*You can feel it in the air. The 2026-27 NHL season is starting tonight and the Philadelphia Flyers will open their season on Wednesday against the Pittsburgh Penguins. It’s a perfect time of year. To celebrate it, the Flyers announced their 2026-27 season opening roster and it has a few interesting wrinkle. Garrett Wilson is sticking around to be an enforcer, and Carl Grundstrom is here while Denver Barkey starts the season on IR. [BSH]
*Furthermore, the Flyers did get some positive injury news that Dan Vladar is ready to go for the season. We won’t be seeing Aleksei Kolosov attempt to be an NHL goalie again, it’s going to be Vladar and Joseph Woll as the tandem. And more on Barkey hitting the IR: [Inquirer]
*The Flyers are reportedly scouring the trade market for some defensive help. We’re not sure how real we want these trade rumors to be quite yet. It could be old information or it could be said so vague that once they trade for a defenseman at the trade deadline, we can point to this report from several months earlier as technically being true. [BSH]
*Porter Martone has a big opportunity this season. What should we really expect though? He’s going to be given plenty of chances to keep his spot on the Flyers’ top line and it might feel bullish to think of him already as one of the team’s top forwards. [BSH]
*Want to know something weird? The Flyers’ power play breaks an unwritten rule in the NHL. Typically, it makes sense to just have your leading scorer and your leading goalscorer on the top power-play unit. Well, that’s Travis Konecny and Owen Tippett for the Flyers and neither of those plays are on the first unit. It’s abnormal but it means that the Flyers are turning this team over to the youth and to the future. [BSH]
*Oh, and there was a massive blockbuster trade, by the way. The Toronto Maple Leafs acquired disgruntled winger Kirill Marchenko from the Columbus Blue Jackets and all it took was their 23-year-old power forward who seems built for the playoffs. Marchenko is the flashier and more playdriving winger, but considering Knies’ age and bargain contract for the next five years, was it really necessary? [Sportsnet]
*The latest website to put out their entire standings prediction for next season and of course the Flyers are either going to be third, fourth, fifth, sixth, or seventh in the division standings. No one really knows. [Daily Faceoff]
