Rick Tocchet jumbles up his forward lines in the wake of Tyson Foerster’s injury

The Flyers will be without Tyson Foerster, the team’s leading goal scorer, for the next two to three months after he suffered an upper-body injury in Monday night’s loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins and was placed on injured reserve Wednesday.

It is a major blow to a team that is averaging 2.76 goals this season, the seventh-lowest total in the NHL. But as coach Rick Tocchet said, “The poor-is-me stuff, that can’t linger in that room.”

And with that, the bench boss whipped up some new line combinations at Wednesday’s morning skate. Tocchet likes to keep pairs together, and Trevor Zegras and Christian Dvorak are a duo that is working well. They will now have Travis Konecny on their wing. According to Natural Stat Trick, they’ve played as a line for just 97 seconds at five-on-five this season.

» READ MORE: Flyers’ top goal scorer Tyson Foerster out 2-3 months with upper-body injury

The fourth line remained somewhat the same, with Rodrigo Ābols, Garnet Hathaway, and Nic Deslauriers skating together. Deslauriers, who started his career with Wednesday’s opponent, the Buffalo Sabres, last played Nov. 24 in Tampa Bay. Carl Grundström was recalled on Tuesday from Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League, but it looks like he will be a healthy scratch against the Sabres (7:30 p.m., TNT).

Speedy winger Owen Tippett was moved alongside Matvei Michkov and Sean Couturier. The trio has not played together this season, but did last year, skating almost 125 minutes together. With that line on the ice, the Flyers had a 52.57% Corsi For, 56.36% of the scoring chances, 60% of the high-danger chances, outshot opponents, 76-51, and outscored their opponents, 10-8.

Not too shabby. However, there is one difference now: Tippett will be on the right wing, with Tocchet liking the speed and north-south game Michkov plays on the left.

“The last two or three years I’ve played left more consistently, so obviously I’ve gotten more comfortable with it,” Tippett said about playing the right side. “But again, I’ve played right my whole life, and even now, there’s been some shifts or some periods where I’ve had to go back to the left. I think I’m ready for it whenever it happens.”

And of course, the biggest move of the day involves Nikita Grebenkin, who — some would say, finally — has been moved into the top nine. He is playing with Bobby Brink and Noah Cates.

“Tyson [has an] injury now. It’s bad for the team [because] Tyson, big guy for Flyers. It’s bad, but now I have maybe more time [and it] is good for me,” Grebenkin said. “It’s a big chance for me, and I want to help the team every time. Let’s go Flyers.”

Acquired in the deal that sent Scott Laughton to the Toronto Maple Leafs, Grebenkin has played in 16 of the Flyers’ 25 games, mostly on the fourth line. He has one goal and three points while averaging 9 minutes, 52 seconds.

Some of the critiques from Tocchet have focused on Grebenkin’s decision-making. He wants him to be “sticky” and stay in piles. On Wednesday, Tocchet wants to see the 22-year-old make good decisions, play mind free — he’s mentioned in the past the Russian has told him he’s overthinking — and move his feet more.

“In practice, when he has two-on-ones, he slows down, and he tries to pass the puck. So against Pittsburgh [on Monday night], he had all day to go in and fire the puck, but he waited, and he tried to make the pass, and it got picked off,” Tocchet said.

“So we talked about it, and today his two-on-ones were outstanding. Hopefully, he can apply that in a real game. To be an NHL player, you’ve got to take that information, so hopefully he gets a two-on-one tonight and he moves his feet. I think he will because he did it today in practice.”

Grebenkin has not officially been on a line with Brink this season, but according to Natural Stat Trick, he has skated more than 25 minutes on Cates’ wing during five-on-five action this season.

» READ MORE: Flyers activate Oliver Bonk from injured reserve, assign him to Lehigh Valley

It has worked well.

Without Cates as his center, Grebenkin has been on the ice for seven goals against, to just his first career NHL goal, scored against the Montreal Canadiens in early November. But when they’re on the ice together, the Flyers have outshot opponents 16-7 and outscored them 2-1.

“Obviously, a ton of skill and some speed from him. He’s been working at his game and getting a lot of good looks,” Cates said.

“I think we can work with each other and make some good give-and-go plays or cycle plays,” said Cates, who, like Grebenkin, excels below the hash marks. “I’ll get to the net, I think that’s the biggest thing. So he makes really good plays down there, and I just have to create some space when we’re getting to the net because he’ll find me.”

Grebenkin agrees that he’s been overthinking at times during games, but he has been working at it. He is looking forward to more minutes, helping the team excel, and wants to play better consistently.

But Tocchet knows it takes time for players to develop.

“He’s got to do the process. But do I feel like he’s ready for it? Yeah, I do,” Tocchet said when asked about Grebenkin being in the top nine. “I think he’s ready for it, but there’s a process to it, the way you practice, the way you take information, that’s the way it is.”

Sam Ersson (4-2-2, .859 save percentage) will start against the Sabres. He is 3-1-0 with a 1.83 goals-against average, .913 save percentage, and one shutout against the Sabres in four career games. ... Defenseman Egor Zamula will play in place of Noah Juulsen. ... Defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen was on the ice in a non-contact jersey for morning skate. It is the first time he has skated with the group since he suffered an elbow injury in March. He underwent surgery on a right triceps tendon rupture later that month. In 2024, Ristolainen underwent two surgeries, including a repair to a ruptured triceps tendon. According to Flyers general manager Danny Brière in April 2025, the injury was similar, although he wouldn’t confirm whether he tore the tendon again. Tocchet wouldn’t put a timeline on his return to game action but said, “It’s not a month, it’s not a week. What’s that sweet spot? I don’t know.”