With the 2026 Winter Olympic medal round underway in Milan, the Philadelphia Flyers reconvened at the FTC in Voorhees this week to resume practice before the stretch drive. Three Flyers players -- defensemen Travis Sanheim (Canada), Rasmus Ristolainen (Finland) plus goaltender Dan Vladar (Czechia) were still at the Olympics. So was head coach Rick Tocchet (Canada assistant coach).
Meanwhile, the Flyers recalled Lehigh Valley Phantoms rookie goaltender Carson Bjarnason and young defensemen Oliver Bonk and Hunter McDonald to participate at practice. Assistant coach Todd Reirden, himself a former NHL head coach, has run the practice sessions. On Monday, Tocchet spoke with his Philadelphia staff via conference call. They laid out the practice plan for the week and which elements of the team's game will get primary focus and needed tweaks during the on-ice sessions.
Reirden was especially interested in the opportunity to work with the three rookie players at camp. This was his first real opportunity to interact with 2023 first-round pick Bonk, who sustained an upper-body injury during training camp and missed much of the early part of the season. He has since had an opportunity to start acclimating himself to the American Hockey League game.
"Our team's not doing too well, but I feel like I'm just getting better with every game and, you know, trying to try to improve yourself every time you're on the ice," Bonk said while speaking of his time in Allentown.
"I feel like once I got 10 games in, it felt like I was kind of back to normal and you know, dropped some, some weight that I was carrying from just like rehab and not skating as much. And I started feeling better on the ice, like skating and stuff like that."
When Sanheim and Ristolainen return from the Olympics, chances are that Bonk and McDonald will return to Lehigh Valley. Nevertheless, this has been a valuable opportunity for them to get a taste of high-tempo NHL style practice time with NHL counterparts.
