There was good news on the Flyers’ injury front as training camp opened Thursday, with both Owen Tippett and Noah Cates declaring themselves fully healthy after finishing last season sidelined. Tippett was a big reason for the Flyers’ first-round victory over the Penguins, leaning on his relentless speed and physicality.
But the 27-year-old missed all four games of Philadelphia’s second-round sweep at the hands of the eventual Cup champion Hurricanes, sidelined by an internal bleeding issue and a sports hernia, the latter requiring offseason surgery. Cates made his mark in that opening-round series too, tying for the team lead among forwards with four points in six games.
The former fifth-round pick was shut down late in the second round, however, sitting out the final two games against Carolina with a lower-body injury, though he avoided surgery. Both said Thursday they’re at 100 percent.
Additional notes: Some news out of Islanders camp: Pierre Engvall, who missed all of last season following separate hip and ankle surgeries, was on the ice with the first group on Day 1, per Andrew Gross. The 6-foot-6 Swedish winger hasn’t played since April 2025 and has had a rocky tenure on Long Island, waived before the 2024-25 season and unable to consistently justify the seven-year, $21MM contract he signed in 2023.
With four years still left on that deal, his health hands new coach Peter DeBoer a reclamation project to sort out on the wing. Engvall has 52 points in 154 games in his time on Long Island.
Two Sharks will open camp on the shelf with upper-body injuries expected to sideline them for a couple of months, per Sheng Peng. The bigger name is Quentin Musty, the 26th pick in the 2023 draft; the 21-year-old left winger has been pushing for an NHL job after developing into one of San Jose’s more promising forward prospects, and he now loses valuable camp time in that bid.
Also out is goaltender Kyle Keyser, a depth option whose absence further thins an already crowded San Jose crease behind Yaroslav Askarov and Alex Nedeljkovic. The Jets provided a pair of updates, per Danielle Bain.
Defenseman Elias Salomonsson, a 2022 second-round pick who broke in for 32 games as a shutdown presence last season and profiles as a near-lock for the roster, is targeted to return around the end of October after undergoing shoulder surgery in the spring. Forward Walker Duehr, a 28-year-old depth winger coming off a 34-point season (17 goals, 17 assists) in 62 AHL games with Manitoba, where he tied for the AHL lead with five shorthanded goals, has just resumed skating from a lower-body injury with no timeline attached.