How the Flyers’ Jamie Drysdale cooks at home

With the 2025-26 Flyers season coming up, here’s the line on defenseman Jamie Drysdale: 5-foot-11, 185 pounds, age 23, Toronto native, shoots right.

Cuts right, too.

Drysdale, now in his third season in Philadelphia, is known among teammates as the Flyer who enjoys cooking the most — especially grilling steaks, chicken, and fish. He said he had never cooked as a youngster but started doing it in earnest in 2022 while recovering from shoulder surgery.

“I was [thinking], I might as well just cook,” he said. “I bought a barbecue, put it on the patio, and I was like, ‘All right, let’s start throwing some meals on there instead of ordering every meal.’ DoorDashing twice a day is not ideal.”

Now, as his YouTube account feeds him a stream of food content, he feels more confident at the stove.

The team’s performance chefs feed the team over breakfast and lunch at the practice facility in Voorhees, “so I usually just have to deal with one meal, which is nice,” Drysdale said earlier this month in his Center City condo.

Over the last several weeks, he and his teammates have been settling into their Philadelphia accommodations in advance of training camp, which starts Thursday. The preseason opener is Sept. 21.

On a typical hockey day, Drysdale said, “I get home, go to the grocery store, and then get whatever I feel like for the night, and my girlfriend [Tara Mireskandari] and I will go and hang out.”

Drysdale said he makes “a lot of steak, a lot of chicken, a lot of salmon, and rice, some sort of potato, a lot of vegetables, and salads. Sides are usually my girlfriend’s forte. She makes really good salads, homemade dressings, really good mashed potatoes, and bruschetta. She chefs it up.”

Drysdale typically cooks only for himself and Mireskandari. When they entertain the guys for a night of pool or TV, “my girlfriend’s very good at hosting in terms of knowing what to get. We’ll just lay out some charcuterie boards or stuff like that.”

Since we’ve seen Drysdale play hockey at what is now the Xfinity Mobile Arena, perhaps we could watch him cook at home. The Inquirer put in the request with the Flyers. Drysdale kicked it around with Mireskandari, who urged him to agree but stayed out of the way during our visit. (“She wants me to get out there more,” the low-key Drysdale said, rolling his eyes.)

A bonus: Teammates and longtime friends Trevor Zegras and Cam York were invited for dinner, as the three had tickets for the Eagles’ season opener that evening.

This year marks an on-ice reunion for Drysdale and Zegras, who both debuted in the NHL in 2021 with the Anaheim Ducks. Zegras joined the Flyers in a June trade. York has been a Flyer since 2021.

Zegras, whom the others call “Z,” said he was impressed with Drysdale’s cooking when they lived together in Anaheim. (In this group chat, York is “Yorkie” and Drysdale is “Jim.”)

“That’s the only compliment I’ll give to him,” Zegras added, grinning.

“The only thing he cooked for me was a steak, and it tasted like a hockey puck,” York said.

Drysdale gasped. “That’s because it was practically torture,” he said. “It was like 150 degrees outside and he had me on the barbecue. I was like, ‘Get me out of here.’ It was hazing.”

While Zegras and York played Nerf basketball in the living room, Drysdale got to work in the kitchen, which is fairly well-stocked.

Drysale unwrapped a package of four steaks from the store and clucked in light disapproval: “These are very, very thin steaks” — about a half-inch thick.

Drysdale may be a man with a pan, but not much of a plan. For his steaks, he gets the skillet ripping hot. “I just throw some oil, throw some butter, sear it until it looks good, and then make sure it’s to the temperature that I like,” he said. “Then I let it sit for a bit, slice it up on a cutting board, make it look pretty, and then you’re ready to go.”

That said, “I probably do it different every time.”

He shrugged. “This is literally just going to be a quick sear.” For thicker steaks, he’ll start with a pan and finish in the oven, always using a meat thermometer. “I usually take it off at like 130 and then let it sit for a bit until it comes to a good medium,” he said. “I’ve probably cooked a lot of steaks, but I would rather not get chirped and have a well cooked steak than not use it and screw it up.”

Using an 8-inch chef’s knife, he quickly chopped broccoli and quartered red potatoes, laying them on separate foil-lined pans. He sprayed olive oil on the broccoli, grated Parmesan on the potatoes, and put them into the double oven.

When it was time to season the steaks, Zegras saw Drysdale pick up electronic salt and pepper grinders.

“Oh, my gosh,” Zegras said. “Master chef Jimmy! That’s how you know he cooks a lot when he does that.”

Drysdale heated two pans on the gas stove, added butter and olive oil, and laid on the steaks carefully, away from himself to avoid spattering. The steaks sizzled, and in moments, the edges began to curl, which often happens with thin steaks. Drysdale brought out a metal steak weight to flatten them as best he could.

He used tongs to pull the steaks out of the pans, laid out the roasted vegetables, and sliced the steak as his teammates clamored for it.

The result: Juicy, nicely seasoned, a hit of pink in the middle.

“It feels good cooking your own food,” Drysdale said. “It’s nice. You get a sense of satisfaction, and it usually tastes better as well.”