After Tyson Foerster blocked an Auston Matthews shot in Saturday night’s loss to the Maple Leafs, he hobbled down the tunnel, but returned back a few shifts later and played the remainder of the game, and it looked like the Flyers might have just averted a crisis.
Well, it appears Foerster might have felt the effects of the blocked shot more than initially thought. Prior to Sunday’s game against Calgary, the Flyers announced that Foerster would miss some time with a lower-body injury and be reevaluated at a later date. It appears this isn’t just a one-off injury for Foerster either, and he’s slated to miss at least a few of the Flyers’ games this week.
Tocchet says Foerster is going to at least miss a few games. Says he'll be reevaluated in about three or four days.
— Charlie O'Connor (@charlieo_conn) November 2, 2025
Foerster, who is tied for second on the Flyers in goals with Trevor Zegras with four, has been one of the key catalysts for the offense thus far.
With Foerster’s injury, the real question is how the Flyers will replace Foerster on the most consistent line of the season, alongside Noah Cates and Bobby Brink. Foerster just clicks as the final piece on that line, as he meets the forechecking level of Cates and provides the offensive finish that the line desperately needs. There’s not really another high-quality winger that plays the two-way, aggressive checking style that Foerster does, so we’re going to see if another player can match the Cates-Brink playing style, or if a Cates-Brink duo can change their style to accommodate another player.
As tough as losing Foerster is in the short-term, the Flyers might stand to benefit from testing out other line combinations. For good reason, the Flyers have been so reluctant to break up the Foerster-Cates-Brink line, but it could be useful to figure out other effective combinations in the event that another injury happens down the line.
The first go at replacing Foerster on the line will seemingly be Owen Tippett, who will theoretically replicate the scoring that Foerster has brought thus far. Tippett, who leads the Flyers with five goals, hasn’t scored in five consecutive games after scoring five in six games to start the season. The Flyers might lose quite a bit in terms of forechecking ability, but Tippett’s speed could really be conducive to the line’s success.
Tippett will get the first crack at replacing Foerster on the Cates line. Initial plan is to continue to use Cates as the primary shutdown center.
— Charlie O'Connor (@charlieo_conn) November 2, 2025
Other candidates to fill in for Foerster on the Cates-Brink line? The other logical candidate would be Nikita Grebenkin, who Tocchet has been looking to give some extra minutes. Out of anyone on the roster, Grebenkin might be best suited for the playing style that we know is typical of a Noah Cates line. With Grebenkin’s best attribute being his puck protection abilities in all areas of the offensive zone, you could envision a world where Grebenkin seamlessly replaces Foerster on that line. Grebenkin comes with less offensive upside than Tippett, but potentially much more consistency on a shift-to-shift basis. We’ll see how tonight goes with Tippett, but it’ll be interesting to see who would get a shot next if the Foerster injury is worse than expected.
In terms of other lineup announcements for tonight’s game against Calgary, the Flyers also announced that Aleksei Kolosov will start between the pipes for the first time in the NHL this season. In the AHL this year, Kolosov has put up a .918 SV% across five games with the Phantoms, so he’ll look to build on his strong start to 2025-26 on Sunday night.
In addition, Sean Couturier will draw back into the lineup after missing one game, which is a very good sign considering the health history of the captain. It’s a big addition back into the top-9 for the Flyers, especially considering the absence of Foerster. Couturier, through 10 games, has registered 2 goals and 7 assists, a much higher scoring rate than in the last couple of years.
