Flyers sign ‘feisty’ restricted free agent Nikita Grebenkin to two-year deal
Grebenkin is back with the team after missing the final weeks of the season due to injury.
Nikita Grebenkin is always smiling. He’s probably got a big grin right now after he and the Flyers agreed to a new deal. The restricted free agent signed a 2-year, $2.2 million contract with an annual average value of $1.1 million on Thursday.
The Flyers have one more restricted free agent to sign in defenseman Hunter McDonald.
Acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs in the trade at the 2025 NHL deadline that sent Scott Laughton home, Grebenkin was a sparkplug this past season when in the lineup.
The 23-year-old Russian, who played in seven NHL games with the Leafs, made the Flyers out of camp after a strong preseason. He had four goals and 10 assists in 55 regular-season games, notching his first NHL tally Nov. 4 against the Montreal Canadiens. The goal came at a critical time as the Flyers, who entered the game on a two-game losing streak, had taken a 3-0 lead in the first period before Montreal scored four times in the second. Grebenkin tied the game in the third, and the Flyers won in a shootout.
Although he was in and out of the lineup until late March, when he suffered an upper-body injury and missed the rest of the season, he had some memorable moments.
In October, and playing in just his fourth game as a Flyer, he instigated a fight with Seattle Kraken defenseman Cale Fleury, body-slamming him to the ice, after Garnet Hathaway was awkwardly hit.
“It was awesome. Didn’t see it coming,” defenseman Cam York said after the Flyers’ win. “But he’s a feisty guy, I think, and any time one of our guys gets hit like that, you want to stick up for him. It’s who we are here; we’re a family, and just part of what we do.”
He gestured to the hometown faithful to get them amped on his way to the penalty box and played just 7 minutes, 38 seconds in the game, after earning 17 minutes’ worth of penalty time for his fight.
In January, he also mucked it up all night against the Tampa Bay Lightning, eventually dropping the gloves with Max Crozier in the third period. “Really feisty, finishing the body, getting into the corner, going to the net,” coach Rick Tocchet said after the game. “ … He was just engaged. It’s really nice to see. He’s an identity player for us there tonight.”
With his contract done, the question is whether Grebenkin will be ready to go. The winger missed the final 13 games and the playoffs. “Initially, we thought it was going to be something short, and it just never got better,” general manager Danny Brière said at his end-of-season availability. “Now we’re looking at different options for him. So he’s the only one that I would say ‘maybe,’ if it doesn’t improve.”
Grebenkin was skating during development camp, participating in drills and showing off that grin. A team source told The Inquirer in late July that Grebenkin is progressing well and the hope is he will be ready for training camp, which starts on Sept. 17.
If he is indeed good to go, the Flyers would love to have him in the lineup.
“He’s another young winger. He brings us a different flavor, a little bit of flair, a little bit of getting under the skin of the opponent with the big smile,” Brière told The Inquirer in June. “We hope that he can recover and be there. He could be a different type of player for us that we could use.”