{"id":226211,"date":"2026-03-19T01:32:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T01:32:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/226211\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T01:32:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T01:32:13","slug":"ryan-poehling-forever-grateful-for-his-two-years-with-the-flyers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/226211\/","title":{"rendered":"Ryan Poehling ‘forever grateful’ for his two years with the Flyers"},"content":{"rendered":"

ANAHEIM, Calif. \u2015 Ryan Poehling was on his way to the doctor after coming home sick from a trip with one of his buddies when he saw Danny Bri\u00e8re<\/a>\u2019s number pop up on his cell phone last June.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m like, \u2018Oh boy,\u2019\u201d Poehling recalled on Wednesday. \u201cSo I just answered, and I was like, \u2018Where am I going?\u2019 And [Bri\u00e8re] laughed. At that moment, you\u2019re freaking out, you don\u2019t really know where, and when he said Anaheim, I was fired up.\u201d<\/p>\n

After two years with the Flyers, Poehling was traded<\/a> to the Ducks with a 2025 second-round pick and a 2026 fourth-round pick for Trevor Zegras<\/a> on June 23. Poehling will take on his former teammates for the second time on Wednesday (10 p.m., NBCSP).<\/p>\n

\u00bb READ MORE: Trevor Zegras returns to Anaheim for the first time at the top of his game. Now, can he master playing center?<\/a><\/p>\n

The centerman has fit in nicely for the Pacific Division-leading Ducks with eight goals and 29 points in 60 games. Since the Olympic break, he\u2019s been on a tear and is tied for fifth on the Ducks in points with three goals and seven points in 11 games. Dating back to Jan. 19, he\u2019s fourth with 14 points in 19 games.<\/p>\n

\u201cWas I surprised? [More like] I\u2019m definitely pleased,\u201d Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said. \u201cI\u2019ve seen him do some good things. I think there\u2019s more consistency to his game, but we rely on him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPoehls has had a really good year for us,\u201d added Quenneville, who is in his first year with Anaheim. \u201cI think he had an ordinary start … but as the season\u2019s gone on here, the more he\u2019s played, the better he\u2019s played. … He\u2019s added to our special teams, possession game, defensively he\u2019s been reliable, but his speed is the part that he\u2019s really added a nice dimension to our team.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Flyers\u2019 best bottom-six pivot the last few years, Poehling brought speed, scoring ability, and defensive prowess after signing a bet-on-himself, one-year deal with the Flyers in the summer of 2023. He earned himself a two-year extension in January 2024 and posted career highs in goals (12), assists (19), and points (31) last season.<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old has taken that same skill set of being a smart, two-way center to the Ducks, where he ranks second on the team with three shorthanded points (one goal, two assists) and is first among forwards in average ice time on the penalty kill.<\/p>\n

On March 5, Poehling signed a four-year, $15 million extension <\/a>with the Ducks. A bit of a journeyman before landing in Philly, he is appreciative of the Flyers giving him a chance and helping him find consistency at the NHL level.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo much. Honestly, it\u2019s not even just a chance. The guys, and the people, the organization, I\u2019m just forever grateful for them. They really made me fall in love with hockey again,\u201d said Poehling, who is enjoying the weather in California and had dinner with some of his former Flyers teammates this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy time in the pro league was just so up and down; I was playing good and then not playing good, or this and that, and just constantly, your head\u2019s all kind of whacked out. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo going to Philly made me fall in love with the game and just enjoy being around the rink with the guys and being able to play the game you love and play well, I owe them so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

His time in Philly also taught him about Public Enemy No. 1<\/a>: former Flyers draft pick Cutter Gauthier. The funny thing is, the two are now linemates.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was in Philly, I told Cutter, we all hated you,\u201d Poehling said with a laugh. \u201cThat\u2019s how it was. And now, getting to know the guy … he\u2019s a great hockey player, but he\u2019s a better human, and I enjoy playing with him.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u00bb READ MORE: The Flyers\u2019 power play is last in the NHL again. Here are three suggestions for how they can fix it.<\/a><\/p>\n

Tim Washe on Alex Bump<\/p>\n

Alex Bump<\/a> is starting to open eyes in Philly and across the NHL for his puck possession and goal-scoring prowess. Ducks forward Tim Washe has long known what the winger can do.<\/p>\n

\u201cI consider him the best player I\u2019ve played with at school,\u201d Washe said. \u201cI was there for five years, and what he did his first two years is so hard to do, especially in college and [in] our conference as well. He\u2019s just so impressive, what he can do on the ice. <\/p>\n

The forwards were teammates for two seasons at Western Michigan. In his first collegiate season, Bump was named to the National Collegiate Hockey Conference\u2019s All-Rookie Team and was a finalist for the NCHC Rookie of the Year Award after tallying 36 points (14 goals and 22 assists) in 38 games.<\/p>\n

Last season, donning an \u201cA,\u201d Bump leveled up to 23 goals and 47 points in 42 games as the Broncos won the program\u2019s first NCAA men\u2019s championship.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe puck\u2019s always finding him. It\u2019s always on a stick,\u201d said Washe, who was Western Michigan\u2019s captain last season. \u201cHe\u2019s able to shield defenders off, and he\u2019s got a big frame. He just makes a lot of great plays with the puck.<\/p>\n

\u201c[At] the Frozen Four, all the other teams are focused on him, and that takes pressure off other guys. So he was always playing against the other team\u2019s best players, and he always handled it really well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Washe always knew that Bump, who was a fifth-round pick by the Flyers in 2022, would make the NHL. He\u2019s kept an eye on the winger\u2019s first five NHL games \u2014 in which he has two goals, an assist, 13 shot attempts, and seven scoring chances \u2014 and knows it will be a tough night against his ex-teammate.<\/p>\n

\u00bb READ MORE: Alex Bump\u2019s inner circle and inner belief have fueled his fast rise with the Flyers<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cHe likes to shoot. He\u2019s got a great shot. Playing against that, you want to get in lanes and be on him early, right? So we can\u2019t get those off, but playing with him, you just try to find him. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe can play in all areas of the ice, and he\u2019s able to get the puck for himself, too, if he\u2019s not getting it, but he just finds ways to get in the right areas and get those shots.\u201d<\/p>\n

Breakaways<\/p>\n

According to a team source, Owen McLaughlin, a Flyers seventh-round pick in 2021, has signed a deal with Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League. McLaughlin, who hails from Spring City, Chester County<\/a>, lists Bri\u00e8re as one of his favorite players growing up and spent his childhood skating at Oaks Center Ice and West Chester<\/a>\u2019s Ice Line. A North Dakota transfer, he just wrapped up his senior year at Boston University with five goals and 17 points in 34 games while splitting time between center and wing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ANAHEIM, Calif. \u2015 Ryan Poehling was on his way to the doctor after coming home sick from a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":226212,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,103004],"class_list":["post-226211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-ryan-poehling-trade-trevor-zegras-grateful-love-hockey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}