Grading every Flyers player as the 2025-26 season's halfway point approaches
SOURCE:The Athletic|BY:Kevin Kurz
With 37 of 82 games under their belts, it's time to check in on how individual Flyers have performed so far this season.
We’re close enough to the halfway point of the season that it’s a good time to hand out some grades to the Philadelphia Flyers players, who, collectively, have put the club in a solid position to contend for a playoff spot headed into the New Year.
Keep in mind that grades are assigned based on performance and preseason expectations.
Let’s go in jersey number order, while including every player who has played in at least 10 games.
Egor Zamula: F
It’s a bit unfortunate that we have to lead off with Zamula, who posted just one assist in 13 games before he was waived on Dec. 18. Zamula’s play was so rough that rookie Ty Murchison was recalled from the AHL’s Phantoms and played ahead of him in two games earlier this month. Zamula has likely played his last game with the Flyers.
Travis Sanheim: B
Sanheim is on pace to set a new career high in ice time, currently averaging 24:44 per game, 10th in the NHL. Among skaters, he’s as big a reason as anyone that the Flyers are ninth in the NHL in goals against per game (2.78). The key will be to maintain his level of play, which he hasn’t been able to do late in the past two seasons. If he ends up going to the Olympics to play for Team Canada, Sanheim’s consistency will be a second-half storyline to monitor. He struggled after the 4 Nations Face-Off last season.
Cam York: A-
No one has benefited more from the coaching change than York, who, with 15 points in 30 games, should be able to shatter his career high of 30 points set in 2023-24. It seems evident now that York is much closer to the defenseman he was late that season, when his defensive play was outstanding, than last season, when he beefed with John Tortorella. York’s renewed confidence with the puck has been obvious since the start of training camp.
Jamie Drysdale: B+
Drysdale may never become the kind of Zach Werenski-level offensive rover coveted by coaches these days, but he’s at least established a strong defensive foundation, squashing plays and skating the puck out of dangerous places on a much more regular basis. With 3 goals and 17 points, Drysdale is also on pace for his best career season offensively, but he loses points for his lack of production on the power play, where he’s been given ample opportunity to run the top unit.
Jamie Drysdale is becoming a solid defenseman but could produce more on the power play. (Emilee Chinn / Getty Images)
Bobby Brink: B
The stats don’t necessarily show it, but Brink has seemed to play a freer, more aggressive game this season. He’s also shooting — and scoring — more, on pace for his first 20-goal season. It’s difficult sometimes to figure out where Brink might fit into the Flyers’ long-term plans, but at the very least he has proven to be a solid, depth NHL winger with runway to grow.
Konecny has gone from “don’t think” under Tortorella to trying to learn the intricacies of Rick Tocchet’s offensive system, and some of the early results weren’t pretty, with turnovers happening much too often. He’s settling in lately, and his point production is right in line with where it should be, but his goal total (11) is not. Just one of those goals is on the power play, where he still gets top-unit ice time.
Sean Couturier: B
Couturier seems to be a target for some fans who don’t see him as a blazing speedster or offensive dynamo. However, the veteran center is still doing lots of little things right, from winning faceoffs to driving play; according to Natural Stat Trick, Couturier’s 57 percent expected goals share is the top mark on the team. The biggest blip on Couturier’s first half was a 17-game goal drought from Oct. 16 to Nov. 26, but his season has been fine otherwise.
Rodrigo Abols: D
The good news is the Flyers’ fourth-line center is trending in the right direction, as five of his six points have come in December on a reworked fourth line. There’s reason to believe Abols can be a much more effective player when he’s not tethered to Garnet Hathaway and Nic Deslauriers.
Garnet Hathaway: F
Tocchet gave Hathaway a long leash, probably because of how valued he is behind closed doors in the dressing room and how much respect everyone has for the way he plays the game and carries himself. But zero points in 33 games and a minus-8 rating while looking slower and less able to play with the puck finally forced the coach’s hand. One thing is certain: Hathaway will continue to conduct himself with the utmost professionalism while he waits for his turn to get back into the lineup.
Christian Dvorak: A
Skating between the Flyers’ two most dangerous offensive wingers in Konecny and Trevor Zegras, Dvorak is on pace to shatter his career high of 38 points with 24 points in 36 games. There was a recent report from Elliotte Friedman that teams around the league expect the Flyers to extend Dvorak at some point, which they are able to do as soon as Jan. 1. As long as the term isn’t too long — think three years or less — that makes plenty of sense from the Flyers’ perspective, as they wait for some of their recently drafted centers such as Jett Luchanko and Jack Nesbitt develop.
Nick Seeler: B-
Seeler’s meat-and-potatoes game hasn’t changed all that much, although it seemed to take him a little bit of time to adjust to the way Tocchet and the new coaching staff prefer to play in the defensive zone. He’s still a fine and able depth defenseman, although with just four assists, he’s well off his pace of 20 points in 77 games last season.
Noah Cates: B
Cates is an effective third-line center, and with 20 points in 37 games, he should be able to reach the 40-point plateau for the first time in his career, especially if he keeps getting power-play time (he’s tied for third on the Flyers with six power-play points). Cates still struggles in the faceoff circle, though, with just a 43.5 percent success rate. It will be interesting to see how he does without the injured Tyson Foerster on his line; so far, he has 4 goals and 7 points in 11 games.
Nikita Grebenkin: D+
Like Abols, Grebenkin has been better lately and is trending in the right direction. His one-goal, one-assist game against the Vancouver Canucks on Dec. 22 was his best so far as an NHL player. Earlier, though, he was often part of an ineffective fourth line, and then disappointed when given a chance to replace Foerster on the Cates-Brink line, helping push the Flyers to recall Denver Barkey on Dec. 20.
Sam Ersson: D+
Just when it looks like Ersson’s job as the No. 2 might be in jeopardy, he manages to have a strong game — including Dec. 23, when he stopped 20 of 21 shots in a win over the Chicago Blackhawks. That .872 save percentage, though, is still unsightly. The pending restricted free agent will probably have to have a better second half if he’s to remain with the team beyond this season.
Emil Andrae: B+
Credit to Andrae for going from being basically an afterthought in training camp to securing a place in the top four lately. He still has his ups and downs, but Andrae has given the Flyers a more mobile back end, helping them to spend less time defending.
Matvei Michkov: C-
The most discussed player on the team, Michkov’s nine-goal, 20-point total through 39 games is at least mildly respectable. But no one has had more trouble adjusting to Tocchet than the 21-year-old winger, who came to training camp out of shape and still seems to be ramping up in that regard. While some of Michkov’s underlying numbers look fine, his frequent turnovers and missed assignments result in him hurting the team more than helping it far too often.
Nic Deslauriers: D
Deslauriers is what he is. There’s probably not much need to dress him on a regular basis anymore. The Flyers need their depth to produce a goal from time to time, and he just doesn’t have the ability to do that.
Trevor Zegras looks well on his way to becoming a Flyers franchise player. (Steven Bisig / Imagn Images)
Trevor Zegras: A
It’s difficult to imagine a better start to Zegras’ Flyers career, as he continues to hum along with 37 points in 37 games. Even when he’s not getting on the scoresheet, the puck seems to follow him around the ice in the offensive zone. He’s well on his way to establishing himself as an important piece of the franchise’s future, and a contract extension feels like an inevitability.
Noah Juulsen: C-
Juulsen was never expected to be a regular when the Flyers signed him to a one-year deal. He bought them some time for Rasmus Ristolainen to return. He’s fine as a fill-in, but he’s not an everyday NHL defenseman on a team that aims to make the playoffs.
Tyson Foerster: A
The young forward was in the midst of a breakout offensive season before his shoulder injury. Last weekend, GM Daniel Briere left the door open oh-so-slightly for a playoff return if the Flyers make it. When asked about the five-month timeline they put on Foerster’s recovery, Briere said: “It could be a little less, it could be a little more. That’s the range, we don’t know exactly for sure.”
Owen Tippett: C+
Yeah, Tippett is still streaky, enduring a 10-game goal drought and a separate seven-game drought broken on Dec. 22 against Vancouver, when he was perhaps the Flyers’ best player. But he still has game-breaking ability, as he showed with a goal against the Canucks in which he turnstiled Tom Willander and beat Thatcher Demko for a third-period score that essentially put the game away. That said, hope is starting to fade that he’ll ever become a consistent 30-goal scorer, with 11 so far this season.
Dan Vladar: A
What is there to say other than Vladar has been an absolute home run of an offseason signing? He has arguably been the Flyers’ most valuable player to this point, and just as importantly has shown no signs of wearing down. An added benefit is that his teammates absolutely love him, as he’s brought an infectious personality to the dressing room. Briere initially only wanted to sign Vladar to a one-year contract; he should be thankful he’s got him locked up through next season, too.
Carl Grundström: A
Who would have ever thought the Flyers would get a useful player back in the Ryan Ellis salary dump? Credit Grundström for taking advantage of his opportunity and giving the Flyers’ fourth line the kind of boost the coaching staff has been looking for, with six goals in 11 games.
