Pretty soon, the Flyers will need to add some green to the white on their jerseys.
On Thursday, Matthew Gard announced he will become the third Flyers prospect from the team’s 2025 draft class to play for Michigan State when he heads to East Lansing in 2027.
“Over the past year and a half, since the rule change, I’ve been on multiple visits,” the 19-year-old told The Inquirer via a phone interview. “I’ve talked to a lot of schools, and just going to visit Michigan State, and what they do, and how they develop, and the way that their program is run, it was a perfect fit for me, and I saw that, and I decided that’s where I wanted to go.”
Gard — a 6-foot-5, 194-pound, 200-foot center — likes how the Spartans develop bigger players into power forwards. But two of the biggest selling points for Gard were Will Morlock, the hockey team’s highly regarded director of athletic performance, and the blue-collar mentality at the program, that nothing is given and everything is earned.
Those are two of the reasons Porter Martone, taken sixth overall in the same draft where Gard was picked in the second round, opted to go the college hockey route last summer. He spent the past year building himself up to be NHL-ready with the Spartans and came out like gangbusters with the Flyers, making his NHL debut in late March.
Martone notched 10 points in nine regular-season games, including the overtime winner against the Boston Bruins for his first NHL goal, putting the Flyers in a playoff spot. He then potted five points in 10 playoff games, registering the game-winners in the first two games of the opening round against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
“The one thing I’d like to say is how thankful we are to Michigan State, the coaching staff, his teammates there,” Flyers general manager Danny Brière said at the press conference after Martone signed his entry-level contract. “How Porter embraced the role of going there, and also how much he developed this year. We give Michigan State a lot of credit for that. The whole staff there was really impressed with what they did with Porter.”
Forward Shane Vansaghi, who was also drafted in the second round by the Flyers in 2025, is returning for his junior year at Michigan State. Gard, who has been in Voorhees for a few weeks in advance of his second development camp, did talk to Vansaghi about Michigan State.
“Obviously, both those guys [Vansaghi and Martone] are really good power forwards in the way they play,” Gard said. “I think Shane just loves the blue-collar mindset there, and that it’s hard work, but everything is earned, and it’s really rewarding if you succeed there.”
Matthew Gard (second from left) stands with his brothers (right to left) Luke, Graham, and Jack, who is a Flyers fan after his brother was drafted last June.
Adam Nightingale is hoping Gard can succeed. Gard said the Spartans coach, who will be behind the bench for USA Hockey at the 2026 World Juniors, told the young centerman that they believe he can come in and help them and be a player who helps them win games in a year from now.
This past season, Gard split the year between Red Deer (Alberta, Canada) and Seattle of the Western Hockey League. He combined for 33 points (17 goals, 16 assists) in 55 regular-season games before adding another goal and four points in five playoff games. He’s going back for one more season in Seattle to get ample ice time because of Michigan State’s roster already being jam-packed with guys like Arizona State transfer Cullen Potter, Ethan Belchetz, who is expected to go in the first round, and Jack Hextall, a possibility for the Flyers with the 21st pick in Friday’s NHL draft.
“I think I took another step in my development this year,” Gard said. “I feel like I grew as a player and as a person once again. There’s lots I’ve got to work on, and that’s part of why I’m going back. And I think for me, going into this year to take that other step, I want to produce more and help my team win more games.”
On the eve of the 2026 NHL draft, Inquirer Flyers reporter Jackie Spiegel hopped on r/Flyers to answer some fan questions in a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) Thursday afternoon. Topics included everything from who the team will select on Friday night to whether or not general manager Danny Brière will make a splashy trade or free agent signing. Here are some highlights …
(Questions and answers have been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.)
Q. Who is your No. 1 choice for the Flyers’ pick at 21, and do you see anyone being worth moving up a few spots for if a reasonable deal is possible? For example, moving up to secure someone like Alexander Command.
A. My No. 1 choice at No. 21 would be Command, if he is there. Like Shane Vansaghi last year, he oozes Flyer, and he feels a connection to the team and the fan base. Ilia Morozov and Jack Hextall are also strong candidates at center, as is Maddox Dagenais, who projects more as a wing but can play down the middle. If going the defense route, I wouldn’t be against Tommy Bleyl, who will now be linking up with Matthew Gard at Michigan State in 2027.
Q. What are the chances the Flyers pick Xavier Villenueve if he’s available? … I think he’s a player you should take a swing on because his upside is just so high.
A. Villeneuve is quite small, height- and weight-wise, and there are serious question marks about his competitive level and defensive awareness. Now, assistant GM Brent Flahr did say that a small blueliner has to be dynamic, and there is no question that he is the most dynamic defenseman in this draft class. He will get a lot of coaching at Boston University, where Lane Hutson, to whom he compares his game, went. But from what I’ve heard in my conversations around hockey, I don’t know if he’s a first-rounder. If he is there in the second round, I think it may be a no-brainer, but not in the first.
Q. Is there any sense at all that Flahr’s position might be in question with the organization?
A. I don’t believe so. Are there miscues and missteps? Sure, but it happens to a lot of teams. Thirteen other teams passed on Cole Caufield in addition to the Flyers, and working with Danny Brière, they have restocked the cupboard, especially at center.
Something else to keep in mind, whenever looking at drafts in general, according to a study done by DobberProspects back in 2020, approximately 60 NHL players from a draft class make it to the NHL, which is less than 27%. Since Flahr has been at the helm, 50 players have been drafted. Not counting the 16 players from the last two draft classes, although Porter Martone and Jett Luchanko have played NHL games, 44% have played at least one NHL game. I’m not defending him at all, but that is a pretty good number with seven total coming from the 2022 and 2023 classes, which are just starting to break into the league as a whole.
Q. Due to the crazy sellers’ market lately, why is Brière not doing everything he can to sell obvious pieces like Rasmus Ristolainen and Owen Tippett? Does he think these players will be winning us a Cup before they retire?
A. Good question! Keith Jones told me in 2024: “I can assure you that if there is something that’s happening, it’s going to be highly unlikely that anybody knows about it.”
I think we’ve seen that, so my gut feeling is patience. Also, I do think Ristolainen is getting moved. Brière has held firm on getting a No. 1 pick for guys like Scott Walker and Scott Laughton, and I believe he is holding firm here. Why wasn’t he traded earlier, you may ask? As previously reported, teams wanted to make sure he was healthy. That’s been proved, and now there is a lot of trade chatter. As for Tippett, I know the haul would be huge, especially with what we’ve seen of late, but trading him takes a ton of speed out of the lineup, and the Flyers need that.
Flyers goaltender Dan Vladař stops Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Alexander Nikishin’s shootout attempt.
Q. Will Danny make a move that will shock the fan base?
A. It wouldn’t surprise me. There have been a few, no? I remember sitting watching a game in January 2024 — couldn’t even tell you off the top of my head who the Flyers were playing that night — and getting the shocking news about the Jamie Drysdale-Cutter Gauthier trade. I do think it’ll be an interesting few days coming up.
Q. Are the Flyers in on Alexander Nikishin? If not, then why?
A. Are they peeking in? Sure, but I don’t believe they are all in, and I doubt Carolina would trade him to a division rival.
The Flyers are making a few changes on the fourth line.
The team announced Thursday that Garnet Hathaway has been traded to the Florida Panthers along with a 2026 sixth-round pick for a fifth-round pick in this year’s draft and a 2027 fourth-rounder. The Flyers now own four picks in this weekend’s NHL draft: 21, 53 (second round), 136 (fifth round), and 213 (seventh round).
Signed as a free agent in 2023, the 34-year-old winger played three seasons in Philadelphia and put up three points in 66 games last season, down from his 21 points in 2024-25 and 17 in 2023-24. Alongside Sean Couturier and Luke Glendening, he was part of a formidable fourth line in the playoffs, scoring one goal and recording one assist in eight games while asserting himself physically.
A Maine native who graduated from Brown, the undrafted Hathaway ranked fourth in hits in the NHL across his three seasons in Philly. The past two seasons, for every hit the Flyers recorded, Hathaway and his wife, Lindsay, pledged to donate to local first responders with a match from Flyers Charities through Hits for Hath’s Heroes. Following the 2024-25 season, the Hathaways donated $30,000 to the Families Behind the Badge Children’s Foundation, a Conshohocken-based nonprofit.
Hathaway has one year left on his two-year extension signed last July 1, which is worth $2.4 million annually. A team source has confirmed to The Inquirer that the Flyers will retain 50% of Hathaway’s salary, leaving a cap charge of $1.2 million on the books for 2026-27.
With the move, the Flyers have two of three salary retention spots available for next season. The Flyers still have a projected $33.6 million in cap space with which to extend restricted free agents Jamie Drysdale and Trevor Zegras, and to make any new additions to the roster.
BUFFALO, N.Y. — The excitement on the other end of the phone from Nathan Quinn was unmistakable.
But this conversation, for the most part, wasn’t focused on Quinn, the Flyers’ sixth-rounder in 2025, who had a tremendous season for Québec of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League. It was about his linemate, road-trip roommate, and buddy Maddox Dagenais, who is on the verge of being drafted into the NHL.
What if it were the Flyers snagging Dagenais at No. 21?
“Oh, it’ll be awesome,” Quinn said emphatically. “Just being at the [development] camp a couple of days after together, it’s another step to your life, too. If you want to make it to the pro level, being with someone that you know, you may be more comfortable [with], and of course, one of my best friends, so it would be an incredible thing.”
Ready to Start
Dagenais moved around a lot as a kid. It’s what happens when your dad is chasing his own hockey dreams. Pierre Dagenais was drafted twice by the New Jersey Devils, in 1996 and then two years later. The first time it was in the second round, 47th overall, and yes, Maddox and his dad have a little competition going to see which Dagenais is selected higher.
Pierre played 142 games in the NHL, mostly for the Montreal Canadiens, while also spending time in the American Hockey League and in Europe. The shuffling around didn’t stop the younger Dagenais from working on his own game.
“Every house had a net to shoot on,” he told The Inquirer, recalling some were in the basement, some in the garage, and others were outside, like the one he has today.
“Every night, just a couple of 100 pucks, even a thousand pucks … become natural with me to just go out there and shoot pucks with my dad or myself.”
And that work paid off as his shot is considered his biggest strength, with draft analysts like FloHockey draft and prospect analyst Chris Peters liking his release, and The Athletic’s senior NHL prospects writer Corey Pronman calling it one of the better shots in the draft.
Following a tough first season in the QMJHL as a 16-year-old, where he potted only 12 goals in 43 games, Dagenais stayed in Quebec City that summer to train. The potential was always there, but he learned that he needed to compete.
And at the end of this past season, Dagenais had notched 30 goals, making him one of 22 players out of the 521 to skate in at least one game in the QMJHL to hit the mark, while chipping in 32 assists across 62 games. He added another three goals and six points in 11 playoff games.
Maddox Dagenais considers his wrist shot his strong shot and wants to work on his slap shot more after potting 30 goals this past season, with 10 coming on the power play.
“He probably has the best shot I’ve ever seen, to be honest with you,” said Quinn, who finished with 73 points in 58 games. “When you give him the puck in the slot, or on his one-timers, it’s a goal almost every time. So it’s fun to play with a guy that can create space, but also put the puck in the back of the net.”
When he was drafted with the No. 1 pick into the “Q” by the Remparts in 2024 — the Dagenais’ are the first father-son duo to go first overall — he was a center. He is also listed as a center by Central Scouting, and did win 51.3% of the 545 faceoffs he took this past season.
However, the left-handed Dagenais actually spent the majority of the time as Quinn’s right winger. For one thing, Flyers general manager Danny Brière will like the versatility as Dagenais is being projected to play on the wing in the NHL.
So how did this happen? As the Remparts’ general manager explained it, centers look to pass the puck, and wingers look to shoot. He feels Dagenais is the latter, having put the fourth-most shots on goal in the league with his shoot-first mentality. And this GM knows a thing or two about scoring goals himself: Simon Gagné scored the 10th-most in Flyers history (264).
“[Whichever] team is going to pick him, he’s going to score goals for them. … The sky is really high for Maddox. … He’s a type of player that I’m sure the fans will love to have on their team, and I’m sure [the Flyers] organization as well,” Gagné told The Inquirer during a recent phone interview.
“When you look at your player like that, to where the ceiling is at, and for Maddox, I think he’s just starting … but the ceiling is really high for him. And he’s a kid that loves to come to the rink, loves to want to learn, and wants to get better. He’s a geek for that, so that’s always a good thing to see that from a player.”
‘Ring the bells’
When Drew Bannister first saw the 6-foot-3¾, 198-pound Dagenais on video, he wasn’t too sure of his game. The former NHL player and coach, who was figuring out his roster for Canada’s U18 team, thought he was being opportunistic and hung back a little behind the play.
Dagenais learned what he needed to do to gain Bannister’s trust. He changed his game and was one of the players who surprised the coach by the end of the U18 World Championship this past spring. Although he only scored once in five games, it wasn’t for lack of opportunity. “Just didn’t have any puck luck,” Bannister said.
Known to use his size and physicality to create space, he brought his reverse hits to the international stage with one scout telling Daily Faceoff after a big-time hit during the U18 tournament, “It’s kind of his thing. He’s terrifying.”
“Oh, it’s impressive,” exclaimed Quinn when asked about the reverse hits Dagenais can lay. “I remember one time in Moncton, I think the guy was like maybe 6-6 or 6-7 and like 230 and [he hit him] like the guy was like 140 and like 5-7.”
Maddox Dagenais Film Room coming soon.
In the meantime, here's two minutes of him throwing the nastiest reverse hits in the Q.
The two players, who play video games like Fortnite together and are always talking strategy, plays, and small details, usually stay on the ice after practice to work on things, but rarely is it the reverse hit; Dagenais said he is “not trying to hurt my teammates.”
Although it is a good tool to have in the toolbox as the reverse hit creates time and space on the ice for himself and his teammates, usually because the guy he hit fell, and now the Remparts have a five-on-four advantage for a few seconds at least.
“He’s a big kid. He’s starting to use his physique at his advantage now. … That reverse hit, that some Flyers fans remember with Peter Forsberg doing it, Maddox started to do that a couple times last year, and it kind of reminded me of … Peter Forsberg when I played with him,” Gagné said.
Dagenais knows he is a big body, and he focuses on using it to be physical and to create offense. He considers his comparables to be Buffalo Sabres forward Tage Thompson and Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovský. He is a solid puck protector and can use his skating to his advantage.
However, while there are some small concerns about his attention to detail, one major issue that consistently pops up in conversations is that while he is physical and competitive, it’s only when he wants to be.
It’s something that will have to be buttoned up as his career progresses, because while there are some concerns about how impactful he will be, the consensus is that he will be an NHLer.
Now the only question is, where will Dagenais be drafted? Will he go earlier than the consensus expects, as Peters thinks? Will it be by the Flyers, who have kept tabs on the right winger this season? And if that does happen, who will be more excited, Quinn or Dagenais?
“He’s texting me every day about it,” Dagenais said at the combine in early June. “It would be nice if I were drafted with him.”
The next generation of NHL stars will find out their destinations on Friday and Saturday at the 2026 NHL draft as teams work to fill the cupboards and holes in their depth charts.
As of Wednesday, the Flyers have four picks — one in each of the first, second, sixth and seventh rounds. The biggest question: Who will they grab at No. 21 in Friday’s first round?
Ahead of the draft, FloHockey draft and prospect analyst Chris Peters joined The Inquirer on the latest episode of Flyers Gameday Central to dissect the draft class, which players fit the Flyers, and what could happen in the next few days.
Q: Is there anything we’ve learned from the past couple of drafts with the Flyers that could suggest the route they’re going to go [at pick no. 21]?
A: Teams definitely have types, they have guys they like, they have the kinds of players they go after. I think when you’re drafting at 21 in the first round, you’ve got to be really diligent about your list and really stick to it, I feel like, because you’re just hoping to get an NHL player. … I think there’s a ton of intrigue about really from [picks in] the teens on down, where things can go, and at that point you’re going to see a wide variance in ranges of players on lists. And so you’re just trying to see whoever the Flyers have as the best pick, they might be really high on somebody else’s list, or might not be on somebody else’s list at all.
Q: Is there anyone in this draft class who fits the Flyers system at center?
A: I think it would be hard to pinpoint that. I do think that you look at guys that are centers that could potentially be wings, like Maddox Dagenais, a guy who’s all over the map in terms of draft ranges. He could be gone in the early teens, he could be gone in the mid-20s, but he is a center naturally, plays a lot on the wing though, and so I think a lot of people are thinking that he is more of a winger. … Jack Hextall, he’s a good two-way guy, high-energy player, had a really good strong season in the USHL this year. … A guy to really keep a close eye on, probably in that range, I think he could be available, there is Ilia Morozov, who plays at Miami [Ohio}. He’s a 6-foot-4 center; obviously the Flyers have not been afraid to draft some Russians, and he’s been a Russian who’s played in North America for at least three years and he’s been playing at a pretty high level, and had a great season in Miami. And the upside on him is just tremendous. So I could easily see a player with that size, skill combo being a really good fit for the Flyers.
Q: Maksim Sokolovskii is a name I heard in Buffalo as someone who the Flyers have a lot of interest in. There’s the London [of the OHL] connection, and he’s a giant at over 6-7. Is he someone they could reach on at 21 or is that too high?
A: They could, I wouldn’t. I think that would be Sam Morin part two. So I wouldn’t do that. I like [Sokolovskii] a lot, and I watched him in the playoffs a lot, and that’s where I think a lot of this late buzz is coming from, is that he was a really good shutdown guy for London in the postseason. And he was playing a physical mean brand of hockey, the kind of hockey that helps you win in the playoffs. I think that there is so little offense there … he’s too one dimensional defensively. The skating, it isn’t good enough for me to say, like it’s good for his size but like it’s not good enough, I don’t think. So, he has boom-bust potential too, because he’s got this massive frame, he has incredible reach. I think he thinks the game decently well, like I think he thinks the game defensively pretty solidly. I think he’s got good enough mobility defensively. And so I think he’s going to play [in the NHL]. The question is where does he go?
Moncton defenseman Tommy Bleyl potted 81 points in 63 regular-season games, breaking a rookie record that stood for 48 years in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League.
Q: Who’s the one player people aren’t talking enough about?
A: I would say people probably aren’t talking enough about Tommy Bleyl. It’s coming up more now, but the season that he had was historic. … And you talk to teams like, “Hey, I didn’t have him on my radar as a guy for us,” and there were some guys like, “Yeah, I had him as a pick, but no way was he a first.” And his postseason put him right in the mix as a first [round pick], and potentially even a mid-first round pick, and that’s a pretty significant jump from where he was at the start of this season. So, he’s a guy that I think is incredibly fascinating. The skating ability is about as good as anybody’s. I just think there’s a lot to unlock with that player yet, and I’m excited to see who takes him.
Q: The player you enjoyed watching the most this year?
A: One of the players I had the most fun watching this year was probably Nikita Klepov, even in the games where he was a little bit frustrating and a little bit out of it. I just think that there’s a real skill level to him. Another guy that just frustrates the heck out of scouts that I enjoyed watching was Egor Shilov from Victoriaville. Just the patience that kid has on the puck is really out of this world. The way he extends plays and finds the right read. He’s not quite competitive enough for guys, and I think that’s going to potentially knock him out of the first round. I did list him in the second round myself, but he’s a really intriguing player, too. I think the hockey sense is high-end in terms of the offensive game.
A: William Håkansson is pretty darn good [at] defending. I think he’s a stopper. Sokolovskii is a stopper. … But like I look at Håkansson, I think he’s probably one of the most mature overall defenders. And then also at the end of that top 10, top 11, Malte Gustafsson is another guy where I just think the defending is outstanding. He’s such a complete player, and I’m really impressed by him more and more.
Q: The Flyers love high-compete and great motors. Who do you think is in that range of high compete, great motor kind of guy?
A: Yeah, I think Alexander Command is probably No. 1. Viggo Björck is up there too, but I think Alexander Command has the physicality, the doggedness in pursuit of the puck. Just the absolute annoyingness of just getting under your skin, and I think that there’s a lot to like about that player. The comp that I had for him was Brayden Schenn and I think he probably has a higher motor, even there. Brayden Schenn was physical and mean, and he could score, and that’s what I think Command can do, too.
After finishing his call with new Toronto Maple Leafs general manager John Chayka on June 16, Simon Benoît reached out to Trevor Zegras.
Benoît and Zegras, along with Jamie Drysdale, played together for the Anaheim Ducks for several seasons, and the band is now back together. Benoît and goalie Joseph Woll were acquired June 16 from the Leafs for goalie Sam Ersson, defenseman Emil Andrae, and a third-round 2026 draft pick.
“I reached out to Zee right after I got the call from Chayka, and I told him, as a joke, keep your head up in practices, because I’m coming,” he said in a news conference held via Zoom on Wednesday. “I think he was laughing about that one. I know them, I spent a lot of time with them on the ice, outside the ice, so I was pretty happy that I knew two guys already on the team.”
Simon Benoît is expected to bring a physical defensive presence to the Flyers.
Benoît was pretty busy on his phone because he also called Woll. The call came at a good time because the goalie, who found out about the deal while going through his hockey card collection — “I’m a big hockey card collector,” he said — and didn’t know he’d have company in Philly.
“I was pretty sad to hear the news right when it happened, and went for a walk and actually had my buddy, Mr. Benoît, [he] gave me a call,” said Woll, also via Zoom. “… At that point, I was thinking about leaving the Leafs, and Bennie called me, and just excitement in his voice, I think, really helped, for me, see how an unbelievable opportunity this was.”
Woll’s phone was also busy. He got a message from Dan Vladař, his new goalie partner, and his mom, Shelly, mentioned she is friends with the mom of Flyers prospect Shane Vansaghi, who is from the St. Louis area like Woll’s family. Woll has already spoken to Flyers GM Danny Brière and coach Rick Tocchet, as has Benoît, and has chatted with goaltending coach Kim Dillabaugh. He said that he and “Dilly” already see eye to eye on where his game can go.
“I would say one major focus is getting back to playing to my strengths as a goalie,” Woll said when asked what he wanted to work on this summer. “I think I have a very good technical base, and I think I’m an elite skater, and I have great athleticism.
“I think sometimes I don’t let that come out enough in situations, and so one of my major goals is to really get back to playing to my strengths and letting those shine.”
Joseph Woll is coming off a career-worst year but was positive about the evolution of his game.
Woll is coming off the worst year of his three-plus-year career with a 3.34 goals-against average and .899 save percentage for a team that finished last in the Atlantic Division and is picking No. 1 in Friday’s draft. But over the course of his career, his numbers are pretty impressive: a 63-43-9 record, 2.94 GAA, and .906 save percentage. He is using the bad — like his disastrous turn for USA Hockey at World Championships in May — and the good, which includes impressive numbers in the postseason.
“I think one of the biggest things about goaltending, and probably like anything else in life, it’s a constant process that you’re honing your game over years, and the big benefits I find in goaltending are experience,” he said.
“And sometimes experience leads you to have positive outcomes, negative outcomes, and I think where a lot of the growth lies is in the negative outcomes, because that’s all a learning process, and learning and honing your game is a continual thing.”
Benoît, who will turn 28 around the start of training camp, will be honing his game on the blue line for the Flyers. A defensive defenseman, he prides himself on eating pucks, helping to clear out the front of the net, killing penalties, and being hard to play against. Considered a team-first guy, he has 36 points across 352 NHL games and isn’t afraid to drop the gloves if needed.
As of Wednesday, the Flyers’ defense does look a little crowded with Travis Sanheim, Rasmus Ristolainen, Cam York, Drysdale, and Nick Seeler expected to be slotted in. Then there is the expectation that David Jiříček, Oliver Bonk, Ty Murchison, and Hunter McDonald will push for jobs; Jiříček will have to clear waivers if he gets sent down.
“My whole career has been a battle. It’s not something new for me. I’ve been battling since I came in the league,” Benoît said. “Those spots are never for granted. You have to fight every year to stay in the lineup, every game, every practice, to be able to play that game.
“It’s such an unbelievable game that for me, having a chance to still compete and fight for those spots and play every night and wear the jersey to play in the National [Hockey League] is just a great opportunity.”
Simon Benoît’s style of play is well-known to the Flyers.
Where he plays in the lineup and if there is space is to be determined as the NHL’s officially in trade mode right now. Regardless, Benoît is excited to be in Philly — and on the same side as the fans here.
“I always felt playing in the barn where the fans are just crazy, it brings your emotion up, right? So having the chance to play for fans that are going to push this in the same direction as you, it’s just going to be magical,” he said.
“I feel like having that emotion from the stands is going to transfer to the ice for sure. Well, that’s how I feed. I feed on emotion. So for me, having the fans yelling every time [I] make a hit and stuff, it’s just better. It just feels like a playoff game every single game. So it’s fun.”
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Sitting down with The Inquirer at the NHL scouting combine in Western New York earlier this month, assistant general manager Brent Flahr was asked what he thought was missing down the depth chart for the Flyers.
“We have some younger D on the team. But besides Spencer Gill and Ty Murchison and Hunter McDonald, Oliver Bonk, the next layer of younger defenseman we would probably use,” he responded.
Oh, so the Flyers need defensive depth. How about a blueliner who is under 6 feet but has eye-popping offensive skills?
“Being a small player, a small defenseman, it’s getting harder and harder to play,” he added. Oh. Um. OK. So, that’s a no?
But speaking last week alongside general manager Danny Brière at their annual predraft presser, he then added: “If you’re drafting a small defenseman, they need to be dynamic, and there are a couple who could go into mid-to-later first round this year, but they are in the mix.”
Although not a single defenseman under 6 feet was drafted last year, it is guaranteed not to happen this year. Here are the three under 6-foot defensemen “in the mix” plus one big man who keeps getting mentioned as an option for the Flyers at No. 21.
The projection for Tommy Bleyl is an offensive-defensive who will run a power play in the NHL.
Tommy Bleyl, RHD
Height and weight: 5-11¼, 170 pounds
Team: Moncton of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League for one more season and then off to Michigan State.
Stats: Broke a rookie points record that stood for 48 years in the QMJHL with 81 points — including 68 assists — across 63 regular-season games. Added another 28 points in 21 playoff games.
Labeled the player people aren’t talking about enough by FloHockey’s NHL draft and prospects analyst Chris Peters on Flyers Gameday Central’s draft preview show, the Upstate New York native was our pick for the Flyers at No. 21 in the first mock draft, and he is a strong option for Friday.
Aside from his scoring prowess — notably on the power play — what makes Bleyl an intriguing prospect is his skating. Peters called him the best skater in the draft class; he is not alone in his thinking.
“The skating is the defining quality; he’s just really, really, really smooth,” The Athletic’s NHL draft and prospects reporter Scott Wheeler told The Inquirer. “One of those guys who just glides across the ice [and is] an effortless skater.”
A rink rat since he was 9, the now 18-year-old has always had an elite level of skating. Bleyl said he is “not too overly physical but pretty feisty and competitive” in the offensive zone. He called himself a two-way defenseman with good feet and hockey IQ. Ryan Haggerty, who worked with him for years with the youth hockey program, Mid Fairfield — Trevor Zegras played there too — thinks it’s his edge work that makes him special.
“Tommy’s dynamic,” said Haggerty. “His skating ability is high-end; he’s a high-end skater, and it all translates to his offense. … His skating ability separates him.
“When he was 8, 9, 10 years old, his edges were always better than everybody else,” he added. “It helps him defend, to be honest with you, because he doesn’t get beat. His feet are so strong [so] he never gets beat.”
He may be under 6 feet tall, but Ryan Lin is considered by draft analysts to be one of the best defenders in the class.
Ryan Lin, RHD
Height and weight: 5-11¼, 180 pounds
Team: Suiting up for the University of Denver in September.
Stats: Led Vancouver of the Western Hockey League in points (57), assists (43), and power-play assists (21) despite missing time with a wrist injury, and added six points in five games at the U18 Men’s World Championship for Canada.
In all likelihood, Lin will be gone at pick No. 21, but if not, you’d have to think he’s the guy. Wheeler said that Lin is “the kid in the draft class that I’ve stuck my neck out on a little bit.” His assistant coach with the Giants, Wacey Rabbit, called him “a chameleon” who can adapt to his surroundings and is always improving. And Drew Bannister, who coached Lin and Canada at U18s this spring, told The Inquirer “he was our best defenseman, there’s no question about that.”
Lin, 18, models his game after Winnipeg Jets blueliner Josh Morrissey and is a creative, puck-moving, high-compete, physical, two-way right-shot defenseman who could help bolster the Flyers’ power play. Bannister doesn’t have any concerns about his size because he doesn’t think he plays an undersized game. You would have to think part of that is because Lin, a British Columbia native and son of educators, considers his vision and his mind two of his biggest strengths.
And there’s a good chance Jaroslav “Yogi” Svejkovský has put a bug in the ear of Flyers brass. The two worked together from learn-to-skate out west until Lin was 12 or 13 years old. He credits the Flyers assistant coach for helping shape his game as a skills coach.
“I couldn’t thank him enough for the foundation and base he gave me through hockey,” Lin told The Inquirer at the combine, adding that his father keeps in touch with his former coach.
So, is there one skill Svejkovský taught him that he still uses?
“I think probably my inside edge, he calls it a tiptoe finish,” Lin said.
“It’s kind of like fake one way, go the other type of thing,” he added. “It’s not like a huge fake, it’s just kind of something that I use every shift, like it’s kind of there.”
Called “the draft’s most purely dynamic defenseman” by Elite Prospects, Xavier Villeneuve draws comparisons to former Flyers blueliner Shayne Gostisbehere.
Xavier Villeneuve, LHD
Height and weight: 5-10¾, 164 pounds
Team: He will be joining Flyers prospects Jack Murtagh and Carter Amico at Boston University in 2026-27.
Stats: Dropped 38 points in an injury-plagued season for Blainville-Boisbriand of the QMJHL before finishing with 14 points in 17 playoff games.
Flahr did say last week that the Flyers could use some depth on the left side of the blue line, and according to Wheeler, there isn’t a more dynamic defenseman in the draft class than the lefty Villeneuve.
“From a pure puck-on-your-stick perspective, with the puck on his stick, he’s fun to watch. He’s got that Lane Hutson, kind of like head-fake shimmies, make guys miss, that’s his game, and he does it at a very, very, very high level,” he said.
Villeneuve compares his game to that of Hutson, who was also a Terrier before he leapt to the NHL with the Montreal Canadiens. BU coach Jay Pandolfo sees the comparison, not just in both being smaller defensemen but also in Villeneuve’s playmaking ability and competitiveness. He also sees him as a power-play quarterback, which the Flyers desperately need.
“He moves the puck really quickly,” Pandolfo told The Inquirer. “A lot of times, he knows where it’s going to go before he gets it, and that’s a lot of times the QB on the power play. They usually have that ability, where they know where the puck needs to go next. And he certainly has that; he’s shown that, and I think he’s going to continue to develop that area of his game.”
A teammate of Spencer Gill with the Armada, Villeneuve is small and thin. Critics are worried about his defensive game and his compete level against bigger guys who will bring way more speed than he’s seen if he makes it to the NHL. Sometimes in games, he was seen bailing out of battles when opponents came at him hard.
There is no denying he is a confident kid who is deceptive with his skating, and maybe carries a slight chip on his shoulder from the doubters. His coach in the QMJHL, Alexandre Jacques, saw this firsthand at the start of the season when some players from the American Hockey League skated with the team. He hopes this is the version everyone sees.
“Xavier sometimes was getting beat physically by one of them, or by speed, outside speed, and he was getting back in line and taking out his teammate to make sure he was going back against that same guy against whom he just struggled, or he got beat,” Jacques said. “So I really like that side of him, the competitiveness he had in him.
Maksim Sokolovskii (No. 17) tied forward Brooks Rogowski for the tallest players measured at this year’s combine.
Maksim Sokolovskii, LHD
Height and weight: 6-7¼, 240 pounds
Team: Committed to the University of Maine in 2027, Sokolovskii will head back to London of the Ontario Hockey League in a few months.
Stats: He had eight points (two goals, six assists) in 44 regular-season games and did not get a point in five playoff games.
On the complete opposite end of the spectrum is the biggest guy in the draft class among defensemen, Sokolovskii. The Flyers like big players, with seven of nine draft picks last season, and 31 of the 50 players Flahr has drafted since 2019 coming in over 6 feet. They also know London, with Denver Barkey and Bonk coming from there, and, like many draft picks, Sokolovskii won’t be 18 until after the draft, with his birthday coming July 12.
It all makes sense, then, why someone told this reporter that the Flyers were very high on him at the combine and why Wheeler had them taking him in his final mock draft.
“When you’re huge, and you can skate, that’s often all that you need for NHL scouts to sort of perk up and start to pay attention,” Wheeler said in Buffalo. “He was much better in the second half; you could see him figuring it out. … You want that [big] guy to be mean and punishing, and he’s got a little bit of that.
“But it’s the skating. If he couldn’t skate, it would be a major red flag at that size, but because he can skate, teams get excited about that.”
The skating has always been there for Sokolovskii, who first came to North America from Russia at 16, skating for Atlantic Coast Academy. Mike Taylor, the owner and one of Sokolovskii’s coaches, had a power skating coach come in. He recalled during a recent phone interview that they couldn’t believe how good his edge work was for his size. But Taylor also thinks the Kazakhstan-born Sokolovskii hasn’t fully shown off his offensive game.
“Obviously playing 16U Triple-A hockey is a lot different than playing in the OHL, but I would have him go on shootouts. He had offense to his game — I’m sure you can see that by his points that he put up,” he said, pointing to his 84 points in 65 games at the program. Taylor said part of that was because he put him at the net-front on the power play.
For now, many consider Sokolovskii to be a shutdown defender. He told The Inquirer that he likes to hit and has a high hockey IQ but wants to keep working on his foot speed and make his feet quicker.
There are question marks surrounding his game in regard to his decision-making and puck play. Wheeler acknowledged he’s quite raw, “but when you’re that big and can skate, the hope is that if his puck play can get to like an average level, you’ve got a very interesting NHL defenseman.”
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Before we delve into his story, let’s set the record straight right away.
Yes, Jack Hextall is a distant cousin of former Flyers general manager and goalie Ron Hextall. No, according to Jack, they have never met. So while some may either embrace or bristle at the thought of another Hextall donning orange and black, their only connection is a shared last name.
For now. Because at the 2026 NHL draft, the center Jack Hextall may join the goalie Ron Hextall as a player drafted by the Flyers.
Beginnings
Jack Hextall grew up in the small northwest Chicago suburb of Rolling Meadows, Illinois, when his dad Cory — a native of Saskatchewan and Ron’s cousin — settled there after playing hockey at the University of Illinois-Chicago.
The father and son would shoot pucks together at a net in the garage. “We got to put some plywood up behind the net, because, actually, my dad shot a puck through the garage,” Jack said with a laugh, adding that the pair thought it was funny. His mom, Jennifer, however, did not agree.
But now that her son is about to be drafted into the NHL, and has a chance of eclipsing his uncle, Donevan Hextall, who was drafted 33rd overall in the second round of the 1991 NHL draft by the New Jersey Devils, maybe she’ll be OK with it. After all, it was all those pucks that have led to this point.
Jack is days away from hearing his name called.
“This opportunity is so exciting, and it’s a really cool opportunity,” Hextall told The Inquirer. “It only happens once, so just trying to do the best I can and enjoy it.”
When asked what animal he would be on the ice, a question usually posed by the Montreal Canadiens at the scouting combine, Jack Hextall said he would have responded: “A wolf. I feel like it kind of resembles me, smart, plays with a bite.”
Hextall interviewed with 25 teams at the NHL scouting combine, including the Flyers, before finishing in the top-25 of five fitness tests — including the right and left-handed grip tests, which have become a staple for Flyers draft picks of late. It’s a hefty number of teams for Hextall, but it makes sense as the 6-foot-½ inch, 195-pound right-shot centerman has built his game into that of a late first or early second-round pick.
And while they do have centers in the prospect pool, the Flyers do not shy away from drafting them. Flyers general manager Danny Brière has said: “I don’t feel like you can have too many centers, because it’s much easier to move a center to the wing.” But unlike some other centers in this draft class, and while he has played center and wing, Hextall’s ceiling is as a middle-six center at the NHL level.
“Just reliable in that 200-foot game,” he said, when asked what he brings down the middle. “Not every center is 200-foot, and takes pride in the defensive side of the puck, and it’s something I’ve always done. I think high hockey IQ as well, not a lot of people have that high hockey IQ, and I think I bring that, and I think that’s special.”
Hextall thinks he reads the game well and pays attention to the little details, which has caught others’ eye.
“I think he’s one of the guys that you look at and you think that’s a center in terms of the details,” The Athletic’s NHL draft and prospects reporter Scott Wheeler told The Inquirer. “His bread and butter is how well-rounded he is. The details off the puck, up-and-under sticks, retrievals, board battles, he’s got pro habits.
“If you talk to the guys in Youngstown [where Hextall played for the Phantoms of the United States Hockey League], the first thing they say about him is that he’s a pro; this isn’t a junior hockey player, like a lot of these kids are. [He] does everything the right way, no selfishness to his game and he doesn’t cheat for offense.”
Although he said it would be funny to go from the Youngstown Phantoms of the USHL to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the American Hockey League — as a pit stop to the NHL, of course — he is off to Michigan State this fall. Yes, it’s the same school Porter Martone attended, and the one Brière has continually, and perhaps notably, praised. Hextall’s pro days will have to wait.
But it is what he did this past year that has eyes on him right now.
Feelin’ Stronger Every Day
Ryan Ward has known Hextall since he was 13 years old. The two met when the now Youngstown coach was on the bench for the Windy City Storm, a program that has developed several NHLers, including fellow Illinois native and Flyers assistant coach Todd Reirden.
Skating for the Storm’s 13U AAA team, a Tier I program, Hextall notched 39 goals and 103 points in 58 games.
“I could have told you back then, and I think I’ve told him and his family this, but I could see right away when he played for me, I was like, this kid’s special,” Ward told The Inquirer.
“He was very serious; he wanted to know why we do things, he wanted to learn, he wanted to understand systems, he wanted to watch video, and a lot of 13-year-olds, they’re not interested in that, they play the game or whatever, and then they go home and eat McDonald’s,” Ward added.
“But Jack, he was always interested in watching his shifts with me, or watching film. You couldn’t give him enough, and he’s the same way now, like after every game we sit down and we watch clips, and that’s just who he is.”
Jack Hextall poses with the puck that gave him 100 points for the Windy City Storm in the 2021-22 season.
It was a no-brainer for Ward when the option came to snag Hextall for the USHL. In his first season as a 16-year-old in a league that has an age range of 16-20, Hextall dropped eight goals and 34 points in 53 games. This past season, across 59 games, he more than doubled his goals (20) with 38 assists.
That came after he finished with seven points in five games, including three in the championship game against Sweden, for the gold-medal-winning U.S. side at the 2025 Hlinka Gretzky Cup. It was the first time the U.S. won the tournament since 2003.
“He’s a super smart player. He’s obviously a 200-foot center [which is] pretty hard to find nowadays,” said his linemate, Blake Zielinski, a Berlin, N.J., native who is expected to be drafted on Saturday.
“He just played the game so smart and so dynamically, and I think we just worked well together, being that I can shoot the puck, he can pass the puck. He sees the ice very well, and I think I see the guys pretty well, and so we connected a lot.”
Although some believe Hextall’s pace and speed need work — Martone did improve this at Michigan State — to drive plays and forecheck, he is considered a good skater. A self-proclaimed “railroad skater” when he was younger, he has worked on bringing his legs more underneath him, spending time each week in Youngstown with a power skating coach. It is that growth and development that pops for Ward, who sees a player who not only wants to get better and better but is getting better and better.
The Athletic’s senior NHL prospects writer Corey Pronman told The Inquirer that Hextall was one of the best players in the USHL this season and was arguably USA Hockey’s best forward at the Hlinka. He likes his competitiveness, his attention to detail, and his ability to win battles and make plays. Ward calls him a blue-collar player and likes that his “brain is off the charts.”
Guess who else likes these attributes in a player? The Flyers.
“Every time, if his team would lose a small area game, like, he’d be screaming at me that I was cheating for the other team,” said Ward. “He’s just so competitive, he hates to lose. … He’s a leader the moment he steps in the room. He’s going to do his thing, and he’s going to work hard, and he’s going to push people to get better, and that’s ultimately like you’re talking about the Philadelphia Flyers. That’s the type of person you want in the locker room.”
Flyers chief Dan Hilferty and his wife, Joan, traveled to Italy during the Olympics to take in the Winter Games, especially the hockey games, since three Flyers and coach Rick Tocchet were involved. Star winger Travis Konecny did not make Team Canada, but he made the trip anyway. There, he ran into Hilferty.
After a little small talk, as they ended their conversation, Konecny grabbed Hilferty by the arm. He looked him dead in the eye and, quietly, told his boss’s boss:
At the time, the Flyers hadn’t made the playoffs in five years and, according to one prediction site, had just a 3.8% chance of making the postseason.
Three months later, they had surged into the playoffs, then they had beaten their archrival, in overtime, at home. Yet neither of these was Hilferty’s favorite moment of the season.
Hilferty stood on the heights of Citizens Bank Park, a spring wind ruffling the ever-immaculate lapels of his bespoke, dark-blue suit, strong and confident and, then, suddenly, verklempt at the memory of a moment shared with some of his favorite people, including his boss.
He’d been asked for his most memorable moments of the season his Flyers had just completed. His response was unexpected: The moments just after the team lost its fourth straight game and was swept out of the Stanley Cup playoffs, an overtime defeat to the Carolina Hurricanes in front of the home crowd at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
Flyers fans cheered their team’s effort even after the season had ended.
This ignominious sweep, the first in 15 years — this was his finest moment?
“Yes,” he said.
Why?
“I go to the locker room after every game, win or lose. So, boom, [the Hurricanes] score, and I get up, go to the elevator, get off the elevator on the event level,“ Hilferty said. ”And I just see a sea of fans. A sea of fans on their feet. And then they start chanting, ‘Let’s go, Flyers!’ And you could see the players, like — their reaction is unreal.”
That’s where Hilferty’s voice breaks. He’s 69, and he’s been around, a Jersey Shore kid made good: CEO of two health benefits organizations, a midlevel cog in the Pennsylvania government, a candidate for governor in the 1994 Democratic primary, chief of the group that brought the World Cup to Philly, and, for the last three years, he’s held his dream job: governor of the Flyers.
The new Ed Snider. Connected to the club. Living and dying with every shift. Desperate for his hires to work out. Eager to see validated his oft-questioned decisions, from team president to GM to coach.
And so, just before 9 p.m. on May 9, Hilferty found validation with the only folks who mattered: Flyers fans. Folks like him.
Dan Hilferty (right), with team president Keith Jones in September, is part of a decision-making group that has pushed the right buttons of late.
The scene was as unreal as it was un-Philadelphian. After the teams exchanged handshakes, Flyers players remained on the ice to skate around and wave their appreciation to whoever remained. Usually, it’s a couple of thousand. That night, it was 10 times that much.
“I just felt — well, I never needed to feel vindicated,” Hilferty insisted. “But I was just so happy for the organization, so happy for the team, for Comcast Spectacor and Comcast.”
Spectacor is the sports wing of Comcast, and Hilferty is CEO of Spectacor. Brian Roberts is the CEO of it all, and, that night, he was at Hilferty’s elbow. They live and die with the Flyers.
“I mean, we talk every day,” Hilferty said. “He runs a huge company. He’s a huge fan.”
After six years of amorphous corporate management in the wake of Snider’s death in 2016, Hilferty’s hands-on approach during the past three seasons of a painful rebuild has borne fruit.
When he hired an inexperienced GM, Danny Brière, and his nonexperienced president, Keith Jones, it felt like the Flyers were in line for another generation of the nearsighted nepotism that has so badly hindered it so often in the 50 years since its run to three straight Stanley Cup Finals. That sense only increased with the hiring of coach Rick Tocchet, who, like Brière and Jones, is a revered Flyers alum.
Those decisions could hardly have looked worse as the Flyers entered the Olympic break in February. Tocchet and unmotivated second-year star Matvei Michkov had been feuding for months, and the team had won just three of its last 15 games.
But, during the 20-day break, Michkov got into shape, Tocchet changed coaching tack, some veterans got healthy and started playing better, goalie Dan Vladař caught fire, and the club added rookie winger Porter Martone, fresh off helping Michigan State reach the NCAA tournament. Not only did the Flyers make the playoffs, they upset the rival Penguins with a six-game, first-round win, in overtime, the sudden-death score coming from Cam York but set up by Michkov.
Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet (center) received up-and-down play from Matvei Michkov (right).
And yet this was not Hilferty’s favorite moment. The love after the loss was.
“I have to say, it was nice to have kind of a public showing of that positive feeling,” Hilferty said. “What I’ve learned, whether it was running a business or doing this now, is that nothing’s perfect, but when you put four people in the room and have a long-range vision of where you want to go — I feel validated in that we’re through a phase of this effort, and we feel like the pieces are starting to fall into place for a long-term sustainable period of excellence.”
That begins with Tocchet, a hard-nosed coach obsessed with teaching and largely uninterested in your feelings.
“I couldn’t be more thrilled about Rick Tocchet, the spirit he brings to it,” Hilferty said.
“Matvei needed a message,” Hilferty said. “Look, we’re behind him, but it takes two to tango. Everybody’s got to lean in. And although that was uncomfortable for Rick, and maybe uncomfortable for Matvei, I think it paid off in the end.”
Is this a sea change for a young player?
“My hope, and real belief, is that Matvei will come back as a different player next year,” Hilferty said.
Brière recently traded backup goalie Sam Ersson, smallish defenseman Emil Andrae, and a third-round pick to the Maple Leafs for backup goalie Joseph Woll and biggish defenseman Simon Benoît. The draft comes this weekend.
Since the Flyers’ decline, the Eagles have reached two Super Bowls, the Phillies have reached a World Series, and the Sixers consistently have made the playoffs with Hall of Fame-caliber players and coaches.
Now, however, there is a buzz in Philadelphia about the Flyers that has been absent for nearly half a decade. Hilferty feels it.
“We feel relevant again,” Hilferty said. “We feel really excited to be part of the winning ways of the city, but we’re not finished. I mean, our vision is to get to the top. I’m not going to hide from that.”
The Flyers’ quest to build on their promising showing of last season will include the customary preseason schedule. That slate will just be a bit shorter — and include fewer opponents — than in years past.
The team announced a four-game preseason schedule Monday that includes home-and-homes with the Washington Capitals (on the road Sept. 21, at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Sept. 26) and Boston Bruins (on the road Sept. 22, at home Sept. 24). Flyers training camp opens Sept. 17.
The 2026-27 season schedule will look different across the NHL, as the preseason has been shortened to four games and the regular season expanded to 84 games.
The Flyers played seven preseason games last season, going 3-4 ahead of their 43-27-12 regular season.
The complete NHL schedule will be released later this summer.
