Three games in, and the line of Tyson Foerster, Noah Cates, and Bobby Brink has remained as the Flyers' best.
Cates crashed the crease and scored the Flyers' lone goal in Game 1 down in Florida on a perfectly executed offensive zone faceoff.
Brink stepped in toward the faceoff circle from off the wall and fired a shot home in Game 2 against Carolina, and had the would-be winner in overtime later on had goaltender interference not waved it away.
Then in the home opener on Monday night, back up against Florida, Foerster notched the first goal from drifting down to support Sean Couturier, who slipped him the puck to send him skating in toward the net for a clean shot that made it through.
At every turn, that combo has made an impact.
They haven't missed a beat coming back from last season – might've even gained a step, too – and for a team that's under a new head coach in Rick Tocchet and still very much trying to iron out the early kinks elsewhere, that's been huge.
Foerster and Cates each have a goal so far, Brink has two, they all have three points and plus ratings, and as a line together, they've skated with a 56.25 high-danger chances for percentage, per Natural Stat Trick.
They haven't missed a beat, especially so for Foerster, who suffered an infection in his elbow over the summer and wasn't even sure ahead of training camp if he'd be ready in time to start the season.
But he made it, and picked up right where he left off.
"Just do the same stuff," Foerster said. "Just do the same stuff we did last year. Defense first and offense is going to come with the way we play. Dump it in, we get on the forecheck, we have a good forecheck, and we get the puck back. Make plays, and we take it to the net."
Sometimes it's just that simple, but hey, it's working.
The first Flyers goal on home ice in the 2025-26 season belongs to Tyson Foerster 😎 pic.twitter.com/oK7ZsURbhv
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) October 13, 2025
A few other thoughts on the Flyers…
Michkov's minutes
There's been an early focus on Matvei Michkov, but not because he's been putting up highlights.
It's been the opposite, actually. He's been quiet, a bit concerningly so, and moreover, he's been sitting as the initial games have pushed later and later in.
Michkov didn't touch the ice in the overtime loss to Carolina on Saturday, and with Monday night's home opener against the Panthers still tied pressing further into the third period, the 20-year-old sat tight on the bench.
He has no goals or points so far, has taken a penalty in each of the first three games, hasn't skated above 15 minutes in either of them, and has only three registered shots.
Tocchet acknowledged earlier in the week that Michkov suffered an offseason ankle injury that hampered his training and left him needing to catch up on his conditioning as a result.
Michkov spoke after practice on Wednesday in Voorhees, alongside his usual translator Slava Kuznetsov, and had no interest in using the injury as an excuse.
"That I'm not scoring or making any assists in the last three games, it's not anyhow connected with the injury," Michkov said via Kuznetsov.
But there have been lapses, too.
Matvei Michkov has had a slow start to the season.
On Monday night, for example, Florida was skating down with the puck into the Flyers' zone within the final minute of the second period.
Michkov chased down to backcheck, trying to help take Gustav Forsling away as the passing option on the initial rush, but as soon as the first shot was stopped, he took a wide turn to start trailing up toward center ice, all while the Panthers still had control of the puck.
Sam Reinhart scored on a scramble around the goal line seconds later to get the Panthers on the board.
"He's just gotta differentiate when is the time to take off and when it's the time we need him to hang in there," Tocchet said of Michkov, who did qualify that he believes his game is improving. "That's the one thing he's gotta figure out.
"I get it. He wants to be an offensive player, but you can't take off when we don't have the puck."
It's a learning process, Tocchet continued, and for the whole team.
"We're trying to create a culture," the coach said. "It's not about one player.
But for Michkov…
"He is obviously a player that is a special guy," Tocchet said. "We gotta hone his talents, but it's gotta be somewhat in a team game, and he's willing to do it because I think his last two practices have been great.
"He did video again today. He came up for us and goes, 'Coach, I need video,' and he talked about some other stuff where he felt his legs felt better the last couple days, which is good."
So maybe chalk it up to a slow start for now.
As for the defensive part, though…
"Should play more in the offensive zone and be more offensive," Michkov joked. "Then you don't have to defend as much."
That is one way to do it.
Built to handle it
Travis Sanheim has skated some incredibly heavy minutes to begin the year, from 25 minutes at minimum to nearly a half-hour in the case of Saturday night's overtime loss to Carolina.
It's a lot, but Tocchet has been a fan of Sanheim going back to when they were on Team Canada together in the 4 Nations Face Off last February and trusted him to be able to handle it.
Sanheim has answered the call without issue.
"He works out, he does the right things off the ice, that's why he can play 30 minutes," Tocchet said. "The guy came in in unbelievable shape for us. It goes hand in hand. He's a professional, and that's why he can play big minutes."
That said, neither Tocchet nor the rest of the organization are looking to throw that much at Sanheim from game to game.
His usage has been a consequence of the Flyers having such thin defensive depth to begin the season, which wasn't helped by Cam York going on Injured Reserve when they had to submit their opening night roster.
Until they can get York back – Rasmus Ristolainen, too – the Flyers are going to need to find a way to get more out of Jamie Drysdale, Adam Ginning, and Emil Andrae, at least to get by.
"We gotta develop some guys here to get more minutes off of," Tocchet said. "We're in the business of winning, but we're also in the business of maximizing some players."
Travis Sanheim has racked up a ton of ice time in the early going.
Speaking of…
York just might be ready to come back, though, for the Flyers' next game at home Thursday night against the Winnipeg Jets.
He skated through practice in the standard black jersey, and after the Flyers left the ice, Andrae's name was removed from the roster to indicate that he's reporting to Lehigh Valley in the AHL, which opens up a roster spot.
"It's day-to-day," Tocchet maintained of York's status. "He's a possibility. We haven't penciled him in yet."
But the signs are lining up.
It's a big year for York, who is looking to bounce back after a rough 2024-25 season and then some after signing a five-year contract extension in the summer.
It's just starting on a bit of a delay.
Just fire away
Jett Luchanko has appeared in two games so far, Saturday night in Carolina and Monday night against Florida, skating in a limited 8:49 and then 7:40 of ice time.
Just like last season, the 2024 first-round center has a nine-game trial run before the Flyers have to decide between keeping him as a full-time NHLer or sending him back to juniors in Guelph.
They have seven more games to make a call.
Tocchet said Wednesday that he likes Luchanko's speed, yet still, he needs to see the 19-year-old shoot, and not hesitate to do it.
"He has to start shooting the puck," Tocchet said. "That's one thing if he's gonna get more ice time. I mean, there's times he has the puck in the middle of the ice and he's passing the puck at the front of the net. That's a mental block for him right now…If he would shoot the puck, it'll actually make him look faster."
The Flyers are still deciding what's best for Jett Luchanko's development.
The Flyers are caught between a bit of a rock and a hard place with Luchanko when it comes to his development.
He's too young still to go straight to the AHL, where he could get valuable and consistent pro minutes, but might not be fully ready yet to stick in the NHL, all while having outgrown juniors.
Sending Luchanko back to Guelph wouldn't hurt, but it isn't ideal either. Keeping him up full time with the Flyers, though, but at the cost of sitting him constantly or only giving him limited minutes unless he suddenly breaks out, that could.
"We'll evaluate as it goes on," Tocchet said. "I don't think it's gonna hurt him for a week or two, but you start talking months and months, yeah, it could hurt the development of a player, 100 percent."
They have to be careful here.
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