The schedule for training camp is finally available. It’s been a long summer for the Philadelphia Flyers, who played their final game of the 2022-23 regular season on April 13. However, the hockey drought is almost over. The Flyers also found out when they’ll play on national TV this season in front of a fan base desperately starved for a return to a status as an NHL powerhouse.
Training Camp Schedule
Rookies camp begins at the Flyers Training Center in Vorhees, NJ on Wednesday, September 13, according to Bill Meltzer. Participants will hit the ice together for the first time the following day. The Flyers rookies will take on the New York Rangers rookies at PPL Center in Allentown, home of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, on Friday, September 15 and Saturday, September 16.
Training camp will officially begin on Wednesday, September 20 with an off-ice day. The expected NHL regulars will lace up the skates for the first practice on September 21, but the pucks won’t come out until the following day. Expect head coach John Tortorella to push his players to the limit with a tough day of skating on the 21st. The organization has consistently emphasized the standard set by Tortorella during his first season behind the bench as a strength of the rebuild. Offseason conditioning is part of that standard.
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The Flyers will play six preseason games. The first is on September 25 against the New Jersey Devils. They play home-and-home sets with the Devils, the New York Islanders, and the Boston Bruins. The regular season will begin on the road against the Columbus Blue Jackets on October 12. The Flyers will travel to Ottawa for a matinee against the Senators on October 14 before coming to the Wells Fargo Center for the home opener against the Vancouver Canucks on October 17.
Philadelphia Hungry for Stanley Cup
There aren’t many cities in North American professional sports with one franchise in each of the four major professional leagues. Philadelphia is as much of a “4-for-4” sports fan base as you’ll find, but Flyers fandom hasn’t been as prominent in the local landscape in recent history. A gradual slide into mediocrity after 2012 has gotten even worse after three consecutive seasons without a playoff berth.
President of Hockey Operation Keith Jones acknowledged the problem, and he plans to help fix it. He spoke to a rowdy crowd of Philadelphia sports fans at 97.5 The Fanatic’s Fan Fest at the sports complex in South Philadelphia on August 26 with former fan favorite Scott Hartnell at his side.
“We’ll get more orange here in the next couple years…Me and Scotty, we’re similar, we love all Philadelphia sports teams, and we want to make sure that ours is back in the conversation. We recognize where they’re at, but our guys are going to do a lot to get us back in the conversation and also be a lot more visible,” Jones said.
The crowd broke into a thunderous “Let’s Go Flyers!” chant to cheer on Jones, Hartnell, and the effort of the rebuild. Philadelphia is desperate for a competitive hockey team. Fans went wild when the team made the playoffs 16 times in 17 tries from 1994-95 through 2011-12, and they’ll do it again when they start to see the rebuild take shape. It’ll take some time though.
National TV Games
The Flyers might not be at the heart of the conversation in Philadelphia sports, but they are far from irrelevant in the NHL. They’ll play on 12 nationally televised broadcasts in 2023-24, the league announced on August 30. They’ll play six games on ESPN, ABC, or TNT, excluding games exclusively on streaming services.
- Thursday 10/19 vs. Edmonton Oilers (7:30 p.m. on ESPN+, Hulu)
- Tuesday 10/24 @ Vegas Golden Knights (11 p.m. on ESPN, ESPN+)
- Thursday 10/26 vs. Minnesota Wild (7:30 p.m. on ESPN+, Hulu)
- Wednesday 11/1 vs. Buffalo Sabres (7 p.m. on TNT)
- Wednesday 11/15 @ Carolina Hurricanes (7 p.m. on TNT)
- Tuesday 11/28 vs. Carolina Hurricanes (7:30 p.m. on ESPN+, Hulu)
- Saturday 2/10 vs. Seattle Kraken (7 p.m. on ESPN+, Hulu)
- Saturday 2/17 vs. New Jersey Devils @ MetLife Stadium (8 p.m. on ABC, ESPN+)
- Wednesday 2/21 @ Chicago Blackhawks (7:30 p.m. on TNT)
- Saturday 2/24 vs. New York Rangers (3 p.m. on ESPN+, Hulu)
- Sunday 2/25 @ Pittsburgh Penguins (3:30 p.m. on TNT)
- Monday 3/4 vs. St. Louis Blues (7:30 p.m. on ESPN+, Hulu)
Five of the games will take place in February when the NHL expands its weekend lineup after the NFL season wraps up. The highlight of the national broadcasts, and possibly the highlight of the 2023-24 season, will be the outdoor game against the Devils at MetLife Stadium on Saturday, February 10. Flyers fans will also be happy that former Philadelphia goaltender Brian Boucher will replace Jones in the TNT broadcast this year.