2025 Flyers Training Camp: Scrimmage Day

After two days of training camp, the Flyers held a scrimmage at the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees.

Thursday and Friday both were telling as to what we can see from this team early on.

Now, Saturday gave us a chance to get a sneak peak into what the Flyers have in store this season.

Some players looked great, especially a handful of young guns.

Here is what you need to know if you missed Saturday’s scrimmage.

Flyers Lines and Pairs

Team Black Lines (no particular order)

Gendron-Luchanko-Tippett
Deslauriers-Cates-Brink
Richard-Gard-Tuomaala
Barkey-Dvorak-Eklind

Ginning-Samson
York-Grans
McDonald-Mondoux
Juulsen-Sanheim

Ersson
Bjarnason

Team Orange Lines (In Order)

Bump-Zegras-Konecny
Grebenkin-Couturier-Michkov
Pederson-Nesbitt-Hathaway
Kaplan-Abols-Gaucher

Seeler-Gill
Zamula-Drysdale
Murchison-Vlooswyk
Gilbert-Andrae

Vladar
Kolosov

Power Play Units

PP1-Zegras, Michkov, Couturier, Konecny, and Drysdale
PP2-Brink, Tippett, Foerster, Cates, and Sanheim

Cam York worked into the second unit. Penalty kill units were inconsistent; the drill was more to work on the power play.

Scoring

Team Black won the Flyers scrimmage at training camp on Saturday by a score of 3-2. Before we get into who scored and how, let’s explain the structure quickly. The day started with a power play drill. The Flyers would alternate power play units against what seemed like random penalty kill units. That went for about 20 minutes. Both units were held scoreless.

The Flyers would then move into a 5-on-5 scrimmage for 25 minutes. It took until late in the 5-on-5 for any scoring. Alexis Gendron scored the lone 5-on-5 goal off a feed from Helge Grans. That gave Team Black the 1-0 lead.

The next phase was 4-on-4, where Trevor Zegras scored his first unofficial goal in a Flyers uniform. He cleaned up the loose change from a Travis Konecny shot and potted the puck to tie the scrimmage up for Team Orange.

The following two scores, one by each team, would not come until 3-on-3, the following structure. Nikita Grebenkin roamed the offensive zone with the puck until he saw space to shoot, scoring for Team Orange. Bobby Brink did the complete opposite, scoring right off the draw at 3-on-3 for Team Black.

Brink would score again for Team Black, this time in the shootout, the final phase, giving Team Black the 3-2 scrimmage win.

Thoughts From Flyers Scrimmage

This was the first “organized game” the Flyers have played under the new regime. With that, it’s worth keeping in mind that it was never going to look perfect. That being said, the team was definitely sloppy on Saturday. It got better with time, especially towards the end of 5-on-5. It wasn’t a pretty start, but as everyone got settled, you could start to see puck movement become more crisp, structured systems, and movement away from the puck.

Regarding the new defenseman, Dennis Gilbert, while the expectation is no higher than a 6/7th defender, looked ready to go. Noah Juulsen, another newcomer, did not look too great. He was beat more often than not and seemed generally slow. There is still plenty of time to turn things around for Juulsen.

The returning defensemen looked great. Starting with Jamie Drysdale, he was shooting the puck at a much higher frequency, and looked like there was a lot more power behind the shot. If he can figure that out, combine a good shot with his speed and skating ability, he could make himself a real danger on the power play.

Travis Sanheim was playing a lot more physically than we’re used to, throwing his body around, using his great size. Honestly, it was a really good sign seeing that from him. I personally am very high on Sanheim heading into this season. If he can add that physicality, it could be a game changer for him.

Cam York, which should not be a surprise based on the way Tocchet has spoke about him, looks ready to anchor his own pair. He and Helge Grans looked pretty good together. Maybe Grans could play himself into a Ristolainen fill-in role.

The Forwards

Alexis Gendron has now scored in each of the last three “Flyers games”, netting a goal in both rookie series games as well as Saturday’s scrimmage. He has officially caught the eye of Tocchet and company. Will he make the roster? Probably not, but his stock has skyrocketed during camp.

Speaking of players that could make the roster, all three of Nikita Grebenkin, Alex Bump, and Jett Luchanko looked great, and are certainly leading the battle for those final roster spots. If the Flyers go with 14 forwards and camp ended today, all three should make the team.

If I had to pick just one of those three to make the team, it would have to be Grebenkin. He has easily been the most impressive. While I doubt he plays with Sean Couturier and Matvei Michkov during the regular season, Grebenkin has made the most of his time with them. He is making himself stand out.

While all offseason, the early thought was Trevor Zegras should play with Michkov. My view on that has changed. The chemistry between him and Travis Konecny is too good not to give it a good look early in the year. Zegras looks strong and confident, and Konecny will benefit from that.

I also want to give Matthew Gard some flowers here as well. He probably would have been sent back to camp by now if it weren’t for Karsen Dorwart’s injury. He stood in there, and again, did not look too far behind. Gard definitely needs to bulk up before he is ever seriously considered for the roster, but he looks good.

The next Flyers action will be Sunday on Long Island, when the team takes on the Islanders at UBS Arena, starting at 7:00 p.m. EST.

Read More: PhHN Daily: Flyers Camp; McTavish; Kings Big News