The Roller Coaster Ride of a Rebuild Begins!

While declining the invite to camp, on the surface, looks bad on Gauthier's part, and could be discouraging to fans in a vacuum, it's worth noting the invite decline could simply just be due to NCAA rules that say if he attends the camp, the Flyers can't pay for any portion of his stay; all expenses from a hotel room to stay in, to food to eat for the week are solely on him. For a college kid who doesn't make much money, if any money at all, that's an extremely steep price to pay. It also mentions that any players taking Summer Courses are prohibited from attending NHL camp(s). Without Gauthier saying he is or isn't taking Summer Courses there's no way to know for sure, but it's still a possibility that can't be ruled out and would explain the declined invite.

For now, while he's not sure why Gauthier declined the invite, Briere isn't worried about what it means for the team's chances of signing the talented forward in the future.

As for Michkov, it was made known right after he was drafted that he wouldn't be attending the camp because of Russian/KHL obligations. Perhaps next year he won't have other obligations and he'll be able to attend, but after his KHL GM/head coach's words a few days ago I wouldn't count on the idea. Those same comments make me want to suggest not counting on Michkov getting out of his KHL contract early, either. The GM/head coach made it abundantly clear that Michkov is signed with SKA in the KHL through April 2026 and will need to "prove himself with SKA" and "earn his place" in that time frame before he's allowed to come to the NHL.

My, personal, worry is that he ends up doing just that and then when 2026 rolls around and his contract is up we see a repeat of the Fedotov situation because SKA doesn't want to let their superstar go so easily.

A rebuild is a roller coaster ride, and the Flyers fans have now gone up and down the first hill on the track. The ascent up the second hill may take quite a bit more time, and the descent to the bottom may even feel more like the first hill of Steel Force than the first hill of this ride did, but that's the ebbs and flows of a rebuild. You just hope that by the end of all of it, the finished product is lifting the cup to make up for all the up-and-down emotions that were withstood throughout the process.