Should Flyers Give A Top Forward Prospect An NHL Try This Season?

Where most 18-year-olds would return to juniors for a year or two, the pandemic allowed Foerster to jump right into the AHL because junior leagues were unavailable and the team didn't want him to lose any valuable developmental time.

His rookie season, which started out promising, went from a dream season to a nightmare when in a game on May 12, 2021 against the Binghamton Devils, Foerster was shoved from behind and went head first into the boards hard. He did not reportedly have a concussion, but he did dislocate his collarbone effectively ending his rookie season.

In October 2021, still playing for the Phantoms as a 19-year-old after the CHL and NHL/AHL came to an agreement that players that played in the in the AHL during the pandemic could either remain in the AHL or return to the CHL, Foerster suffered another injury. After taking a hard hit, he left a game and didn't return. It was later announced he had injured his shoulder and would be out for an extended period of time.

Upon his return from the shoulder injury, it was decided it would be best for his development to return to the CHL, regain confidence, and come back to the AHL in the fall of 2022.

After an off-season of adding muscle and working on his skill, Foerster got a chance to make the NHL out of training camp, but didn't quite live up to what new head coach John Tortorella was looking for yet. He was sent to the Phantoms where he has played in 42 games thus far this season. The renewed confidence of returning the CHL to end the 2021/22 season showing in his game almost immediately. He's piled up 16 goals, 13 assists for 29 points thus far.

It's still a ways away from the Flyers being eliminated from playoff contention which would be when they'd usually be willing to start playing and testing out prospects to get a "jump" on the following years training camp. That's likely the scenario where they'd be most comfortable trying to see what someone like Forester is capable of at the next level. However, if an injury should hold anyone out of the NHL lineup, it's worth wondering if the Flyers should give Foerster a "try out" of sorts now. It could be best to see how well the kid holds up at the NHL level and give him a chance to see what he needs to work at for the rest of the AHL season as well as in the off-season to potentially advance his game forward and stick in the NHL full time next season.

After all, according to John Tortorella in multiple interviews, this season is supposed to be about seeing what this team has now, and what is needed to move the team forward in the coming years. So why not see what the kid can do, and what category he may or may not fall into? It couldn't hurt just to kick some tires on the kids development. If worse comes to worse, he goes back to the AHL with more knowledge on what he needs to do to better himself to move forward in his career and help the NHL team in the future.