Friday Forecheck: October in Review

The Philadelphia Flyers completed the 10-game October portion of their 2025-26 schedule with a 6-3-1 record (13 of a possible 20 points). New head coach Rick Tocchet's team posted a 6-1-0 record on home ice but went 0-2-1 on the road.

Two games remain on the current homestand: Saturday evening against the Toronto Maple Leafs (5-5-1) and Sunday against the Calgary Flames (2-8-2). Both games are at 7:00 p.m. ET.

Here are ten early season trends to watch as the calendar flips to November.

1. Taking care of business at XMA.

Heading into the 2025-26 season, Tocchet and the team set a specific goal of improving on home ice. Nine of the season's first 12 games are on home ice at Xfinity Mobile Arena. By November 12, the Flyers will have already played 11 home games -- more than a quarter of the entire home schedule for the season. So far so good. Philly owns a 6-1-0 record on home ice.

2. Cates line pushes to the next level.

The trio with Noah Cates centering Tyson Foerster and Bobby Brink was the Flyers most consistent line over the latter two-thirds of the 2024-25 season. They've maintained the same chemistry and connectedness this season. They demonstrate outstanding puck support and make smart plays in all three zones. However, there's been one difference: all three players have elevated their offensive games a notch on an individual basis, too.

3. "Darth" Vladar.

Signed to a two-year contract as an unrestricted free agent this offseason, former Boston and Calgary netminder Dan Vladar finishes October with a 4-2-0 record, 1.67 goals against average and .939 save percentage. With Samuel Ersson (lower-body injury) placed on Injured Reserve on Thursday, Vladar's presence becomes even more important. Callup goalie Aleksei Kolosov will play one of the back-to-back games over the weekend, because the team is in the midst of a three-in-four stretch of games.

4. Zegras on a tear.

Offseason trade acquisition Trevor Zegras has started his Flyers career with at least one point in each of the seven home games played to date. Overall, he's posted a team-high 12 points (four goals, eight assists) while playing a hybrid left wing/center role in tandem with linemate Christian Dvorak. Meanwhile, Zegras has also shown a previously unrecognized feisty streak to his game.

5. Couturier roars out of the gates.

Flyers captain Sean Couturier looked very close to his old self -- the two-time Selke Trophy candidate (and one-time winner), 70-plus point version -- over the season's first nine games. Apart from posting nine points (two goals, seven assists), Couturier set a tone for embracing the box + 1 zone coverage system in the defensive zone. Unfortunately, Couturier left Monday's game in the first period with an undisclosed injury that Tocchet said came from getting struck by an errant Noah Juulsen shot. Hopefully, he's back quickly.

6. Penalty kill has been stellar.

The Flyers killed 33 of 37 penalties in October (89.2 percent) to rank fourth in the league heading into the final day of the month. Sometimes there's an adjustment period under a new coach. However, the Flyers' PK hasn't skipped a beat with Todd Reirden now at the helm of the team's penalty kill. If there's any issue to correct, it's the penalties themselves. The Flyers have had to play shorthanded an average 3.7 times per games. That's too much, ranking as the sixth most-penalized team in the league.

7. Standing up for teammates.

There's a difference between penalties that arise from defending a teammate versus minors that arise from not moving one's feet or misreading a play and taking a desperation penalty. The close-knit Flyers roster has done a commendable job at having each other's backs. It hasn't just been the stalwarts like Nick Deslauriers, Nick Seeler or Garnet Hathaway. Even the likes of Zegras, Michkov, Foerster, Rodrigo Abols and Nikita Grebenkin have answered the bell on behalf of teammates at different times.

8. Power play shows progress.

The Flyers power play has been a sore spot for most of the 2020s. New assistant coaches Yogi Svejkovsky and Jay Varady haven't completely turned the tides yet. However, the power play (6-for-30, 20 percent) has recently shown signs of coming around. The puck movement has been better, even when the team doesn't score. They've worked a couple set plays successfully, too. The unit with Cates, Brink, Foerter, Zegras and Cam York has become the PP1 unit of late, starting out power plays. One area of needed course correction: the Flyers allowed two shorthanded goals (plus a near goal that hit the post and stayed out) over the first 10 games.

9. Drysdale and York.

Travis Sanheim is the leader of the Flyers' blueline absorbing the heaviest "hard minutes" burden. That's been the case for several years now and remains the case. Meanwhile, if the Flyers are to truly take the next step as a team, defensemen Jamie Drysdale and Cam York are both crucial to the big-picture advancement. It's too soon in the season to emphatically declare that both defensemen have blossomed for the long haul. However, for varying reasons, the early 2025-26 returns on both blueliners have been encouraging -- with room for further growth, too. (Look for upcoming individual feature articles on York and Drysdale on Philadelphiaflyers.com).

10. Faster starts are still needed.

The Flyers haven't given up much in the first period of their games so far. However, they also haven't created much. So far, the Flyers have only allowed five opposing goals in the first period through nine games. On the flip side, Philly has only scored six themselves. Thursday's game against Nashville was especially sluggish in the opening period (as well as the first 10 minutes of the second). This still needs to improve. Asserting control early won't guarantee a win. However, it would set the team up better for game management the rest of the way.