If the Philadelphia Flyers are to make any noise in the 2025-26 season, some up-and-coming prospects will need to steal the spotlight and show some progress.
Aside from the surprise Trevor Zegras, the Flyers simply did very little to inspire confidence in their increasingly impatient fanbase for the new year.
Goalie Dan Vladar should at least partially stabilize a league-worst goaltending group, but players like Christian Dvorak and Noah Juulsen are little more than temporary, short-term replacements for outgoing players like Scott Laughton and Erik Johnson.
The rest of that mission, however, is left up to the prospects, and especially the ones who need to prove themselves and secure an NHL future. Those players will go a long way for the Flyers if they can achieve the necessary result.
No. 3: Helge Grans
Defenseman Helge Grans finally made his NHL breakthrough for the Flyers last season, picking up an assist and appearing in his first six games in the big leagues.
Logically, the next step would be for the smooth-skating 6-foot-3 Swede to build on that and make the Flyers outright in 2025-26, even if he doesn’t play every single night.
Grans, 23, just re-upped with the Flyers for two years at a $787.5k cap hit, so there’s time for him, but the opportunity may never be greater.
Rasmus Ristolainen continues to struggle to stay healthy, and Jamie Drysdale has not shown much improvement on the right side, either.
With Oliver Bonk and Spencer Gill coming up the pipeline, the pressure is back on Grans to build on his 2024-25 campaign and establish himself.
A thin right side for the Flyers gets even thinner if he can’t make it.
No. 2: Samu Tuomaala
The Flyers have had some nice drafts in recent seasons, adding wingers like Denver Barkey, Shane Vansaghi, and Jack Murtagh to the cupboard.
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Samu Tuomaala, who was once thought to be a big piece for the future, has stalled in his development, thanks in large part to nagging injuries.
The undersized 22-year-old Finn has yet to to make his NHL debut or score 20 goals in an AHL season. Tuomaala did have 11 goals and 32 points in 46 games this season, but his season was ended by injury for the second year in a row and his -19 rating was the worst on the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
The Flyers do have an opening for a winger, but that, by all accounts, is expected to be filled by either Alex Bump or Nikita Grebenkin.
If Tuomaala can’t at least insert himself into the conversation by the end of training camp this fall, the last year of his entry-level deal will come and go without much fanfare.
No. 1: Emil Andrae
Emil Andrae quickly became a fan-favorite in a dismal season for the Flyers thanks to his heady play and poise with the puck, though a hot start ultimately flamed out due to an injury, inconsistent play, and re-assignments to and from the AHL.
This season, the 23-year-old will have a new NHL head coach in Rick Tocchet, and he’s on the last year of his entry-level deal. A fellow undersized, similarly-skilled defenseman in Erik Brannstrom couldn’t establish himself under Tocchet in Vancouver last year, and Andrae will face the same challenge.
Andrae will have to ward off Juulsen, one of Tocchet’s favorites from Vancouver, Egor Zamula and Dennis Gilbert for a roster spot; only two can reasonably make it.
The Flyers have all the time in the world to wait for their younger prospects, but for the three mentioned above, it might be now or never.
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