Rick Tocchet's Philadelphia Flyers open their four-game 2026 preseason docket on Monday when they take on Spencer Carbery's Washington Capitals at Giant Center in Hershey, PA.
Game time is 7 p.m. EDT. The exhibition match will be televised on NBCSP.
The Flyers will play both the Capitals and the Boston Bruins twice apiece in the preseason; once on the road and once at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Two days ago, the Flyers conducted an intrasquad scrimmage at the FTC in Voorhees.
In the scrimmage, Team Orange overcame deficits of 2-0 and 3-1 to defeat Team Black by a 4-3 score. Tyson Foerster (Black, 3-on-3), Danila Klimovich (Black), Alex Bump (Orange), Helge Grans (Black), Trevor Zegras (Orange), Oliver Bonk (Orange) and Denver Barkey (Orange) scored for their respective sides. Matvei Michkov (Black) set up the Bonk and Barkey tallies.
During their respective stints in net, neither Dan Vladar nor Joseph Woll allowed any goals in the scoreless first half of the game. Lehigh Valley Phantoms netminders Aleksei Kolosov and Carson Bjarnason played in the second half.
Late in the scrimmage, rookie forward Porter Martone and defense prospect Spencer Gill had a tussle along the boards. Martone came away favoring a hand but he finished the scrimmage. Ten forwards and six defensemen aside played in the scrimmage.
Here are the RAV 4 Things to watch in Monday's preseason opener.
1.Pairings
Over the first few days of training camp -- plus the scrimmage -- Tocchet and his staff grouped pairs forwards with rotating third members of their respective lines.
Up front, Sean Couturier played regularly with newcomer Noel Acciari. Noah Cates was reunited with frequent linemate Foerster. Barkey saw time with Michkov as well as Bump. Veteran center Christian Dvorak played shifts with Travis Konecny in addition to Martone. Zegras played with Owen Tippett and rotating wingers.
On the blueline, the top two holdover pairings (Travis Sanheim with Rasmus Ristolainen and Cam York with Jamie Drysdale) played together. Meanwhile, veteran Nick Seeler was with prospect David Jiricek. Newcomer Simon Benoit paired with first-year pro Gill.
2. Roster battles
Bump had a disappointing camp last year after entering the preseason with a job to lose. Nikita Grebenkin (currently dealing with a day-to-day injury) beat out Bump for a roster spot.
However, this year, Bump has built off his strong second-half showing once he got an NHL recall in 2025-26. He's in striking distance of nailing down his first opening night NHL roster spot.
On the blueline, Jiricek and Bonk are each other's primary competition for an opening spot as Seeler's partner. Benoit will also push for a top six spot. Jiricek is no longer exempt from waivers, while second-year pro Bonk is exempt.
3. Special teams
Saturday marked the first time in camp that the Flyers have done power play work. At this juncture, setting first and second unit personnel and setting entry and puck rotation strategies are more important than power play percentages.
Nevertheless, given the Flers long-running struggles on the power play, it'd be nice to convert a few opportunities before the season starts.
On the PK, the departure of Garnet Hathaway opened a spot for veteran Acciari to work regularly with Couturier.
4. Positional experimentation: wings and centers
It's a lock that Dvorak and Couturier will line up in the middle of their respective lines. At least to start camp, Zegras gets the opening crack at the 1C role. Cates is the default third-line center.
However, the Flyers have done some positional experimentation with some of their versatile forwards who can play wing, center, or in a hybrid deployment. Denver Barkey has seen some time at center in camp. Cates, who started out on left wing earlier in his NHL career, has played some shifts on right wing. Zegras played a hybrid role alongside Dvorak much of last season, before seeing more time primarily at center.
Who lines up where on opening night come Sept. 30 remains to be seen over the course of the exhibition games and practices. One consideration: with the exceptions of Couturier and Dvorak, faceoff improvements are a must for the players competing to start shifts at center.
Zegras in particular needs significant improvement on draws. To a somewhat lesser extent, Cates has also been below average on faceoffs so far in his young career. Barkey hasn't played center regularly since his NHL Draft year with the OHL's London Knights.
