We've had the good, the bad, and now here is the confusing from the first month of Flyers hockey.
With a surprisingly good start in the books, questions have evolved, and expectations are changing and morphing on a near-daily basis. So, in this, we'll be taking a look at a few players who might've raised some eyebrows, teased more to come, and are still looking for their place in the lineup.
Noah Cates
He could be called one of the pleasant surprises of the early season. Noah Cates has 10 points in 14 games, which isn't leading the league or the team, but it is setting up Cates to blow by his previous career highs. He's already around 24% of his career high point total (38), and he is becoming a power play fixture.
He'll be turning 27 this season, and has already exceeded expectations for a 5th rounder, but do fans dare to hope for more from Cates? Could he be blossoming into a power forward with a prime that rises with the Flyers?
He's impressed in the early goings, but like the rest of the team, Cates has to learn to put together a full season. Jumping into the 45-50 point range requires greater consistency.
Christian Dvorak
We've probably talked more about Christian Dvorak starting from this offseason to now than anyone else since he's been drafted, and he's given us some more to discuss in the early going of the season.
Billed as a Swiss Army knife type of player, he's been in different positions and with various linemates during his first handful of games with the Flyers. He's been pretty good and is consistently getting minutes among the top six forwards,
Dvorak has played the most often with Matvei Michkov and Trevor Zegras, but not together. If he remains tied to one of them long term, does his offensive game increase? Or as injuries ebb and flow over a long season, will he end up covering elsewhere as a center?
Dvorak will remain a flexible player unless he demonstrates chemistry that makes him impossible to move.
Nikita Grebenkin
The early going has been slow for one of the Flyers' more intriguing prospects. A key piece of the return for Scott Laughton, Nikita Grebenkin was impressive enough in training camp and preseason to win a job with the team outright, and now he is doing what he can to stay in the lineup to explore a hopefully evolving role.
Grebenkin has been playing bottom-six minutes at a rate amongst the lowest of the regular forwards. He's not often getting to play offense, but he's shown flashes that it is there. He's also been a solid bottom-sixer who can throw his body around and sow some chaos, and penalty minutes.
The comfort level with the NHL game is coming, and Grebenkin can and should play his way into more minutes. Or do you keep a player who is showing some effectiveness in that limited role where he is?
Grebenkin is another player with flexibility in his game, but this might be one that impacts the course of his game and development, at least over the course of this season.