If you've been following my work for a while, you know that I used to do these morning newsletters on the Philadelphia Flyers and the hockey world every day. Well, with a name change, I'm going to be trying to start that up again, doing things my own way and keeping it fresh and fun. I mean, it's August, right?
Speaking of August, it's been a considerably dry month for hockey news, and probably more so than usual. In fairness, we were blessed with the Leo Carlsson offer sheet saga, but that didn't go anywhere at the end of the day.
Among the most relevant Flyers news this week, well, I had only recently found out that Samu Tuomaala signed in the SHL, with the former second-round pick putting his North American career on pause.
It's a shame, because he was a nice, quiet kid any time I spoke to him and he had some talent, but injuries and a one-dimensionality to his game really hampered his development.
Goalie Cal Petersen, whose NHL tenure with the Flyers ended as quickly as it began, just signed a PTO with the Washington Capitals, who, with Logan Thompson and Charlie Lindgren, have three right-catching goalies. How about that?
Most notably, controversial ex-Flyers forward Kevin Hayes resurfaced in the news after an unassuming 2025-26 season with the Pittsburgh Penguins, signing with the KHL's Ak Bars Kazan on a one-year deal to continue his playing career overseas.
"Hayes is a seasoned center who spent 12 seasons in the NHL and played in leading roles on strong teams throughout his career. We quickly found common ground from the beginning of the negotiations. It was important to us that Hayes wanted to come to the KHL. We were really drawn to Kevin's desire to play a lot, take responsibility, and win. His goal is to win a trophy with Ak Bars," Kazan GM Marat Valiullin said in a press release.
"We expect Hayes to strengthen our game and help our teammates bring out their best. We have a lot of young guys, and it will be beneficial for them to have a professional with his career and work ethic around them every day. Kevin is used to playing a key role in his teams, and we expect the same from him at Ak Bars."
Also, I wouldn't expect the Flyers to make some kind of big move before training camp, but Alex Nikishin and Simon Edvinsson are two players to keep an eye on. Nikishin and the Canes are gridlocked in a game of chicken, and the Red Wings are, frankly, a directionless mess right now with no GM.
Thursday's big news was that superstar goalie Connor Hellebuyck went public with his trade request to the Winnipeg Jets. Training camp is coming up quick, and that was Hellebuyck's motivation for getting this out there.
I would say there's a decent chance the Flyers end up seeing Hellebuyck a bit more than usual this year.
While it's not something I think Eric Tulsky and Carolina would do, the Hurricanes would benefit from having the 33-year-old on their side, even after winning the Stanley Cup.
New Jersey just dumped Jacob Markstrom off in Florida and are rolling into the new year with a trio of Jake Allen, Nico Daws, and David Rittich; that's not great for their Cup aspirations, but Jack Hughes did win a Gold Medal with Hellebuyck as his goalie in the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Sportsnet's Emily Sadler named Buffalo (that's been a hot connection all summer) and San Jose as options, too, as well as Vegas. I don't see how Vegas pulls that off, but that's been the name of their game for a decade now. Even though the Sharks have Yaroslav Askarov, I like that idea a lot.
Let's see where this one goes.
