Which rookies will make the 2025-26 Flyers’ opening night lineup?

As the NHL regular season draws near, the Philadelphia Flyers roster is slowly taking shape. With few spots up for grabs on the roster, there wasn’t an expectation there would be a ton of surprises as training camp dragged on. 

Arguably the most intriguing roster battle was up front, where there were one or two spots open for opening night. There was a group of three forwards that really had the eyeballs entering camp: Alex Bump, Nikita Grebenkin and 2024 first-round pick Jett Luchanko. Somewhat surprisingly, among the three, Grebenkin is the one who has stood out the most. 

Grebenkin, 22, was acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Scott Laughton deal at last year’s NHL Trade Deadline. A fifth-round pick in 2022, Grebenkin has seemingly already locked down a job for opening night. Speaking with those in the organization, the expectation at this point is for Grebenkin to start on the fourth line’s left wing – despite getting time higher in the lineup in preseason games with Trevor Zegras and Matvei Michkov – opposite of Garnet Hathaway. 

Speaking of the fourth line, the center position is up for grabs between Grebenkin and Hathaway. From what I’ve heard the last day or so, the team still has Luchanko very much as a potential favorite at this point. There has been a lot of online discourse about Luchanko’s lack of offense, but the Flyers seem pleased with where his game is at. Is Luchanko completely ready for the NHL? I have my reservations, but the fact that he would be going back to the poor Guelph Storm of the OHL if he doesn’t stick with the Flyers could play a factor. Luchanko is a prime example of a teenager who should be in the AHL as an exception – a rule that will be entering the collective bargaining agreement in a year’s time. 

Along with Luchanko, Rodrigo Abols and Jacob Gaucher are still in the mix to grab the fourth-line center position. Abols has gotten a lot of games throughout the preseason at both wing and center; for my money he will be on the roster opening night, even if it’s as a healthy scratch. Gaucher is an interesting one, as the undrafted 24-year-old wasn’t really on my radar entering camp. But with the Flyers not having a single right-handed shooting center on their roster, he may be valuable to keep if Luchanko ultimately comes up short and doesn’t make the team. 

Then there’s Bump, who was the sexy pick coming into camp to not only crack the opening night roster, but potentially play in the top six. I took in the Flyers game versus the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre live last week, and I can’t say I was overly impressed with Bump’s came – specifically making plays with the puck.

I do think Bump will ultimately start in the AHL and be a top candidate to be called up, but Bump would’ve needed to knock someone out of the top nine (presumably Christian Dvorak, who by all accounts is going to start alongside Zegras) to have cracked the roster; he hasn’t done that to this point, for my money.

On the back end, the top four was set coming into camp with the quartet with Jamie Drysdale, Nick Seeler, Travis Sanheim and Cam York. Due to the injury to Rasmus Ristolainen that will keep him out until at least November, the third pairing right side was up for grabs. Problem is, nobody has jumped off the page and grabbed the position. 

Speaking with one source, Helge Grans “looks the part” and was looked at as an early favorite to plug into Ristolainen’s spot. Grans was among the more disappointing players at camp and has since already been sent down. Egor Zamula seems to have the inside track for one of the spots (though he hasn’t been tremendous in his own right) as he is capable of sliding to the right side as a left shot. With Grans and Noah Juulsen as right-shot defensemen being as disappointing as they have been, Zamula may be forced to play on his off side. 

Adam Ginning has been a pleasant surprise on defense, and he may crack the opening night lineup up on the left side if Zamula does ultimately slide over to the right. Emil Andrae is an interesting case and is on the bubble, but his status is up in the air. His size is a well-documented factor working against him at cracking an already somewhat undersized blueline. 

Dennis Gilbert is penciled in to be one of the extra defensemen to start the year as the seventh or eighth on the depth chart. As for the goaltending, despite Samuel Ersson’s struggles, his spot is not in jeopardy to tandem alongside Dan Vladar.