Tocchet: ‘I think we needed a good pushing and shoving practice’

VOORHEES, N.J. – The clock read 1:23 p.m., about an hour after Flyers practice had ended on Monday, and yet Bobby Brink and Trevor Zegras were still working on their games at the Flyers Training Center.
It was that kind of day for the entire team as it got back to business in a big way after Saturday night’s frustrating 5-1 loss at Dallas.
There was lots of stuff to work on, the most prominent being coach Rick Tocchet’s plea for his players not to constantly “back up” but rather be pro-active.
Actually, the troubles may have started Friday night when the Flyers fell behind the stumbling St. Louis Blues twice by two goals before salvaging a 6-5 shootout win.
With three straight days of practice lined up before Thursday night’s home rematch with the Blues, Tocchet sees a chance to right some wrongs as the team reaches the 20-game mark, which is about one-fourth of the season.
There were a lot of basic drills, two-on-twos and passing repeats. On top of that, things got a little testy at times as there was pushing and shoving in several scrums.
But most of all, Tocchet wants his team moving forward and if players have to practice that, so be it.
“I just think there’s been a bit of a trend of backing in,” Tocchet said. “Too much containment.”
At Dallas, the Flyers were finishing up a back-to-back but Tocchet wasn’t accepting that as an excuse.
“I guess the schedule contributed a little,” Tocchet conceded. “It’s November. If it was March, maybe. But for me it’s backing in.
“We just needed a good practice of getting in on people. Working on our forecheck. Not just one guy but five guys participating in all aspects of the game, whether it’s defending or forechecking.”
The players took this directive to heart. They were zipping around with some rather mean intention.
“I think we needed a good pushing and shoving practice,” Tocchet said.
Stirring up the competitive instincts can be a good thing, especially the way the Flyers have gotten off to so many slow starts this season.
Tocchet just didn’t want to see things get out of hand.
“You don’t want to fight your teammates,” Tocchet said. “Play hard (in practice). If I play soft with a guy in a one-on-one, what is that doing for him? I’m not helping him. You can play hard, but not kill a guy.
“Playing a guy hard is only going to get you better, but the other guy better. I’ve always believed in that.”
Travis Konecny sounded like he didn’t mind the practice’s intensity one bit. He plays the game with a bit of a chip on his shoulder anyway, so this kind of thing is right up his alley.
“I love ‘em,” Konecny said of the session drills. “They were getting a little competitive, chippy. I think we needed it. Get in that competitive mindset. Everyone’s bringing the intensity. Guys are leading the right way, competing.”
Slow starts aside, the Flyers have tried to be proactive, rather than just dropping back and trying to block a bunch of shots.
“The competing is there,” Konecny said. “The wall battles, all that stuff, we’ve been pretty good at it this year. So I think we’re in a good spot after the games we’ve played.
“Today was more of a reset.”
If Tocchet sees a mistake that’s being made over and over again, he does something about it.
“When trends hit, that’s when you have to attack it,” Tocchet said. “So these days we’re attacking a trend. Not enough support of the puck. And then backing in, not just the defense. It’s a five-man thing. It’s just been a trend that last three, four games, so we have to stop it.”

>Fourth line status

While no teams really count on their fourth lines for offense, the Flyers’ last-line unit has contributed virtually nothing on the scoresheet this season.
That includes regulars like Garnet Hathaway, Nic Deslauriers, Nikita Grebenkin and Rodrigo Abols among others.
“It’s been a bit of a mixed bag,” Tocchet said. “There are some good pockets. Would I like to see some identity, guys holding onto pucks? When we played Edmonton, I had those guys play against (star player Leon) Draisaitl about three shifts. I thought they did a hell of a job. But can they do that consistently?”

>Thoughts on Martone

Flyers’ first-round (sixth overall) pick in the 2025 NHL Draft Porter Martone has been tearing it up for Michigan State. This sort of performance has already validated what a lot of Flyer players already knew.
In fact, Travis Sanheim and Konecny went to bat for Martone just before the draft. They let GM Danny Briere know they were in favor of the Flyers getting their hands on him.
“Oh yeah, I was all in,” Konecny said with a grin. “They asked about him and I said that as far as I know, which is very limited, that’s a guy you can work with, a guy who’s going to compete, to learn, become a pro, play the right way.
“You don’t always get that information before the draft. On top of that, I think he can develop into a really special player.”

>Flyers make trade

The Flyers acquired restricted free-agent defenseman Maxence Guenette from the Ottawa Senators on Monday in exchange for defenseman Dennis Gilbert, according to Flyers general manager Daniel Briere.

Guenette and the Flyers have agreed to terms on a one-year, two-way contract.

The 24-yearold Guenette was selected by the Senators in the seventh round (187th overall) of the 2019 NHL Draft.

The 6-foot-2, 210-pound defenseman spent the 2024-25 season with the Belleville Senators of the American Hockey League where he represented the club as an alternate captain, collecting nine goals/23 points in 58 games, and led the team in plus-minus (plus-13).

Guenette has spent the majority of the last four seasons (2021-25) with Belleville, setting AHL career highs in games played (72), assists (35) and points (40) in 2022-23 and registering 27 goals/116 points) over 236 career AHL games. He led team defensemen in points in 2022-23 and 2023-24.

He made his NHL debut with Ottawa on April 13, 2023 and has skated in eight NHL games since 2023-24.

As part of the transaction, Gilbert will join Ottawa. The defenseman was selected by the Chicago Blackhawks in the third round (91st overall) of the 2015 NHL Draft.

Gilbert has registered 15 goals/58 points (in 194 games over parts of six AHL seasons with Lehigh Valley, Calgary, Colorado, and Rockford and has played 111 NHL games with Ottawa, Buffalo, Calgary, Colorado, and Chicago