Flyers excited for ‘measuring stick’ opener against the two-time defending champion Panthers

SUNRISE, Fla. — Three weeks to the day after training camp opened, the Flyers will lift the lid on the 2025-26 season on Thursday.

While working on nailing down new coach Rick Tocchet’s systems and concepts, the Flyers face a stiff test in Game 1: the two-time defending champion Florida Panthers. They will face them again on Monday in the home opener at Xfinity Mobile Arena, with a Saturday matchup against a stacked Carolina Hurricanes team in between (each game is at 7 p.m. on NBCSP).

“Just huge tests,” said center Noah Cates, one of several players who watched the Panthers open their season on Tuesday with a 3-2 win against the Chicago Blackhawks. “ … Obviously, you’re excited to start the year, but play some good teams and some great competition and players, you’ve got to be ready to go from Game 1.”

» READ MORE: The Flyers still believe in goalie Sam Ersson. But can he take the next step and become a bona fide No. 1?

Tocchet says he wants the Flyers to be the ones to make the other team uncomfortable. But he knows that the Panthers “play good every night,” noting that they looked “pretty good” on Tuesday.

There are a few changes for the Cats with Matthew Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov out with long-term injuries. But that doesn’t mean they’ll be an easy out. They still have world-class players like Sam Bennett, Sam Reinhart, and former Flyers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky to contend with.

“They clearly have a locker room that understands their identity and how they have to win games,” said winger Garnet Hathaway, noting their next-man-up philosophy.

“And I think watching them, a lot of the league looks at successful teams and tries to take bits and pieces to make their own team better. And I think from them, it’s mindset; they come into any rink to win games, and that’s something that we can we can use for ourselves.”

The good news for the Flyers is that they have had success against the Panthers — 2-0-1 at Amerant Bank Arena the past two seasons — even when they were the top team in the NHL. It’s something the guys who played can keep in their back pockets but also use as motivation.

And for the bench boss, it’s a good check of where things are at.

“You look at the Stanley Cup champs, everybody looks at them and says, ‘What are they doing? What’s their personnel like? What’s their identity like?’ … So measuring stick, yeah,” said Tocchet.

“You should be excited [about] playing this team. Where are we against this team? Even as an individual, lining up against somebody, can you go head-to-head with a guy, or can you hold your own? Those are measuring sticks that I do like.”

Cam Atkinson is retiring. The former Flyers forward will sign a one-day contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets on Oct. 16 before calling it a career.

Acquired in 2021 in a one-for-one trade with Columbus for Jakub Voráček, the Connecticut native had 36 goals and 78 points in 143 games with the Flyers across two seasons. He missed the entire 2022-23 season after undergoing neck surgery.

Weeks after losing beloved goalie Bernie Parent, the Flyers community lost another member this week in Mike Boland. Boland, who played two games for the Flyers in February of 1975 and also lined up for the Philadelphia Firebirds of the old North American Hockey League, was 75.

» READ MORE: Flyers to remember the late Bernie Parent with a tribute patch and a celebration of life on Nov. 21

Last summer, Natalie Van Druff, now 13, and Lilly Walter, now 12, worked with Flyers Charities to rebuild their local ball hockey rink in Gilbertsville. On Saturday, in conjunction with their organization, Pick Up Sticks Hockey, they will hold the second annual All Women’s and Girls’ Ball Hockey Tournament — PUSH Your Limits! Girls and women aged 7 and up can participate.

Every Friday, Around the Rinks will highlight the local ice, ball, and inline hockey scenes. Submit entries about your league, big moments, upcoming rivalry games, favorite players, etc., with the subject: Around the rinks, to jspiegel@inquirer.com by noon every Thursday.

» READ MORE: How two 12-year-old girls, with an assist from the Flyers, managed to save their local ball hockey rink