege. What happens this time next year, though, could be a different story.
Yahoo
03-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Flyers Must Replace Maxim Shabanov from Within
Nikita Grebenkin will get one of the first cracks at an NHL roster spot. (Photo: John E. Sokolowski, Imagn Images) The Philadelphia Flyers may have lost out on Maxim Shabanov, but they have plenty of in-house replacements who are just as good, if not better options. Shabanov, 23, is wildly skilled indeed, but he's also a 5-foot-8 forward who can play either center or inverted right wing. Advertisement The problem is that Shabanov wasn't likely to play center for the Flyers, meaning that he would have been pigeonholed into the right winger position. Many skilled Russians play and have played inverted in the past. Names like Alex Ovechkin, Ilya Kovalchuk, Nikita Kucherov, Matvei Michkov, might come to mind. But is Shabanov that? Maybe, maybe not. But he certainly isn't proven, just like the Flyers' top options to replace him in a hypothetical lineup. The Flyers love reigning NCAA champ Alex Bump, for example, and he's got quite the goal-scoring pedigree. It helps that he's a natural left wing to boot. Advertisement Bump, 21, is perhaps the favorite to crack the Flyers' opening night roster, especially in the wake of the offseason injury to Tyson Foerster. Bump's unrelenting will to prove himself while doing things the right way has quickly endeared him to Flyers management and will do the same with fans in short order. Aleksei Kolosov Must Change Attitude Towards NHL, Legendary Coach Says Aleksei Kolosov Must Change Attitude Towards NHL, Legendary Coach Says The Philadelphia Flyers haven't fully given up on Aleksei Kolosov yet, but has Aleksei Kolosov given up on the Flyers? Aside from Bump, another contender for a roster spot will be Nikita Grebenkin, acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Scott Laughton trade. Advertisement The 22-year-old already has seven games of NHL experience and has dabbled in pro hockey since the 2021-22 season despite his relatively young age. Between the KHL, AHL, and NHL, Grebenkin has already played 177 pro games, and that experience should serve him well as he competes with his fellow Flyers prospects. Astute fans might recall that the Flyers actually brought Grebenkin up on an emergency basis once, only to send him back to the AHL 30 minutes later with the emergency conditions no longer present. That's about as close to the NHL as someone can get without stepping on the ice. Plus, the Flyers and Porter Martone himself have told us to never say never on the unusual but very plausible possibility that the teenaged draft pick makes the NHL come opening night. Advertisement And, if worst comes to worst - and fans will hate this - the Flyers will decide these prospects are best suited playing significant minutes in the AHL or elsewhere to start the season, they have some capable veterans at their disposal, too. Rodrigo Abols is capable of flexing out to the flank if needed, and last year's preseason darling, Anthony Richard, is still under contract for one more year. It's possible the oft-injured Samu Tuomaala, who has played two full seasons with the AHL Lehigh Valley Phantoms, makes a case for an opportunity with his speed and heavy shot. The Flyers will be disappointed not to have landed Shabanov, to be sure, but they have no reason to dwell on it or pivot to a Plan B. This year should be about believing in and developing the guys they already have.
