**Flyers Face Group Effort to Offset Tyson Foerster’s Injury**
PHILADELPHIA — No one player can simply replace a leading performer like Tyson Foerster. With Foerster sidelined for at least a couple of months due to an upper-body injury sustained in Monday night’s loss to Pittsburgh, the Flyers are counting on a group effort to fill the void, both offensively and defensively.
Rookie Nikita Grebenkin is expected to step up in Wednesday night’s game against Buffalo, playing on a line with Noah Cates and Bobby Brink as a fill-in for Foerster. The young Russian may have the potential to elevate his game and contribute to the team’s overall effort.
“What do I hope to get from Grebenkin? Just good decisions,” coach Rick Tocchet said following the morning skate at Xfinity Mobile Arena. “Sometimes when he gets the puck, he doesn’t move his feet. For him, I just want him to play mind-free. But he’s got to skate, hold onto pucks.”
Having played in Russia last year, Grebenkin is going through a transition period. “It doesn’t happen overnight,” Tocchet acknowledged. “In practice, there’s day-to-day stuff that we see. The solution is to let him play and see if he makes mistakes. There’s a process to it. Do I feel like he’s ready? Yeah. It’s the way you practice, the way you take in information.”
One specific area for improvement Tocchet pointed out was Grebenkin’s play in two-on-one situations, especially during practice. The rookie sometimes hesitates when attempting to pass the puck.
“Against Pittsburgh, he had all day to go in and fire the puck,” Tocchet explained. “But he waited and tried to make a pass, and their guy picked it off. Today we talked about it in morning drills, and his two-on-ones were outstanding. Hopefully, he can apply that in a real game. To be an NHL player, you have to take that information.”
Noah Cates, Grebenkin’s linemate, praised the rookie’s skill and energy. “A ton of skill,” Cates said. “He’s been working at his game, getting a lot of good looks, so I know he’s excited to play. He brings that energy. We just have to work with him and get some chemistry. He can do a lot of good things on the ice; we just have to help him out.”
Beyond Grebenkin, Tocchet emphasized that multiple players will need to step up during Foerster’s absence. “I don’t think it’s just one guy. I think everybody can give themselves five percent better. You add all those up, and it helps. We have a few guys who can play 5, 10 percent better.”
Foerster is not only a key offensive player but also an important part of the power play and penalty kill units. Losing him means more than just missing a team-leading 10 goals.
“This is a time when team leadership has to step to the forefront,” Tocchet said. “It’s a dressing room thing. It’s ‘next man up.’ It’s not making excuses when the coaches leave the room. More like, ‘Hey, we got this.’ We really rely on a chunk of leaders to do the messaging that we can still be a good hockey team. The ‘poor me’ stuff can’t linger in the room.”
At the start of Wednesday night’s game, the Flyers held the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference standings, with games in hand on several teams.
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**Rasmus Ristolainen Progressing in Rehab**
Defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen, recovering from offseason surgery to repair a torn triceps, has begun skating and could return in a few weeks if his rehab continues smoothly.
“We’re not quite there in the contact stuff,” Tocchet said. “I’m not sure when the contact stuff is coming, but it’s coming.” He added that Ristolainen’s return is expected to be “less than a month” away.
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**Power Play Struggles Continue**
The Flyers’ power play, which started the season strong, has cooled off significantly. Going into the game against Buffalo, the team had converted on just three of their last 27 power plays and had dropped from 14th to 20th in the NHL rankings.
Losing Foerster—a key piece of the power play—won’t make matters easier.
Tocchet noted that the power play has been vulnerable to opposing two-on-one rushes with the man advantage. While a player like Trevor Zegras is important on the first unit, he can also be a defensive liability.
“We have to get middle shots,” Tocchet said. “We need to start hammering the puck, also get more down-low plays. Hopefully Trevor and Mich (Matvei Michkov) can show some motion for us, handle the puck, and then start hammering the puck from that side of the ice. Get more shots from the prime areas.”
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The Flyers now face the challenge of adapting without Tyson Foerster, relying on young talent and leadership to maintain their competitive edge as the season progresses.
https://www.mcall.com/2025/12/03/flyers-notebook-nikita-grebenkin-gets-first-chance-at-filling-tyson-foerster-void/
