Bigger, stronger, and healthy again, Flyers prospect Tyson Foerster is knocking on the door of the NHL

Tyson Foerster is the type of player who likes “hugs,” Riley Armstrong says.

Armstrong, an assistant coach for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, said that he has learned the best way to get through to the 2020 first-round pick is by hyping him up. If you go after Foerster with a harsh scold, he withdraws a bit. But if you provide the right winger with encouragement? He soaks it up and adapts to what earns him the praise.

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“If you go in there and approach it in a way where you’re pumping him up ... ‘Great hit, great hit. That was awesome, man. You’re just a grinder now, you’re not even a goal scorer, you’re a grinder,’ then he starts going, ‘Yeah, I am a grinder,’” Armstrong said with a laugh. “He’s almost wanting to finish his check for you to kind of chirp himself after a shift.”

When the two of them first met prior to last season, Armstrong was new to the Phantoms and Foerster was a cocky teenager attending camp. They had only nine games together before Foerster’s AHL season was cut short by a shoulder injury that required surgery. This season, Armstrong said, Foerster is bigger, tougher, and stronger in every aspect of his life.

The growth didn’t come easy — it was forced by trials — but it has helped Foerster, one of the Flyers’ top prospects, become a leader for the Phantoms on and off the ice at just 21 years old. Foerster ranks second on the Phantoms in both goals (13) and points (26), and was recently named an AHL All-Star.

Foerster spent a lot of 2021 and 2022 lying in bed.

The 19-year-old Canadian was far from home and rehabbing a season-ending shoulder injury suffered on May 13, 2021. He’d given up so much time with his family, having left home at 16 to play for the OHL’s Barrie Colts to pursue his dream, and now he couldn’t even play hockey.

Instead of depressing him, the time staring at his ceiling hardened his resolve.

“Just watching all the games, like, ‘Wow. I want to be out there,’” Foerster said. “It just made me love the game even more and look forward to getting back.”

A series of mixed blessings helped set the stage for his return.

While rehabbing a second shoulder injury, suffered on Nov. 6, 2021, Foerster had to do more lower-body work, giving him time to improve one of the weaker aspects of his game, his skating. While Foerster is known primarily for his shot and size (6-foot-2, 194 pounds), Phantoms coach Ian Laperrière said his skating has come a long way.

As his shoulder healed, Foerster also put a concerted effort into building strength. Without having to divide his focus between conditioning and playing, he was able to add muscle..

“Maybe in a year or two … people might look back and say, because of his shoulder and everything, he had time to build those muscles around it and make himself a little bit stronger,” Laperrière said.

Foerster got to test out those muscles while representing Canada this past August at the World Junior Championship in Edmonton.

He had missed out on the original invitation because of injury, but another mixed blessing arrived. Because of the pandemic, the 2022 tournament was postponed to the summer, and Foerster received the invitation the second time around.

At 20 years old, Foerster was one of the oldest and biggest players there. With the cheers of the Canadian fans behind him, he worked through any hesitancy to battle after his injury. In seven games at the tournament, Foerster scored three goals and had six points as Canada won gold.

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“Early on, I was kind of scared to hit guys,” Foerster said. “And I think one game I got smoked, and I was like, ‘Wow, all right, [my shoulder] feels pretty good.’”

At 21 years and nine days old, Foerster is the Phantoms’ second-leading scorer.

“You don’t see that too often,” Laperrière said.

The points have followed the approach, Laperrière said. Foerster has realized the importance of practice and has started to approach every day, every workout, and every drill with the same mentality.

Sometimes, players start to stray from what the coach tells them and try to do their own things to break a drought and instead dig themselves deeper into the hole. Foerster stayed with it and learned how to contribute in ways other than scoring goals.

The biggest difference has been Foerster’s physicality. Armstrong joked about how he’s a “grinder,” but it’s becoming the truth. Foerster hasn’t shown any hesitation about heading to the dirty areas of the ice. He’s known for his lethal one-timer, but he has actually scored more goals coming off the walls and cutting to the middle.

The Phantoms coaches have pointed to Flyers winger Travis Konecny’s adjustments this season as a model for Foerster. While very different players, Foerster can learn from how much more success Konecny’s had since moving in from the perimeter.

Foerster has also become a leader in the room. He has gravitated towards veterans like Cal O’Reilly and Artem Anisimov, Laperrière said. He still has that swagger, but he has learned when to turn it on and off.

“You’ve got to have confidence in yourself before you can start giving leadership,” Foerster said. .

As Foerster’s parents watched a little Tyson running back and forth along the boards of the rink, following his older brother’s hockey game, they knew he was destined to be a hockey player.

Foerster loved the game, and by his second year in the OHL, he’d realized he could actually become a professional player. But those dreams of playing hockey didn’t involve the Phantoms.

“No one wants to play in the American [Hockey League] ,” Laperrière said. “They all dream about playing in the NHL.”

That notion probably makes it hard for Foerster to watch as others get called up to the Flyers, Laperrière said, but he hasn’t shown it. Instead, he has displayed his new maturity in his attitude toward his time with the Phantoms.

When asked what he most needs to improve, Foerster replied “everything.” While he thinks his vision is his biggest strength, even that needs to be better to succeed at the next level.

The Flyers are now led by John Tortorella, who is known for being tough. Foerster might be a guy who “likes hugs,” according to Armstrong, but he’s developing thicker and thicker skin, which he’ll need to play for Tortorella. He has accepted that, saying that if he’s not pushed, he’ll never make it.

With all that in mind, Foerster has stayed positive and patient as he has watched friends like Cam York get NHL time. He’s having fun and playing a lot of minutes, which led to the All-Star nod. That’s exciting, but it’s not the ultimate goal. But Foerster’s not wasting energy worrying about when the call will come.

As long as he’s playing hockey somewhere, he’s happy.