Tyson Foerster could be the Flyers most dangerous player

If you polled Flyers fans on who they thought was the most dangerous Flyer, you'd get a variety of answers. Perhaps they'd go with Travis Konecny, which makes sense. He is usually the top goal scorer and has a legit chance at setting the all-time goal-scoring record. He has 225 goals, with Bill Barber standing atop with 420.

Maybe some of you would point to one of the youngins. After all, Porter Martone has been electrifying since he came into the NHL last season. Some still think Matvei Michkov could become a dominant player.

What if I told you that the most dangerous player on this team was Tyson Foerster? It's funny, because you don't usually think about him. He's a quietly dominant player. Maybe it's because he's played a lot of third-line duty. Maybe because, with all of the excitement of last year's playoff run, he was out for most of the season.

Injuries have held him back; sort of. When he's played, he's been on fire. Last season, not counting the playoffs, he scored 13 goals in 29 games. On average, that's a goal every other game. When he's on the ice, he scores. He also elevates everyone else around him.

If he is healthy, there is no reason to think he couldn't score 25-30 goals. He was on pace for 30-40 goals before his injury last season. There is also a correlation between his absence on the ice and Philly's December-January swoon. When he was out of the lineup, the goal scoring dropped. Lack of goals equals lack of wins. When he returned at the end of the season, the Flyers ran the table to reach the playoffs and get through the first round.

Forester is also one of those guys who's gotten a little bit better every season. Most Flyers writers would've said the most consistent line from the start of the 2024-25 season to December of the following year was Foerster-Noah Cates-Bobby Brink. It was a fundamentally sound, scrappy line that scored a fair amount of goals for being a third line and kind of forgotten about. Brink is gone now, but Cates is still around. Foerster and Cates still have great chemistry. Perhaps putting Alex Bump or Michkov on that line could make it even more potent than the last few seasons.

Being sound fundamentally is one of the things that helps Foerster stay under the radar. With most of the attention in the past has gone to Konecny, Owen Tippett, or Michkov, Foerster seems to be forgotten. He is just 24 and is averaging about half a point a game (100 goals with 39 points in 195 games). That's not bad, and he's only going to get better. Get used to him, as he's signed on until the 2034-35 season, making his contract the furthest one out into the future.

Foerster is another one of the rising young stars, and he should break out this year. It will be fun to see who Rick Tocchet pairs him with. Either way, you can count on Foerster to have another great season, and the Flyers will reap the benefits thereof. Looking long-term, he might end up being the foundation of this franchise moving forward.