Chester County’s prison warden will round out a new leadership team after the county’s top official left his job earlier this week.
Howard Holland, who has served as prison warden for the county since April 2024 and was its acting warden for eight months before that, has been appointed as acting deputy county administrator for operations and will complete a team of three newly named top county officials, the county announced this week.
“I have always advocated for improved government processes, and I’ve been particularly pleased by the changes Mr. Holland has undertaken at the prison,” County Commissioner Eric Roe said in a statement. “I’m happy to have him join our leadership team, and I look forward to his continued contributions as a manager and leader at the County level.”
The administrative team oversees 2,600 staff members and a roughly $730 million annual budget. Members are appointed by the county’s three elected commissioners.
The change comes just days after the county’s top official, David Byerman, left the job, and a new county administrator, Erik Walschburger, was named.Holland anddeputy county administratorMegan Moser, whose role was renamed this week, will work under Walschburger.
Walschburger most recently was the county’s deputy administrator, a role he had held since 2022 overseeing internal day-to-day operations. Moser, who joined the county in 2025, has been involved with the county’s response to multiple election errors in recent months.
The county’s announcement on Wednesday made no mention of Byerman. A county spokesperson earlier this week declined to give a reason for his departure.
AsChester County shifts its personnel, it is reverting back to job titles it had used previously, retiring its use of “chief executive officer,” “chief operations officer,” and “chief experience officer” — a change it made roughly a year ago — for the more traditional title of county administrator and two deputies.
Holland comes to the job after a more than 30-year career in law enforcement, working as a police officer, a special county detective, and an adviser to the county’s prison board. He was the chief of police for seven years in Downingtown.
His most recent job came with an electric start: The day he became acting prison warden, convicted murderer Danilo Cavalcante escaped the prison, resulting in a two-week search. Since that incident, Holland made changes to limit the risk of escape, and promised to add additional security measures to the facility.
With Holland’s move to county government, the Chester County Prison Board of Inspectors has appointed Brian Sheller as acting warden, county officials said. Sheller has been deputy warden since 2024, and served as the Parkesburg chief of police for more than 30 years.
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SEPTA expects to receive about $5.5 million from a federal appropriation to offset the cost of providing transit service in Philadelphia during the FIFA World Cup.
The regional transportation authority projects it will spend $21.5 million for additional transit runs and extended service hours during the World Cup as well as a the celebration of the nation’s 250th birthday, officials said.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced about $100 million in funding to 11 cities and regions hosting FIFA championship matches, apportioned by formula.
“We are going to pull out all the stops to serve those big events — while also not missing a beat for our riders who rely on SEPTA every day,“ General Manager Scott Sauer said in a statement. He thanked the region’s congressional delegation and U.S. DOT for the ”much-needed investment to support this historic year.“
SEPTA said it would spend $18 million for overtime for transit operators and Transit Police, cleaning expenses, longer customer service hours and ambassadors to help people navigate the system.
Other extra operating costs for the events:
$1 million on safety and security, for portable surveillance equipment and a communications system to send police where they’re needed most.
$825,000 for signage, including World Cup branded signage, website and app upgrades to help visitors get around, as well as translation services.
Another $1.3 million will be spent on support services, SEPTA said.
Congress earmarked the money to help World Cup host cities and regions in this year’s federal budget, but improvements are required to benefit the general public, not just soccer fans.
“With the world coming to Philadelphia in 2026, we have a responsibility to be ready,” U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle (D., Pa) said.
The federal largesse will “strengthen our transit system so it can handle the surge in ridership during the World Cup,” Boyle said. “Just as importantly, these improvements will benefit Philadelphians long after the tournament.”
In addition to the extra spending on operations, SEPTA said it is investing about $30 million for infrastructure upgrades in advance of 2026 events, including improvements at Broad Street Line and Market-Frankford Line rail stations expected to be primary hubs for event goers.
The projects include:
Roof replacement and platform resurfacing at NRG Station on the Broad Street Line, which serves Lincoln Financial Field and Citizens Bank Ballpark, where the Major League All-Star game will be held this summer.
Upgrades to the Second Street Station headhouse on the Market-Frankford Line.
Fern Rock Transportation Center lighting and painting.
Realignment of the fare line at City Hall Station on the BSL, as well as platform resurfacing and new LED lighting.
U.S. Sens. John Fetterman and Dave McCormick voted Wednesday against advancing a war powers resolution that would have barred President Donald Trump from ordering further strikes on Iran without congressional approval.
The vote came days after United States and Israel launched a missile attack on Iran, killing that nation’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Six U.S. service members were killed in Iranian counterstrikes.
Fetterman, who applauded Trump’s comments about Iran during last week’s State of the Union, was the lone Democrat to vote against the measure, which would require the termination of U.S. military force against Iran.
Even before Trump ordered “Operation Epic Fury,” Democrats had pushed for a vote on a resolution to reassert congressional authority over military action.
But Fetterman has been at odds with the rest of his party, contending that military action is necessary to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
“Every member in the U.S. Senate agrees we cannot allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon. I’m baffled why so many are unwilling to support the only action to achieve that,” Fetterman said on X Monday. “Empty sloganeering vs. commitment to global security — which is it?”
The resolution, led by Sen. Tim Kaine (D., Va.), failed 47 to 53, falling short of the required 60-vote threshold to advance in the U.S. Senate. U.S Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky) was the only Republican to support the measure.
U.S. Sen. Andy Kim (D., N.J.) compared Trump’s decision to attack Iran to former President George W. Bush’s 2003 invasion of Iraq.
“We’ve seen this before. A president manufactures an imminent threat, chooses to start a war with unclear objectives and uses America’s resolve as an excuse for war without end because they’ve got no plan to end it,” Kim said in a Senate floor speech Tuesday in support of the resolution.
But Kim also noted a point of contrast. Bush had obtained authorization from Congress for military force, a step Trump didn’t even try to take, Kim noted.
“President Trump refused to make a case to the American people,” said Kim, who served on former President Barack Obama’s National Security Council.
Senate Republicans once again failed to hold Trump accountable. Today's vote sends us down a dangerous path into a potentially endless war.
The American people don't want this war. Trump has no plan.
Lawmakers’ attempts to rein in Trump comes as the U.S. is “accelerating, not decelerating” its military efforts, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters in the Pentagon Wednesday, CBS News reported.
A 1973 law allows a single lawmaker to force a vote to withdraw troops or block military strikes, and it requires the president to obtain congressional authorization to commit the Armed Forces beyond 60 days.
Both of Pennsylvania’s senators have been strong supporters of Trump’s strikes, which followed failed negotiations.
McCormick(R., Pa.), an Army veteran and member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said “the president has given the ayatollahs a chance for a deal, and they have rejected a path to peace and prosperity.”
During the first Trump administration, the president withdrew from an agreement Obama struck with Iran intended to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons in exchange for lifting sanctions.
U.S. Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D., Del.), who voted to support the measure, said in a statement Wednesday that the Iranian government ”is a deadly one” and acknowledged the danger of the country’s nuclear capabilities.
“But after attending the Senate briefing on Iran, it was strikingly clear that there was no rational justification for military action and no imminent threat to the United States,” she said. “This administration has failed to define its goals, explain an exit strategy, or provide any long-term plan for what comes next.”
Her fellow Delaware Democrat,U.S. Sen. Chris Coons, also supported the resolution and this week called for Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to appear before the national security committees to explain the lack of planning for the “protection and evacuation of Americans from their war of choice,”as U.S. citizens in the Middle East are scrambling to evacuate.
U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D., N.J.) said on X Saturday that Congress cannot “simply roll over” and invoked the lessons from past conflicts in the Middle East.
“We should have learned from the last two decades of conflict in the Middle East that wars launched without clear goals and without an end-state in mind rarely end well,” he said. “They cost lives, destabilize regions, embolden adversaries, and weaken America’s moral standing.”
City Council’s housing committee advanced two bills on Wednesday meant to help Philadelphia renters living in unsafe or unhealthy homes.
One bill would protect tenants who complain about housing conditions from retaliation by rental property owners and affirm tenants’ rights to safe and sanitary homes.
The bills are the two remaining pieces of a legislative package of renter protections introduced by Councilmember Nicolas O’Rourke. The first bill in the Safe Healthy Homes Act passed last year and created an anti-displacement fund to give financial help to renters forced to move out of their homes because of unsafe or unhealthy conditions.
The remaining bills passed out of the housing committee Wednesday after months of discussions with Council members, Parker administration officials, and landlords.
All three bills were written in partnership with the groups OnePA Renters United Philadelphia, a coalition of renters unions and advocates, and Philly Thrive, an advocacy group for racial, economic, and environmental justice. At Wednesday’s Council hearing, tenants from these groups and others who rent homes across the city testifiedabout living with mold, pests, leaks, lack of heat, and falling ceilings.
“The stories that inform the creation of this legislation come from the tenants,” O’Rourke said. Philadelphia renters “have long had to fight for the right to dignified living.”
Proactive inspections
Bridget Collins-Greenwald, commissioner of L&I’s quality of life division, said the bill that allows for a program to proactively inspect rental homes incorporates the Parker administration’s feedback.
“We believe the administration’s concerns have all been addressed and that the bill as amended can be successfully implemented,” Collins-Greenwald said to cheers and applause from tenants in the audience.
A year ago, Collins-Greenwald testified at a Council hearing that L&I was working to create a proactive inspection program. According to a Pew report from 2021, the department inspected only about 7% of Philadelphia’s rentals in a year.
O’Rourke’s legislation would require L&I to provide annual reports to Council members about the progress of the proactive inspection program.
The bill also would require rental property owners to share a copy of their rental license with tenants and to inform tenants if the license is suspended. Landlords need a valid license in order to collect rent.
Owners would also have to tell tenants about outstanding health and safety violations.
Retaliation against renters
O’Rourke’s second bill would expand protections against landlord retaliation for renters who participate in tenant unions and/or investigations of code violations.
“With less fear of reprisal, tenants will be emboldened to advocate for themselves around severe habitability and repair issues,” she said. “Far too many Philadelphians live in rental units in need of significant repairs.”
The bill also would expand the city’s requirement that landlords have “good cause” for ending a tenancy — whether by lease nonrenewal or termination — and explain to tenants in writing why their tenancy is ending. Under the bill, this provision of the city’s landlord-tenant law would apply to most tenants, not just those with leases of less than a year, as it does now.
More amendments?
Groups that represent rental property owners and managers said that they support the broad goals of the bills, but that the legislation needs to be further amended. They said they worried about unintended consequences that could harm landlords, especially ones with only a few housing units.
The legislation includes a provision that would allow rental property owners to collect the full rent if they can show that the city was the reason they were unable to get a valid rental license on time. But landlords said they want more protections for rental property owners who strive to follow city laws but are stymied by government bureaucracy and frequently changing regulations.
For example, Steven Chintaman, vice president of government affairs at the Pennsylvania Apartment Association, said landlords should have to forfeit rent only if code violations impact the habitability of a home, “not [for] technical or administrative issues.”
“We remain committed to working collaboratively to preserve the intent of these bills while ensuring that they are balanced, workable, and do not unintentionally harm housing providers and the residents we serve,” Chintaman said.
O’Rourke said he would continue to work with rental property owners and other stakeholders and is open to further amendments as his bills move forward.
CLEARWATER, Fla. — It was only fitting that Wednesday’s exhibition game started with a ball hit to Phillies center fielder Johan Rojas. Team Canada’s designated hitter, Edouard Julien, drove one to right-center field. Rojas made a diving catch on the warning track dirt.
The ball continued to find him. Two at-bats later, Josh Naylor flied out to center field. At the top of the second inning, Tyler O’Neill did the same.
Rojas hit a double that bounced over the wall in the bottom of the fourth inning to score Bryson Stott.
On Tuesday, news broke that Rojas reportedly had tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug. He chose to appeal his 80-game suspension, which was why he was back playing on Wednesday afternoon.
Until a decision is made on Rojas’s appeal, he will continue to train at the Phillies’ complex and appear in Grapefruit League games.
Team Canada went on to a 5-3 victory over the Phillies.
Who stood out
Jhoan Duran made his first appearance of the spring in the fourth inning. He pitched one inning, allowing no hits, runs or walks, with one strikeout.
His velocity was down (his splitter averaged 95 mph and his four-seam fastball 97.7 mph) but the closer wasn’t concerned.
“Everything is great right now,” he said when asked if he felt healthy. “Today is my first outing and I feel fantastic. So it’s good.”
Duran said he lost some weight during the offseason, likely because he was sick. He started throwing two weeks into the offseason, stopped for a few weeks because he was sick, and then picked up again.
Duran’s first outing of the spring last year came on Feb. 22. Manager Rob Thomson said this one came a bit later because of the illness, and because he “had a little touch of something earlier in camp.”
But Thomson, like Duran, said the closer is healthy.
Duran threw a few split-changeups on Wednesday — a pitch he said he hasn’t thrown since the minor leagues — and said he might bring it back during the regular season.
He said the grip of his split-changeup is a little different from his regular splitter.
“It’s just a different look,” Thomson said of the split-change. “Just something for the other hitters to think about.”
Aaron Nola, shown during a game on Friday, pitched three shutout innings and had four strikeouts against Team Canada on Wednesday.
On the mound
Aaron Nola made his last start before departing for the World Baseball Classic, where he will compete for Team Italy. He is expected to make his first start for Italy on March 11.
Nola pitched three innings, allowing one hit with four strikeouts. His velocity ticked up a bit, which he attributed to a slight tweak in his offseason routine.
“Probably starting earlier in the offseason,” he said. “Gave my arm and body time to ease into it, ease into throwing and long toss. I’m able to kind of rear back and throw a little bit harder right now, rather than previous spring trainings. My body feels really good, my arm feels really good.”
Duran followed Nola in the fourth. Reliever Tanner Banks pitched a clean inning in the fifth with two strikeouts, and Jonathan Bowlan followed in the sixth.
The reliever, who was acquired from the Royals in the Matt Strahm trade, struggled immediately, loading the bases by allowing two singles and a walk.
Abraham Toro hit a three-run double to tie the game at 3.
Right-hander Aaron Combs came in after Bowlan, and allowed an RBI single to score Toro and give Canada a 4-3 lead. He pitched one inning, with one hit and one hit batsman.
Quotable
“That was great,” Nola said of Rojas’ catch. “I thought the ball was gone. I saw the wind blowing a little bit. That was a good catch.”
On deck
The Phillies will play the Boston Red Sox at BayCare Ballpark on Thursday (1:05 p.m., NBCSP+).
The Fanatics Flag Football Classic, an event planned by Tom Brady and Fanatics, was originally planned to take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on March 21. Amid the widening war in the Middle East, the games will likely move to the United States due to recent airstrikes and regional travel restrictions, according to Front Office Sports.
The event, which will be hosted by Philadelphia native Kevin Hart, is expected to feature a lineup of NFL stars, including Eagles running back Saquon Barkley. Other players scheduled to compete include Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels, Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb, 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey, Colts cornerback Sauce Gardner, Browns defensive end Myles Garrett, Raiders tight end Brock Bowers, free agent wide receiver Tyreek Hill, Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby, former Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski, and former Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.
Ahead of the game’s Olympic debut in Los Angeles in 2028, the Fanatics Flag Football Classic will follow Olympic style rules, with players competing in five-on-five on a 50-yard field (plus two 10-yard end zones) for two 20-minute halves. Players will be divided into three teams that will play in a round-robin tournament with Pete Carroll, Sean Payton, and Kyle Shanahan slated to be the coaches.
Although a new location has yet to be announced, the event is still expected to be broadcast on Fox Sports and Tubi, with a much more friendly air time for the American audience, as FOS points out.
When the curtain rose on the Flyers’ 2025-26 season on Oct. 9 in Sunrise, Fla., it almost seemed preordained that they would be in the exact position and dilemma they find themselves in at the NHL trade deadline.
Entering Thursday’s game against Utah (7 p.m., NBCSP), the Flyers’ final tilt before Friday’s 3 p.m. deadline, Rick Tocchet’s seesaw club finds itself on a sudden upswing and just six points out of a playoff spot with 22 games to play. That brings us to the all-important question: Should the Flyers be buyers or sellers before Friday’s buzzer?
Just a week ago, that answer seemed clear-cut. The Flyers emerged from their three-week Olympic sabbatical sitting eight points out of both third place in the Metropolitan Division and the final wild-card spot, and reeling from having lost 12 of their previous 15 games. A sleepy loss in Washington to the Capitals last Wednesday in their first game back from break, followed by an early 2-0 deficit in New York the next night to the lowly Rangers, seemed to be the final nails in the coffin. The Flyers were open for business … as sellers.
But after rallying to beat the Rangers in overtime, followed by wins over wild-card rival Boston and then Toronto, the Flyers players have made that buy-or-sell decision a little more difficult on shot-callers Danny Brière and Keith Jones. Jones said before the season that “in the previous two years, we would be quick to make changes in order to get better for the future. Now, it would be about staying on course, which is advancing. It’s not about moving back.”
So are the Flyers still taking the long-view approach to rebuilding or has patience worn thin? The next 48 hours will tell us a lot about how the organization views itself and those in charge.
Why the Flyers should sell
The proof is in the pudding. The Flyers are a wildly inconsistent team that hasn’t won more than three games in a row all season, and whose minus-11 goal differential ranks 12th of 15 teams in the Eastern Conference. In the conference, only the Rangers (14) have fewer than the Flyers’ 19 regulation wins, which also happens to be the first playoff tiebreaker.
The Flyers have largely ridden an excellent season from goaltender Dan Vladař (.908 save percentage, 11 goals saved above expected, according to Money Puck), and some hot shooting at five-on-five (11th in shooting percentage, according to Natural Stat Trick). They’ve also been able to grind out points by getting to overtime in 20 of their first 60 games. Those three factors have largely papered over more worrying cracks, such as the team’s 24th-ranked Corsi For percentage, which measures control of shot attempts, 29th-ranked power play (16.2%), and the ongoing absence of a No. 1 center with no clear heir apparent in the organization.
Dan Vladař has covered up a lot of the Flyers’ warts this season with his stellar play in goal.
The team’s recent 3-1-0 stretch post-Olympic break is also a bit of fool’s gold, as two of the wins came after regulation, while the Flyers have lost the expected goals percentage in three of those four games. The Flyers still need to leapfrog five teams to make the playoffs, which would likely require them to take at least 27 or 28 points from their final 44, or to play at somewhere near a .620 points percentage the rest of the way. They’ve played at a .558 clip so far this season.
Even if the Flyers — who, according to Money Puck, have just an 11% chance to make the playoffs as of Wednesday — did pull off a miracle and reach the playoffs for the first time in six seasons, they would likely get steamrolled in Round 1 by Carolina or Tampa Bay, whom the Flyers haven’t beaten in six tries this season.
While the Flyers are desperate for postseason hockey to return to the newly named Xfinity Mobile Arena, Jones, the team’s president, told The Inquirer in January that while it is “important that we reward our players,” the goal remains being “a playoff team that is a sustainable one. Not just a one-and-done.”
If he’s true to his word and takes a good look at the Flyers in the mirror, the team won’t be adding short-term pieces to try to get over the playoff hump.
What the Flyers have to move
The Flyers aren’t moving Vladař, Travis Konecny, Travis Sanheim, Matvei Michkov, Trevor Zegras, or top prospect Porter Martone, but everyone else would seem to be — and should be — in play.
Topping that list is rugged but oft-injured defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen, who has been on the trade block each of the past two seasons but has so far stayed put. The 31-year-old doesn’t fit the team’s timeline, has a year remaining on his contract, and is exactly the type of player that contenders tend to overpay for due to his physicality and “playoff brand of hockey.”
Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen is an in-demand player as the trade deadline nears.
Trading him at this deadline would at minimum land a second-rounder and a legit prospect, and potentially a first-rounder. The Flyers should look to cash in on the 6-foot-4, 208-pound Finn on the heels of his eye-catching Olympics and should be seeking a first-round pick or a high-end center or blueline prospect in return.
The Flyers also have a surplus of wings with Konecny, Michkov, Zegras, Tyson Foerster, Owen Tippett, Bobby Brink, Denver Barkey, and Nikita Grebenkin, and more on the way, headlined by Martone and Alex Bump. Sooner or later the Flyers are going to have to make room for guys, and parting with Tippett or Brink would start that process and recoup the Flyers something in return, potentially at a position of need.
With teams always looking for a scoring punch this time of year, trading the 27-year-old Tippett, who is cost-controlled for the next six seasons and on his way to a third 25-plus-goal season in four years, would yield the largest return, assuming Konecny and Zegras are off limits. The Flyers reportedly have a high ask on the speedy Tippett, including a first-round pick, but could a package that includes a center be enticing? The Flyers could opt to hold fast for a better return at the draft, when this type of trade may be easier to complete, but trading a winger or two before next season seems inevitable.
The Flyers don’t seem willing to meet the high price for St. Louis Blues All-Star Robert Thomas, but Detroit’s Nate Danielson, Minnesota’s Danila Yurov and Charlie Stramel, Buffalo’s Noah Ostlund, Tampa Bay’s Conor Geekie, and Seattle’s Shane Wright are some younger center prospects who could be available in a package involving Ristolainen, Tippett, or someone else.
Detroit Red Wings center Nate Danielson, 21, is the type of young center the Flyers need to add to their system.
In addition to trying to move pending unrestricted free agents Nic Deslauriers, Noah Juulsen, and Carl Grundström, the Flyers could explore trading depth center Noah Cates or restricted free agent defensemen Jamie Drysdale and Emil Andrae, all young players with runways to improve who would generate some interest around the league. Like Ristolainen, Cates is a player that contending teams could view as a final piece due to his versatility, penalty killing, and two-way play. Andrae looks to be in need of a change of scenery and could be swapped for a player in a similar boat.
Nick Seeler would have some value as a steady, stay-at-home defenseman, but the 32-year-old, who is currently nicked up, would have to waive his no-move clause. Maligned backup goalie Sam Ersson also could be offloaded for a mid-round pick, especially if the team has already decided it won’t extend a qualifying offer to the pending free agent.
Brière has said he expects a quiet deadline, but trading Ristolainen is a must, while being creative to try to add another young center prospect to the pipeline should also be on the agenda. The Flyers aren’t ready to contend yet and still have several needs to address. We’ll see if they agree come Friday at 3 p.m.
This time of year, fans, reporters, and insiders’ phones will be dinging constantly with notifications, but there’s a good chance several phones in hockey will be off.
“I’d say most guys probably stay off their phones around this time. You don’t want to see any tweets from guys that are breaking stuff,” forward Garnet Hathaway said with a bit of a grin, a laugh, and a glance as Sportsnet insider Elliotte Friedman was in earshot in the Flyers locker room in Toronto on Monday.
The NHL trade deadline is fast approaching, with the final horn sounding on Friday at 3 p.m. But while everyone speculates and debates what Flyers general manager Danny Brière and management will do, the players are trying to stay in the moment.
“Focus on what we do on the ice and play some good hockey, try to win some games. Those are things that we don’t control,” captain Sean Couturier said. “It’s more you guys [the media] that talk about it and make big stories out of it. In the locker room, it’s not something we really talk about. We’ve got other things to focus on.”
It’s totally fair for Couturier to say the media makes it a big deal. After all, is it not entertaining when the wheelin’ and dealin’ can come fast and furious? But what we all don’t see is the toll it can take.
Last season, several players acknowledged that the trade of Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee in January to the Calgary Flames and Scott Laughton at the deadline to the Maple Leafs impacted the room. Two seasons ago, it was Sean Walker being dealt to the Colorado Avalanche that sent the defense into a tailspin, leading to a team looking at a playoff spot finding itself on the outside at the end.
General manager Danny Brière could move a couple of Flyers players by Friday’s trade deadline.
“One day you’re in one place, and the next morning you’re in a different place, getting ready to play a game,” recalled Owen Tippett, who was acquired by the Flyers in the Claude Giroux trade two days before the 2022 deadline. “I think I was traded at 6 o’clock at night and played the next day at 2 o’clock. So, pretty quick turnaround [after] you pretty much lift up your whole life and move. For me, I kind of had an idea it was coming. But it all happened so fast, so you don’t really have time to think until everything dies down.”
“So, it’s a tough time of year,” he added. “Obviously, you don’t want to see anyone go, and you never know who could be on the move or, if it’s you, then you just have no choice but to roll with it and deal with it and settle things down as quick as you can.”
If the Flyers do make moves — and rumors continue to swirl around defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen being one such player expected to find himself in a new jersey — the player they get in return will be facing an interesting time in Philly. Because the “other things” the captain alluded to are that the Flyers are not just focusing on their first four-game winning streak in over two years when they take on the Utah Mammoth on Thursday (7 p.m., NBCSP), but a playoff spot.
Entering Wednesday, they were eight back of second and third in the Metropolitan Division, held by the Pittsburgh Penguins and the New York Islanders, respectively, and six back of the Boston Bruins, who hold the last wild card in the Eastern Conference.
“We’re in the thick of it. We’re fighting for a playoff spot,” defenseman Nick Seeler said. “So that’s where our heads are at, and that’s what guys are focusing on, getting wins here, and that’s the most important thing.”
With just over 48 hours remaining until the 2026 NHL trade deadline, Inquirer Flyers reporter Jackie Spiegel hopped on r/Flyers to field some fan questions in a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) Wednesday afternoon. Here are a few highlights …
(Questions have been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.)
Q. There’s been a lot of talk about selling at the deadline, with guys like Owen Tippett and Rasmus Ristolainen as top candidates. Is there anyone else who might be on the block and could be a ‘surprise’ player dealt at the deadline?
A. It’s a good chance that Ristolainen is gone with how he’s been playing, his friendly contract, the farm system, and that he’s a right-shot defenseman. Tippett is less of a sure bet as he brings elements — size, speed, goal-scoring ability — that any team, including the Flyers, would want. However, Tippett does have a modified no-trade clause that begins on July 1, so if they’re going to do it, time is ticking.
The Flyers do have a logjam on the wings, and one surprise, at least for this week, could be Bobby Brink, who has long been rumored to be on the way out because of who is waiting in the wings. There’s always a chance Danny Brière could do right by some veterans like Noah Juulsen and Nic Deslauriers, each on expiring contracts, and trade them to a contender looking for depth.
Owen Tippett is a potential trade candidate for the Flyers
Q. At what point do we finally trade away some of our right wings to fix the log jam we have? And why is it taking so long?
A. The expectation was always that this process would begin over the summer, but it could come sooner. Names like Brink and Tippett have popped up in recent trade-deadline chatter. The only crux of trading Brink now is his size, as playoff teams are always looking to get bigger this time of year, but he is a pending restricted free agent. … But there is no denying that the Flyers need to make room for right winger Porter Martone.
As to why it has taken this long — you can’t trade someone if you don’t have someone ready to take the spot. Some of the wait was the hope of reeling in a big fish during this summer’s free agency — that is gone — but more recently, the wait has been on Martone, with all signs pointing to him inking his entry-level contract once Michigan State’s season is over.
Q. Where do you see us getting an actual top-line center option from and what would it realistically take?
A. This is a great question. I think part of the issue for the Flyers is that they were banking on this upcoming offseason to get that No. 1 center and all those guys inked extensions. Could Trevor Zegras be that guy? Maybe. Could they swing for a Robert Thomas? Maybe, but from what I’ve been told, that deal would require sending at least one of the Flyers’ young centers in the system the other way. I’m starting to wonder if a true No. 1 center is needed, because if you have enough talented high-end wingers — like Tyson Foerster, Martone, Travis Konecny, Matvei Michkov, Tippett — maybe a less elite center works too?
Sean Couturier has been the Flyers captain for a little over two years.
Q. What do the Flyers plan to do about Sean Couturier? Having the captain of the team be the guy farthest from living up to his contract and visibly frustrated seems like a less-than-ideal leadership situation. Not to mention he’s signed for four more seasons after this one and his contract is buyout proof.
A. From what I can tell, there are zero plans for Couturier. From the outside, yes, his production is down, but a lot of that, in my opinion, has to do with his focus on defense as he lets his younger, more skilled wingers take charge offensively. And heading into the return from the Olympic break, his analytics were actually some of the best on the team. There’s also the leadership in the room that fans do not see. As assistant coach Todd Reirden mentioned, while he was taking over media responsibilities with Rick Tocchet at the Olympics, Couturier’s “voice carries a lot of weight. He’s not [a captain] that’s rah rah, but when he does talk, no one’s not listening. I can tell you that much. So he’s the leader of our team for a reason.”
Q. If you had to look for a funny quote for a story after a win who would be your best bet on the team this year?
A. This is a great question. Funny is good, but what we call money bites (at least that was the term when I worked in TV) are always better. Dan Vladař is always good for that and usually has a funny quote or two. Zegras is always on with a quick, funny response. And Garnet Hathaway is always insightful, but brings a good quote too.
WASHINGTON — The House Oversight Committee voted Wednesday to subpoena Attorney General Pam Bondi to answer questions over the Justice Department’s handling of files related to the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation.
Five Republicans joined Democrats to support the subpoena proposed by GOP Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina in a sign of continued frustration with the department’s review and release of a tranche of documents regarding the disgraced financier.
The Justice Department had no immediate comment on the subpoena.
Former President Bill Clinton and his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, recently sat with lawmakers on the committee for their own depositions over the former Democratic president’s connections to Epstein from more than two decades ago.
