Flyers’ Nikita Grebenkin to miss four months after back surgery
The Philadelphia Flyers shared updates on several of their injured players on Saturday afternoon.
While the struggling Flyers are currently without a few of their most crucial pieces, the most severe injury situation is that of forward Nikita Grebenkin, who will be out for a minimum of four months as he recovers from back surgery.
Grebenkin has yet to appear in a game this season. This summer, the 23-year-old signed a two-year contract that carries a salary cap hit of $1.1 million to remain with the Flyers, who acquired him around the 2024-25 trade from the Toronto Maple Leafs as part of the return in exchange for center Scott Laughton.
The native of Serov, Russia made his NHL debut with the Leafs that season, going without a point in seven appearances. He followed that up with a solid showing for Philadelphia in a depth role last year, notching 14 points on 4 goals and 10 assists in 55 appearances while skating to a minus-17 rating on an average of 11:17 of time on ice per game.
In addition to Grebenkin’s lengthy absence, the Flyers will be without key players on a day-to-day basis in veteran winger Travis Konecny with a lower-body injury and top-four defenseman Cam York, who is nursing an upper-body injury. Veteran defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen was also placed on injured reserve, retroactive to Oct. 3, with an upper-body injury.
The Flyers, who entered the season looking to build off of an impressive 2025-26 campaign that saw them surge into the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a late push down the stretch and win a round, have failed to carry that momentum into 2026-27.
As of Saturday afternoon in the midst of their game against the Boston Bruins, Philadelphia is the only winless team in the Eastern Conference with a record of 0-3-2.
