Flyers mailbag: Goaltending, Matvei Michkov extension, next trade deadline and more

New York Times

17-07-2025

The 2025-26 NHL schedule has been released. It could be the last bit of league news for a while.
Good time for a mailbag then, right?
(Questions have been lightly edited for clarity.)
If the Flyers are healthy and playing well through the first half of the season (and in contention for a playoff spot), what does this year's trade deadline look like? — Sam K.
We can confidently say that if they are in contention for a playoff spot, they aren't going to be sellers. But I'd argue that even if they're in range of a playoff spot, the next trade deadline won't look anything like the previous two. Both Daniel Briere and Keith Jones have already indicated as much.
Advertisement
For example, here's Briere on July 1 speaking about the free-agent additions made that day: 'We wanted to give the players something to chew on to be excited a little bit that we're more competitive. Now it's up to the players to take the next step. But, we wanted to start helping them.'
That's a good reminder of the human element of all this. Guys such as Travis Sanheim and Travis Konecny, for example, really seemed to fade after Scott Laughton got dealt last season. Owen Tippett sagged when he lost his buddies, Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee. Matvei Michkov seems particularly driven to make the playoffs, and you can be sure lots of other young guys who have been here for a few years are, too.
You can already predict that the message from Briere to his team on Day 1 of training camp will be something along the lines of, 'If you guys show us you're a good team and you're in the mix for a playoff spot, management is not going to mess with that.' Things are different now. Subtractions aren't inevitable.
Something else to keep in mind, though, is that there aren't any obvious pieces to sell anyway, like there were previously in guys such as Laughton and Sean Walker, who were both on expiring contracts. Plus, Frost and Farabee, who just didn't fit into what the Flyers were trying to build. The only pending unrestricted free agent is Christian Dvorak, and as I've mentioned, they didn't sign him just to move him for assets at the deadline. If he's filling a key role on a competitive team, they're going to keep him around, even if it means potentially losing him for nothing next summer.
If there's anyone who could be dangled, perhaps it's Rasmus Ristolainen. But after yet another injury, his value is down, and with another year on his contract, that's not even something the Flyers have to do, either — particularly if he returns healthy and becomes an important contributor like he was last season.
Advertisement
I don't want to see guys such as Karsen Dorwart, Nikita Grebenkin, Denver Barkey and Devin Kaplan blocked by Christian Dvorak, Garnet Hathaway and, to a lesser extent, Rodrigo Abols and Anthony Richard. What do you think Rick Tocchet's philosophy is going to be with the bottom six regarding playing veterans over prospects? — Clinton P.
Honestly, I think it's going to be pretty simple from Tocchet's perspective. He's going to play the players that best give him a chance to win. Same as John Tortorella did before him.
All four guys you mentioned at the top of this question probably need more time in the minors anyway. But if guys such as Dorwart and Grebenkin, especially, show they belong on the NHL roster in camp, I think Tocchet could find a spot for them, particularly if Tyson Foerster misses the start of the season. I'd suggest it's a tremendous long shot those four are already better than the established NHL players on the roster, though. And Alex Bump could already be penciled into the top nine at this point, too.
You want your prospects to earn jobs rather than just be handed them. There's going to be competition for spots on the NHL roster in September, but even for the guys that don't make the Flyers, there should be healthy competition with the Phantoms for key roles, too. None of that is a bad thing. If they keep progressing, then it simply opens options for Briere to move other pieces.
Do you think Torts' philosophy of trying to block every shot attempt contributes to poor goaltending/save percentages? Is there any data to back up this theory? — Andrew F.
In conversations with Samuel Ersson, he sometimes mentioned that he would prefer to see certain shots all the way, rather than risk one of his teammates diving in front of it, risking a screen or a deflection. It was probably a factor in some of Ivan Fedotov's struggles, too, particularly early in the season when he seemed have tremendous difficulty with shots from long range.
Advertisement
Still, I have a difficult time thinking that greatly contributed to the poor save percentages. The Flyers under Tortorella were hardly the only club that stressed shot blocking. To me, there were just too many easy shots that went in on all three, but particularly Fedotov and Aleksei Kolosov. And as I pointed out recently, it wasn't a problem until Carter Hart's departure midway through the 2023-24 season.
Do the Flyers have a problem evaluating goalies? Fedotov and Kolosov were terrible misfires; they overpaid Dan Vladar, and Ersson definitely has talent but is still a huge unknown moving forward. — Jakub V.
When it comes to Fedotov and Kolosov — absolutely. They represent perhaps the two biggest errors that the front office has made. If you recall, Fedotov's poor skating was identified pretty much right away by former Flyers goalie/analyst Martin Biron, and when it comes to Kolosov, they would have been better off just letting him stay home. Sure, they ended up with some higher draft picks because of how bad it was last season. But the question of whether this front office can identify good goaltending is a valid one. That includes Kim Dillabaugh, whom Briere said he relied on to identify Vladar as a free-agent target.
I'm much more sympathetic when it comes to Ersson and Vladar, though. I do think Ersson still has potential and talent (as you say), and while his numbers have been generally poor for the past season and a half, I think the organization is to blame for putting him in an unfair position at this stage of his career as the only serviceable option. He had to have been feeling extra pressure at times.
As for Vladar, well, we'll see. The overpay was due to the Flyers' desperation for help, coupled with a weak market, and Vladar at least seems to be coming to Philadelphia with the proper attitude.
Say Matvei Michkov puts up 75-plus points this season. Do you immediately extend him next July 1st, and what does the contract look like? — Clayton W.
This is a great question, because, frankly, I think Michkov could post that kind of production this season (particularly if the power play is better).
Advertisement
I suppose the answer depends on what you mean by 'immediately.' I seriously doubt there's any kind of extension in place on July 1, 2026, for example. The Flyers will have more pressing needs in the days and weeks leading up to that date, assuming they're still looking to open their wallets for a top free agent. And there would certainly be no rush to extend Michkov, who would still be under team control at the end of his third season, anyway.
There's also Briere's history with young, pending restricted free agents. He extended Owen Tippett midway through the 2023-24 season, and, of course, waited until after the season to extend Foerster and Cam York. He's shown an ability to remain patient with key young players, and I'd argue it's been to his benefit considering how reasonable the Foerster and York extensions were, in particular.
As for what Michkov might command in terms of his next contract, I want to wait and see what Connor Bedard's next one looks like before I go there. He has yet to sign an extension with Chicago, and various projections have been all over the map. Other forwards in Michkov's draft class, such as Adam Fantilli and Leo Carlsson, have yet to sign extensions either, despite now being eligible. No doubt, Briere will keep an eye on those, but again, there's probably not going to be a huge rush from his end to get it done before the start of the 2026-27 season.
For a team that is so far removed from having a competent goalie, why did Briere choose not to pick a goalie in the last two drafts? — Todd C.
I would argue it speaks to their confidence in the two they selected early in the 2023 draft: Carson Bjarnason (second round) and Egor Zavragin (third round). And it's not like any of their current NHL goalies are all that old, either. Ersson is still just 25, Vladar is 27, and while we don't know what the future holds for Kolosov, he's still just 23.
Further, while the 2025 draft had decent prospects, it wasn't thought to be deep at the goaltender position.
One year from now, the organization should have a much better handle on the goalies in the system. If Bjarnason struggles with the Phantoms, Zavragin takes a step back in the KHL, and Kolosov still refuses to develop properly in the AHL, maybe they'll reevaluate what they have and draft another one. But they're in a decent enough place with goalie prospects for now.
Advertisement
I'm surprised Torts hasn't said a word since his dismissal, and that made me realize we never heard from Alain Vigneault either. Do you think both of them, who usually spoke their minds, simply kept their mouths shut to ensure they continued to get paid? — Jeff K.
I also doubt that has anything to do with contracts. When Pete DeBoer was fired from the Sharks midway through the 2019-20 season, for example, I spoke with him a couple of days later.
While I wasn't here for Vigneault, I can tell you I've tried multiple times to reach Tortorella in the hopes he might want to talk. I also had to reach out to him when I reported the news about his spat with York, to see if he wanted to offer his perspective (he didn't reply). I tried him again about three weeks ago, for the heck of it. In other words, I think it's evident he doesn't really speak.
Frankly, I'm not surprised. While I always thought Tortorella enjoyed some of his daily media conferences more than he liked to let on, I don't get the impression he goes out of his way for anyone in the media — and that includes friends and colleagues of mine who covered him in other cities. I believe he and I had a good working relationship. He really only snapped at me once, about the Sean Couturier scratching, and immediately afterward we had a brief, polite off-the-record chat about our differing perspectives on it.
I'm still holding out hope he gets back to me at some point, though. I've got a list of about eight-to-10 questions ready to go if he does.
(John, if you're reading this. Call me?)
(Top photo of Matvei Michkov: Timothy T. Ludwig / Imagn Images)