PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Last season: 43-27-12, lost in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
COACH: Rick Tocchet (43-27-12 last season, 329-92-99 in 10 NHL seasons).
SEASON OPENER: Sept. 30 vs. Pittsburgh.
DEPARTURES: C Rodrigo Abols, D Emil Andrae, G Sam Ersson, C Luke Glendening, F Garnet Hathaway, D Noah Juulsen.
ADDITIONS: C Noel Acciari, LW Zach Aston-Reese, D Simon Benoit, G Joseph Woll.
GOALIES: Dan Vladar (29-14-7, 2.42 goals-against average, .906 save percentage), Woll (15-16-7, 3.34, .898).
The Flyers ended a five-year playoff drought last season and won a playoff series for the first time since 2012. Now, the goal is to show aren't just a one-year wonder without making major changes this offseason after failing to land Anaheim center Leo Carlsson via offer sheet.
The Flyers chose to lock up some of their young talent longer term, giving Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale new four-year deals and signing Tyson Foerster to an eight-year extension. The Flyers will also have full seasons from Porter Martone, a Calder Trophy favorite, Denver Barkey and Alex Bump and they solidified their goalie tandem by adding Woll.
The Metropolitan Division is expected to be a tougher this year, but the Flyers still should be in the playoff mix.
The good: The Flyers are young, tenacious and play a structured team game that keeps them in every contest. If Foerster can stay healthy, he should top 30 goals and same goes for Owen Tippett. Zegras and Travis Konecny had 67 and 68 points, respectively, a season ago and should lead the team again. Martone had 10 points in nine games after joining the Flyers in late March and scored goals in his first two playoff games. Vladar was excellent and had a stout defense in front of him.
The not-so-good: The power play has been dead last in the NHL in four of the previous five seasons and was 30th in the fifth. A full season with Martone and defenseman David Jiricek, who was acquired last season from Minnesota, could help. Center depth is a concern; Zegras, who may be better as a winger, is at the top of the group.
All eyes will be on third-year forward Matvei Michkov. There was a lot of drama with him being out of shape last season. Considered to be a top talent when the Flyers drafted him in the first round in 2023, Michkov had 51 points last season after 63 as a rookie. Tocchet made Michkov a healthy scratch twice in the playoffs. Michkov says he lost nearly 30 pounds this offseason and the Flyers hope he found his initiative to be the the major contributor they expect.
FILE - Carolina Hurricanes' William Carrier (28) tries to get the puck past Philadelphia Flyers' Dan Vladar (80), Trevor Zegras (46) and Jamie Drysdale (9) during the third period of Game 4 in a second-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series, May 9, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)
FILE - Philadelphia Flyers right winger Porter Martone, center, looks on as the Flyers celebrate the win and playoff berth after an NHL hockey game against the Carolina Hurricanes, April 13, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola, File)
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — A Sri Lankan court convicted 15 men on Tuesday over their involvement in the 2019 Easter bombings that killed more than 260 people, and sentenced them each to 200 years in prison, meaning they will spend the rest of their lives behind bars.
The three-judge High Court panel also ordered the property of the defendants confiscated. The verdict was delivered amid tight security, with hundreds of police officers deployed around the courthouse, following a lengthy trial that spanned for nearly five years.
The April 21 attacks targeted three churches and three hotels across the island nation during Easter services and celebrations, and they also wounded about 500 people. The bombings, which were inspired by the Islamic State group, were among the deadliest attacks in Sri Lanka’s history. They killed 42 foreigners and devastated communities across the country.
All the convicted men were from Sri Lanka’s minority Muslim community.
Authorities filed 23,270 charges in 2021 against 24 suspects accused of planning or inspiring the attacks. The charges included murder, conspiracy to commit terrorism, and firearms and explosives offenses under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
None of those believed to have directly participated in the attacks are alive. Two Sri Lanka-based Islamic militant groups were accused of carrying out the bombings.
Sri Lanka’s Catholic Church has claimed, without providing evidence, that those identified so far as perpetrators are not the masterminds behind the bombings, and that there was a bigger conspiracy behind the attacks.
A parliamentary committee found that police and intelligence officials failed to act on repeated intelligence warnings of the attacks.
In July, a former police chief and a former senior defense ministry official were also sentenced to death for failing to act promptly on foreign intelligence warnings of possible attacks.
Sri Lanka has not carried out executions since 1976, meaning death sentences typically result in life imprisonment.
After the bombings, allegations emerged that the attackers had links to Sri Lanka’s state intelligence services. The country’s Defense Ministry denied any involvement.
In February, police arrested Suresh Salley, a former intelligence chief and retired army major general, in connection with the bombings. The government has alleged that Salley, who remains in custody, had prior knowledge of the attacks and actively conspired to carry them out.
Salley was a prominent military intelligence official credited with playing a major role in the campaign that ended the country’s civil war in 2009.
The bombings shook the island nation and revived memories of the 26-year conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, widely known as the Tamil Tigers, a separatist group that fought to establish an independent state for Sri Lanka’s ethnic Tamil minority.
Police commandos patrol with a sniffer dog at the High Court complex ahead of a verdict related to the 2019 Easter bombings in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026.(Eranga Jayawardane)
A police commando stands guard at the High Court complex ahead of a verdict related to the 2019 Easter bombings in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026.(Eranga Jayawardane)
Police commandos stand guard at the High Court complex ahead of a verdict related to the 2019 Easter bombings in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026.(Eranga Jayawardane)
