The Philadelphia Flyers are hoping that sophomore forward Bobby Brink, among their many young up-and-coming players, takes another step forward in his NHL development during the 2024-25 season.

Amy Irvin / The Hockey Writers

Brink, 23, had an up-and-down rookie season in the NHL with the Flyers last year, scoring 11 goals, 12 assists, and 23 points in 57 regular season games. Brink’s play off the puck, however, was inconsistent and left something to be desired at times, causing head coach John Tortorella to scratch or bench him on occasion and even once resulted in Brink’s demotion to the AHL Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

Now that he’s gone through a full year of seasoning–mostly in the NHL–Brink has an idea of where he needs to improve to become a better player. And based on what the Flyers told him, it’s not all on the ice.

“I know where I need to get better, and we had a conversation about it,” Brink said on the Nasty Knuckles podcast. “A lot of it came back to the gym, and just being more explosive and being stronger, maybe, on pucks and that sort of thing. A lot of it was focused on the offseason. I knew it was an important offseason, still, as a younger player, there’s a lot I can improve, and we talked about that.”

The 5-foot-8 forward already possesses great hockey sense and playmaking abilities on the ice but, at his size, Brink will need to work smarter and harder than most other players in order to carve out a successful career for himself at the NHL level.

The 2023-24 season was already a good start for Brink, even with some of the bumps and bruises that inevitably came along the way. Danny Briere and the Flyers recognized the potential and the growth of Brink after that, rewarding him with a two-year, $3 million bridge contract as an investment of that potential.

Briere expects Brink to make the NHL roster outright again this season, so now it’s up to the player to build on a productive start to his NHL career with the Flyers.