Flyers Thoughts: Big 3, York extension, top fives (2026 class, NHL forwards, D, goalies)

Jul 08, 2025

A few Flyers thoughts for this evening! Enjoy:

Clips via the NHL and CHL

Thought 1: Zegras, Martone, Michkov

Trevor Zegras is a Flyer, and for basically no cost: a 2nd-round pick, a 4th-round pick, and Ryan Poehling (a good bottom-six center, yes, but also a player who didn’t receive his QO from a depth-deprived Penguins team two summers ago). Zegras is 24 years old.

How does an NHL cover athlete get traded at such a young age? He’s stalled (like Dylan Larkin before him)…

On paper, Zegras hasn’t had the greatest past two seasons—injury-riddled, switched to the wing, 47 points in 88 games.

But I’ll counter with a few things. First, he really started to heat up on Nov. 19 in the points department this past season.

From that date onward at 5v5, Zegras ranked 15th in points per 60 among skaters with at least 500 minutes of ice time. And that list is no joke either…

The top fifteen and how I’d categorize them:

Superstars: Pastrnak (1st), Robertson (2nd), Draisaitl (4th), McDavid (5th), Crosby (6th), Kucherov (7th), Marner (10th), Matthews (14th)

Stars: Thomas (3rd), Holloway (9th), Caufield (11th), Hagel (13th)

Stapled to a superstar: Geekie (12th; spent 81% of 5v5 TOI with Pastrnak Nov. 19 onward)

Play for the Flyers: Michkov (8th), Zegras (15th)

It’s already well-established (at least in my sphere) that Michkov was a scoring demon at 5v5 following an early drought on that front. That’s not even notable to me anymore.

After recording 4 points in his first 17 games, however, Zegras was quietly an excellent 5v5 scorer.

His individual points and on-ice shooting percentages were high (97th and 88th percentiles among just forwards in the sample), indicating some luck was involved.

Still, the full-season underlyings were encouraging

All the things you want Zegras to be great at? He still is.

Zone entries, chance assists, rush shot assists... all 88th percentile or better. And lots of other offensive metrics at or above 70th. A 3-minute montage of some of that below:

Some of what Zegras does well - 2021-22 season

Zegras is dynamic off the rush—on a 2-on-2 sequence in this highlight reel (2:41–2:49), he dangled VGK17 in the dust, made it a 2-on-1, then fed a pass to ANA67 for a high-danger chance.

He’s done this kind of thing a lot. And, you may notice, he’s got some super creative tendencies, elite puck-carrying ability, and some playmaking to go along with it. A really special player.

Now, we get to Porter Martone.

My No. 3 player in the 2025 class. His shot is legit, the frame and forechecking upside are exciting, but his passing ability is his magnum opus.

Martone had 12 assists at the 2024 U18 Worlds (5th all-time) and was an assist-per-game player in the OHL this year—similar to Matthew Tkachuk (10 assists, T-12th all-time but a better OHL draft year; 9 more points, 16 more assists in as many games).

Smart kid with amazing vision. I could see him becoming a superstar in the NHL, for sure. A prime-aged Martone could hit 100 points if he’s playing with Matvei Michkov.

Speaking of Michkov…

Adding two playmakers of this caliber is great news for him. But here’s a fun twist: he put up some gnarly playmaking numbers himself last season.

From December 1st until the end of the season, the top eight players in 5v5 assists per 60 were (500+ minutes required):

Marked in green if they’ve scored 60+ assists in a season

I’ll avoid being disingenuous here and clarify that the next two players down in the assists list are Jonathan Drouin (1.73) and Ryan McLeod (1.72)—not exactly superstars.

But the point here is that Michkov, in probably the worst coaching situation possible, was among superstar playmakers for 75% of the season.

The stats back up the skill. It’s truly a privilege to watch him make plays—there are only a handful of guys with his playmaking prowess.

What gets lost, however, is that Michkov isn’t just a playmaker. He’s arguably more accomplished as a goal-scorer.

Michkov’s goal-scoring accolades:

70 goals in 26 games; U16 league (D-2)
12 goals in 7 games; U18 Worlds (D-2)
30 goals in 28 games; MHL (D-1)
8 goals in 5 games; Hlinka (D-1)
10 goals in 12 games; VHL (DY)
Led team in goals; KHL (D+1)
Led team in goals; NHL (D+2)

The deception on Michkov’s shot was immediately evident in the NHL. When you add two star playmakers to the mix instead of having him be that guy… I think you can guess what happens next.

Thought 2: Cam York extension (5x$5.15M)

As a 24-year-old No. 3–4 defenseman, I was confident that Cam York was going to get a little over $5 million per season on his next contract.

…Just not over 5 years. From ages 25–29, this deal includes much of York’s prime.

But it gets better. He has a nearly identical AAV over a similar term to three other defensemen signed recently: Kevin Bahl, Nicolas Hague, Nikita Zadorov.

However, he’s better than all of them… by a lot

Of these four players:

York has the lowest cap percentage
York has the lowest age
York has the highest 3-year 5v5 usage
York has the highest 3-year WAR

Today, York is a good to serviceable No. 3-4 defenseman just entering his prime making serviceable No. 5 money for guys in the middle or toward the end of it.

And I still believe in the upside. If he hits it off with the new coaching staff, he could be a reliable No. 2 for the next 5–10 years. A favorable outcome, yes, but not unrealistic.

Thought 3: Some top fives

2026 class:

Gavin McKenna
Keaton Verhoeff
Ivar Stenberg
Viggo Bjorck
Ryan Roobroeck

Penn State fans will have a lot of fun watching McKenna—the most dominant prospect they’ve seen since Saquon Barkley, I’d say. An extremely smart and gifted kid who put up first-overall DY numbers (129 points in 59 WHL games) as a draft-minus-one prospect. While I don’t think he’s the next Crosby—something I do think Michkov can be—McKenna fits the “generational” bill.

In my opinion, Verhoeff had the most impressive draft-minus-one season for a defenseman in a long time… and he just turned 17. Though he played the entire year as a 16-year-old, even if he were about a year and a half older, I would've drafted him 12th. That’s how good he is. I wouldn’t quite say “generational” but he could reach that status quickly for me.

Stenberg and Bjorck have been making a mockery of the Swedish scene. And they’re very enjoyable to watch. I’d be eyeing the latter as a Flyers fan, because I have a theory: as a 5-foot-9 center, he’ll face winger allegations, be called too small, and fall to a non-tank pick. Maybe outside the top 7–8. I think the Flyers could be a borderline top-20 team next season, but still, remember Viggo Bjorck’s name.

A bigger center, I have Roobroeck ranked 5th, but he may end up being the 1C of the class. Eighty-seven points in 64 OHL as a D-1 guy is no joke—I’ve noticed his smarts and elite hands.

NHL forwards:

Connor McDavid
Leon Draisaitl
Nathan MacKinnon
Nikita Kucherov
Auston Matthews

NHL defensemen:

Quinn Hughes
Cale Makar
Adam Fox
Evan Bouchard
Rasmus Dahlin

NHL goalies:

Connor Hellebuyck
Igor Shesterkin
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Ilya Sorokin
Dustin Wolf

I’m not going to explain these much, except for the “hot takes.”

Without Bouchard, the Oilers would be toast. Zero WCF game wins in the McDavid/Draisaitl era before he took on the No. 1 role. Now, they’ve cruised into the SCF back-to-back. He’s one of the most brilliant puck-movers I’ve ever seen. And the Oilers are a disaster without him.

Wolf, meanwhile, showcased the athleticism and poise you only see out of the studs. He was a rookie, by the way—the Flames got a good one. Embrace this future superstar before everyone else does.

Some of my latest Flyers content:

Flyers Thoughts