Although it might have just been a shoo-in given the game is scheduled for Citizens Bank Park, on Thursday, National League manager Dave Roberts -- from the two-time defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers -- named Phillies interim skipper Don Mattingly to be an honorary coach.
Mattingly, who arrived prior to the start of the season as bench coach for Rob Thomson's staff, was himself tabbed as head man on Apr. 28 when the Phils sputtered to a 9-19 record. Since the regime change, the Fightins have compiled a 35-17 mark heading into the finale of a 4-game series with the Washington Nationals.
The All-Star Game is scheduled for July 14.
Philadelphia previously hosted the Midsummer Classic in 1996, 1976, 1952 and 1943.
In a pre-draft world where big moves for big hauls accompanied big sign-and-trades for long term and large AAVs, Danny Briere opted for a small rumble on Thursday.
Garnet Hathaway was shipped to the Florida Panthers along with a 6th-rounder this year in exchange for a 5th-round draft slot in tomorrow's NHL Entry Draft as well as a 4th-rounder in next year's draft.
Hathaway, who spent 3 full seasons in Orange and Black, did not have a stellar campaign in 2025-26, racking up roughly $2.4 million for every goal scored on his current 2-year contract. He posted a single goal and 3 points across 66 regular-season appearances, but added a goal and assist across 8 playoff contests.
The 34-year-old product of Brown University totaled 18 goals, 41 points and 249 penalty minutes over 215 regular-season games here. He joins a Panthers squad looking to reshape their roster in hopes of returning to the Stanley Cup finals for the 4th time in 5 seasons.
Also included in the deal, the Flyers retained 50% (or $1.2M) for the remainder of Hathaway's contract, which expires into unrestricted free agency in July 2027. His absence leaves a gaping hole in veteran grit that will not be suitably filled by merely slotting in a younger prospect.
Stay tuned tomorrow for the Phanatic's coverage of the first round of the draft from Buffalo tomorrow night. The Flyers currently hold the 21st overall selection.
Trevor Zegras shook off some early jitters and a mid-season malaise during his first year with the Philadelphia Flyers, eventually posting career highs in goals (26), points (67), power-play scores (10) and equaled a career best with 5 game-winning strikes while shuttling back-and-forth between wing and center.
A fresh start and 10 games’ worth of playoff pressure was apparently what the Boston University product needed, as he told the media during the players’ break-up day on May 12: “Yeah, it was big. For me, having that excitement about the game was great, to find that passion for winning and success as a team was big.”
“I think I had lost a little bit of that,” he added.
Zegras was one of 7 regulars who finished the season 25 years old or younger. One message that was repeated by players, coaches and front office personnel was the advantage of having so many young, close-knit teammates working through the same learning curve.
“We had a close team. It made coming to the rink every day a lot of fun and enjoyable and I think when you enjoy what you’re doing you’re going to find success and that’s kinda what we had as a team this year,” he noted.
That said, if he truly values the atmosphere in Philadelphia and valued his experience in a higher-pressure but youth-friendly locker room compared to Anaheim, his seventh NHL campaign and second here should be locked in on improving his numbers with more consistency.
Of course, there are two concurrent methods to accomplish this: personal improvement as well as more consistent line pairings and better defined roles initiated by the coaching staff.
Zegras put together two lengthy point streaks in the regular season: a 9-gamer from Dec. 9 through Dec. 23 (5G, 6A) and a 7-gamer from March 21 through Apr. 2 (1G, 6A). He also collected 15 points over the final 13 contests.
But the start to his first Flyers’ season was tentative, with just 5 helpers in the club’s first 6 games. It took a near-career threatening incident on Oct. 23 in Ottawa when Sens forward Tim Stutzle came within inches of slashing his exposed wrist, before things kicked into gear.
After that, the first flash of brilliance arrived as he connected for 14 points (6G, 8A) in his next 10 outings. Then, a pit that lasted pretty much for two months followed by the refresh offered after the Olympics and the infusion of fresh offense from key prospects.
True Stats Behind the Snipers
While being shuttled back and forth at will between wing and center, Zegras totaled a career high 26 goals on 167 shots on goal for a 15.6% shooting percentage – second only to Travis Konecny (16.1%) among Flyers who played close to a full season.
Even if that doesn’t sound impressive, he’s in rare company. Here’s a list of the players who scored at least 25 goals for Flyers over the last decade in a full, uninterrupted season, their total SOG and shooting percentages:
2016-17: Wayne Simmonds 31G/224SOG/13.8%
Brayden Schenn 25G/178SOG/14.0%
2017-18: Claude Giroux 34G/193SOG/17.6%
2018-19: Sean Couturier 33G/223SOG/14.8%
James van Riemsdyk 27G/167SOG/16.2%
2022-23: Travis Konecny 31G/191SOG/16/2%
Owen Tippett 27G/231SOG/11.7%
2023-24: TK 33G/244SOG/13.5%
Tippett 28G/289SOG/9.7%
2024-25: Matvei Michkov 26G/200SOG/13.0%
Tyson Foerster 25G/142SOG/17.6%
When compiling the ideas and stats for this column, I arbitrarily came up with the idea that a true goal scorer – whether currently employed by the Flyers or forever just out of reach – should have a full-season shooting percentage close to or over 20%. Research proved this to be an overshoot.
The last Flyers forward to hit these exact parameters was Danny Briere, whose 2008-09 season was cut short due to a concussion after 11G in 29 games, with his 54 SOG resulting in a 20.4% pct.
You’ll have to go back 25 years to find the last Orange & Black forward to score at least 20 goals and hit close to or over 20% over a full, uninterrupted season – Keith Primeau in 2000-01, when he led the club with a 34G/165SOG/20.6% split. Before that, Eric Lindros did it twice in a row over his first 2 NHL seasons: 1992-93 (41G/180SOG/22.8%) and 1993-94 (44G/197SOG/22.3%).
That’s right. Everybody’s archetype, Johnny Vermont himself, never came close to a 20% success rate despite five full seasons of 51,50,51,43 and 40 goals from 1995-2000.
Going further back, in 1988-89 alone, the Flyers had 3 players: Tim Kerr 48G/236SOG/20.3%; Rick Tocchet 45G/220SOG/20.5%; Ron Sutter 22G/106SOG/24.5%, but that was in an era when stopping 90% of all shots put goaltenders in superstar conversations.
Future Tense
One of the unintended consequences of head coach Rick Tocchet’s defensive system is that shots on goal are at a premium on the attack; this clearly won’t favor Zegras no matter where he plays or with whom.
A glance at Zegras' season log finds the greatest concentrations of multi-shot games came before Tyson Foerster’s arm injury in early December and after Alex Bump was recalled from Allentown in early March.
You would think that fewer shots per game and per season on a top-six player’s ledger would indicate better shooting acumen, but Zegras was one of the drivers of offense who had fingers pointed at his direction for choosing not to shoot more times than many of us cared to count.
Again, on break-up day, Zegras hinted this might not have been a technical flaw, indicating early conversations with Tocchet revolved around ways to become “a more complete player.”
“That was definitely something me and ‘Tocc’ talked about before the year and I think my goal and mindset was just to come in and be coachable and wherever they wanted me to play,” he admitted. “Just do my best and listen to what the people around me are saying.”
Although he produced five games of 6 shots or more, including three games of 7 SOG – one of which came after the Olympic break – Zegras totaled an incredible 58 instances of either no shots, 1 shot or 2 shots in any game last season. That’s just unacceptable whatever the circumstances. I’d imagine Tocchet’s definition of “complete player” also equals more consistent player.
It’s great Zegras publicly claimed his coachability. It’s great he said he was “fine” playing both wing and center and that center provides more room to play and more room to think. The rest of the issue falls on the coaching staff and their in-game as well as game-to-game adjustments and deployment.
At the very least, Zegras is forced to play any contest with at least three basic mindsets: what to do as a center, what to do on the wing, what to do on the power play. Subdivide those three into however many game-action situations result from game play and it can be a lot for any young player to absorb and execute in real time.
This strikes at the very heart of my repeated complaints about the organization, through multiple front office and coaching regimes, routinely treating forwards like amoebas, rather than creating specific roles suited best for each player. No wonder the perception exists that he's hesitant to shoot or may not be able to find the space; messages and responsibilities in situational play have to scramble his brains.
Driving play means more than puck possession and puck direction. His skating is fluid and quick. Zegras need only look as far as Bump and Porter Martone for how to generate more shots, but probably needs a nod or a pat on the back from the bench to encourage more freelancing.
The gift of youth only lasts so long. Coaching tenures only last so long. Messaging becomes jumbled and mental exhaustion can often precede physical exhaustion. That’s more than enough reason for Briere to snag a true 1C this offseason, at least locking Zegras’ responsibilities in place.
Short of a trade or free agent signing, isn’t that what they invested $25M on Christian Dvorak for? Even though Tocchet may not know if Dvorak or Zegras should be the steady, full-time 1C, it''s not that hard to cement one player in one spot and the other riding shotgun.
The 2026 Entry Draft for the Professional Women's Hockey League was held in Detroit on Wednesday evening, with some local-ish talent drawing sufficient interest to be welcomed into the fold as the next generation of stars to populate the 12-team league.
An expansion franchise, the Las Vegas contingent used the 3rd-overall pick to select left-handed Penn State forward Tessa Janecke and the 13th overall selection (first pick of the 2nd round) to snag right-hand shooting Princeton forward Issy Wunder.
Janecke, a native of northern Illinois, finished her senior campaign by compiling 26 goals and 22 assists over 31 games for the Frozen Four entrant Nits, while adding an Olympic gold medal with Team USA this past February in Milano/Cortina. Janecke was on the ice for both USA goals in its 2-1 victory over Team Canada in the tournament's terminal contest.
Over 4 seasons in State College, she recorded a program-best 201 points (89G, 112A) in 145 contests.
"I'm super excited just to get into that fan base and that city, that community," Janecke said after greeting her GM, Dominique Didia, at the podium. "I'm really looking forward to (the next season) and I can't wait to get out to Sin City."
For those in her hometown of Orangeville, Illinois (population 800) who supported her, Janecke said, "Thank you for everything. The schools my parents work at, just so much support and love from this small town. I appreciate it."
Wunder, a 22-year-old native of the Toronto metro region, ended her senior season at Princeton by posting team highs of 27 goals and 43 points over 34 appearances. Since 2022, she compiled 146 points (70G, 76A) in 129 games.
The 3rd pick in the 3rd round (27th overall) was used by the Boston Fleet to select right-hand shooting defense Leah Stecker. A native of north Jersey, Stecker posted career bests in assists (17) and points (20) over 39 appearances for the Nittany Lions. Over 152 collegiate contests, Stecker recorded 57 points and accumulated a plus-75 overall rating.
With the 3rd pick in the 3rd round, departing senior forward Madelyn Christian was scooped up by the Minnesota Frost. The left-handed shooter led all D1 women in short-handed goals en route to 19 goals and 35 points over 39 outings at Penn State.
"I'm at a loss for words. It's just an honor to be drafted by your hometown team," said Christian, who was born and raised in the northern Minneapolis suburbs.
In the later rounds, goaltender Katie DeSa from the Nittany Lions was taken with the 37th overall pick (1st in the 4th round) by the Vancouver Goldeneyes.
From PSU Collegian
The senior netminder finished second in the nation with a 1.36 goals-against average and led the country with 12 shutouts among her career-best 27 victories. In addition, her .936 save percentage ranked 9th in the country. DeSa finished her 4-year collegiate sojourn by compiling an 63-13-2 record, 1.43 GAA, .932 save pct and 25 clean sheets.
New York utilized the 43rd overall pick to select PSU's Katelyn Roberts, who finished fifth on the club with 33 points (16G, 17A) during her senior campaign. The native of the Twin Cities spent all 4 years with the Nittany Lions, totaling 103 points across 153 contests.
With the very next slot, the Toronto Sceptres welcomed right-handed shooting winger Jane Kuehl out of Princeton University. Kuehl, also a Twin Cities native, notched career bests in goals (13) and points (27) during her senior season with the Orange and Black.
Pick No. 49 -- the opener of the fifth round -- was given to Vegas, who selected defender Kendall Butze from Penn State. Butze, a left-handed shooter born in Cleveland, completed her collegiate career as the highest-scoring backliner in PSU history, having recorded 94 points over 151 games during her 4-year tenure in Central PA. She served as an alternate captain in her senior campaign.
"I'm a play-making defenseman so I'm ready to set up some teammates. I'm just really excited to get to work," Butze said when asked what her new club should expect during her rookie campaign."
Emerson O'Leary, a 22-year-old forward and four-year starter at Princeton, went 56th overall to Toronto.
Mya Vaslet, a five-year performer at Penn State who shoots left-handed as a forward, was chosen with the 66th pick by the expansion Hamilton franchise.
