The Flyers held their morning practice in Montreal prior to facing the Canadiens tonight, and by the looks of it, they could be scrambling a few lines, including one that might make a few people happy. Here’s what they were rolling with at the skate:
#Flyers lines at morning skate
— Jackie Spiegel (@jackiespiegel93) December 16, 2025
Not sure if Ristolainen is in or not. Will find out soon.
Zegras-Dvorak-Konecny
Grundström-Couturier-Tippett
Michkov-Cates-Brink
Deslauriers-Ä€bols-Hathaway
Grebenkin
York-Sanheim
Andrae-Drysdale
Seeler-Ristolainen
Zamula-Juulsen-Murchison
VladaÅ™
Perhaps the biggest difference is seeing Sean Couturier and Matvei Michkov split up. Although Tocchet loves pairing forwards together, Michkov finds himself on a line centered by Noah Cates with Bobby Brink on the other wing. That could be the catalyst to see Michkov find a bit more creative oomph and offensive production, something that he really hasn’t seen a lot this year with Couturier down the middle. Meanwhile, Carl Grundstrom sees himself bumped into the top six, taking Michkov’s place on the line with Couturier and Owen Tippett. Grundstrom has done everything you could ask him to do so far with two goals and an assist in the four-game stint he’s had this month. To see him being rewarded with a jump in the lineup and most likely more playing time is a good sign.
Of course, with Grundstrom being bumped up, the fourth line this morning saw Nic Deslauriers, Rodrigo Abols, and Garnet Hathaway reunited. That trio has one goal and one assist among them, all courtesy of Abols as the other two are still looking for their first point of the 2025-26 season. So while Grundstrom should possibly help generate some offense on the second line, the fourth line looks to be reverting back to how it was most of the season. Namely, a line that eats up minutes but doesn’t do a lot more. This leaves Nikita Grebenkin as the odd man out in this evening’s matchup.
Of course, the biggest news from the lineup isn’t so much the offensive switches the Flyers might go with tonight but on the back end. Namely, Ramsus Ristolainen was paired with Nick Seeler on the Flyers’ third defensive pairing. Rick Tocchet confirmed that Ristolainen will make his season debut, and with him finally being good to go, this will mark his first game since March 11, a 5-2 loss to Ottawa (in which he went scoreless and played 18:02). Along with this, the pairing of Seeler and Ristolainen would be a huge boost to Emil Andrae, who seemed to be playing on the third pairing as Ristolainen’s substitute. However, because Andrae has been generally quite good since partnering with Jamie Drysdale, it looks more and more like Egor Zamula and Noah Juulsen could be the odd men out as Ristolainen returns.
It could also soon spell the end of Ty Murchison’s time with the big club. Murchison held his own in his three games with Philadelphia, starting with the Dec. 9 game against San Jose. He averaged 15 minutes on the dot in his three games, with him seeing the most ice time Saturday against Carolina (16:24).
Overall, the changes and different combinations should be welcomed, especially when it comes to Michkov hoping to break out. The winger has no goals this month and three helpers including one on Sunday against Carolina. Prior to the assist against the Hurricanes, Michkov went four games without a point. With any luck, some chemistry with Cates and Brink — who have been two-thirds of Philadelphia’s most consistent line going back to last season — will pay off with more goals.
