Reliable Travis Sanheim, Sean Walker reunion, and other nuggets as Flyers look to stave off elimination vs. Hurricanes

Rod Brind’Amour’s connections to the Flyers run deep.

Brind’Amour, now the head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes, donned orange and black for 633 of his 1,484 regular-season games, and 57 of 159 playoff games. A member of the organization’s Hall of Fame, he left his mark in Philly and vice versa.

“Loved it. It was a great opportunity to come into when I did,” he said before Game 1 of his trade from the St. Louis Blues to the Flyers in September 1991.

“We were kind of a young team at the time. I just loved every minute of it. The fans, the environment. The mentorship that they have there. They had a bunch of older guys, and they looked after the younger guys, which was me at the time, and [I] still have good relationships there all these years later, so it was a very positive experience.”

» READ MORE: Rick Tocchet’s hard coaching lit a fire under Trevor Zegras in Game 3: ‘It’s been like that all year; he doesn’t pout’

Brind’Amour was a teammate of Flyers coach Rick Tocchet for 42 games in 1991-92, before the latter was traded to Pittsburgh midseason, but the two rubbed off on each other.

“One thing with Roddy, you couldn’t outwork him,” Tocchet said. “After a game, he’s in the gym. Guys are going home, he’s in the gym lifting. After a hard practice, he’s doing extra laps. That’s their team. If you want to play for him, you’ve got to work.”

“Great leader,” Brind’Amour said of Tocchet. “Really took care of all the young guys — I was one of those at the time — I remember that very well, vividly. Obviously, a good player and all that, but more, I think that aspect of it, just you got what it meant to be a team and all that. That’s why he’s a good coach."

Tocchet acknowledged that fans love Brind’Amour, just hopefully not while he’s trying to beat the hometown team. Brind’Amour smiled and said he was ready to face the fans from the other side but is excited to see what’s brewing in his old stomping ground.

“I’m actually happy for that whole fan base,” Brind’Amour said. “It’s a great sports town. They deserve a good team, and they got one.”

Let’s continue to empty the notebook as the Flyers trail the Hurricanes three-games-to-none in the Eastern Conference’s second round.

It’s no surprise that Travis Sanheim entered Saturday ranked ninth in the NHL in ice time during the postseason. The defenseman has averaged 26 minutes, 12 seconds after averaging 24:13 during a regular season in which he set career-bests in goals (11), shooting percentage (11.6%), and plus-minus (plus-12).

According to Tocchet, the defenseman came into camp as one of the Flyers’ fittest guys, and his game has improved since he won silver with Canada at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics. The 30-year-old continually works on his craft, setting the tone for the younger guys.

» READ MORE: Three things the Flyers need to do to give themselves a chance to stay alive in Game 4

Sanheim is known as a strong skater, and it has shown in the playoffs. He has effectively closed off opponents and was shoulder-to-shoulder with the speedy Jackson Blake before he scored on a weird play in Game 1 for the Hurricanes.

Offensively, the 6-foot-4 blueliner used his speed and skating to drive around Pittsburgh forward Noel Acciari for his second goal in the first round. But it was the moves he made in Games 1 and 4 against the Penguins that showed what he can do. In Game 1 of that series, he got the puck from his partner, Rasmus Ristolainen, gliding to him inside the blue line, before picking up his pace and cutting through two forwards and beating Stuart Skinner. He pulled a similar move, splitting between two Penguins to get the puck to Christian Dvorak before Travis Konecny scored in Game 4.

“[I’ve been] trying to get more movement toward the middle, going toward my partner, and it’s allowed me to be able to make a move on the defender,” he said on April 26. “If I’m standing still, it’s a lot harder. So it’s been working, and I’m just going to continue to keep reading what’s available and then try to make a play the best that I can.”

It’s been more than two years since the Flyers traded Sean Walker right before the trade deadline, but the Carolina defenseman — who was dealt to Colorado in March 2024 and signed as a free agent with the Hurricanes that summer — could see the writing on the wall. He is not shocked to be facing his former squad.

“I think even the year that I was there, before I got traded, we were in a playoff spot the whole year,” Walker said before Game 1. “They were a good team, and a lot of good young guys, even the core older guys that were still there with me, were great.

“They’ve got a goaltender this year [in Dan Vladař] who’s been playing really good. So you can see they were making the steps in the right direction, added a couple of pieces that have helped them, for sure. It’s good to see Philly having a good team.”

» READ MORE: Bellmawr’s Eric Robinson got his first taste of Philly playoff hockey. His friends were ‘chirping him the whole time’

The only problem? He’s been going up against Konecny, who thrives on getting under the opposition’s skin.

“Before I played with TK, he was definitely one of those guys for me,” Walker said with a laugh. “But now that I know him, it won’t be too hard to ignore him.”

Speaking of Konecny: at the 4 Nations Face-Off, reporters who don’t normally cover the Flyers or Hurricanes often were confused — was it Konecny or fellow Canadian Seth Jarvis on the ice?

The two wingers are both 5-10, have similar build and facial hair, and play a similar style of hockey.

“They’re energy guys,” said Tocchet, who was an assistant coach for the championship squad at 4 Nations. “Jarvis is a quick player; he can score. TK can score. Jarvis is dog on the bone, and TK sometimes can be the same way.”

A mix of skill, grit, and compete, Jarvis learned those aspects of the game from watching Konecny, who is five years older.

“He was definitely someone I tried to take pieces of his game and put him into mine, especially going through juniors and stuff like that,” Jarvis told The Inquirer. “He was one of the guys I focused on. A smaller guy, but someone who competes really hard and has a lot of high-end skill.”

According to Konecny, the two got close at 4 Nations, which helped ease the fact that they were coming in and out of the lineup for each other.

“I loved him at 4 Nations,” Konecny said. “We were close there.”