It has been my view for years that the NHL preseason is too long and winds up resulting in more injuries than it prevents. Years ago, it was necessary for players to spend several weeks working themselves back into game shape at practice and in exhibition games after a mostly sedentary summer. Today, the vast majority of players are in outstanding physical condition year-round.
As far as I'm concerned, most NHL preseason games are just an opportunity for veteran players to get hurt. NHL coaches must agree or else they wouldn't dress the bare minimum of required veterans until the very end of the exhibition schedule. Primarily, preseason games are useful for evaluating rookies and determining who wins the battles for the last couple of open roster spots (if there are any).
For established players, no real good can come of these games. They already know what they need to do to get ready for the season.
As a veteran of 1,274 NHL regular season and playoff games, Chris Pronger doesn't need training camp or preseason games to be effective when the season opens. There is much ado being made of nothing as he recovers from arthroscopic knee surgery. As long as he's physically ready for opening night (or even shortly thereafter), there is no cause for concern and no need for him to rush into the lineup.
As the Flyers' training camp approaches, there do not appear to be any roster spots up for grabs apart from the backup goaltending job, and even that depends on whether Johan Backlund is sufficiently recovered from hip surgery to challenge Brian Boucher in camp.
Over the course of scrimmages and six preseason games, the team will probably take an extended look at eighth defenseman Oskars Bartulis, college free agent signing Mike Testwuide, winger Andreas Nodl and perhaps forwards Stefan Legein and Patrick Maroon. Barring injuries to veterans, none of the forwards are likely to make the opening night roster in Pittsburgh, but they will be jockeying for callups, along with Jon Kalinski.
Although Darroll Powe is capable of moving from wing to center to fill in for Blair Betts (shoulder surgery) until the veteran checking center is ready to play, the club may also opt to look at an unsigned veteran on a tryout. As-yet-unsigned players such as Jeff Halpern, Wayne Primeau or Stephane Yelle are the types of players who may be a fit at a modest price if Betts starts the season on LTIR.
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Flyers defense prospect Simon Bertilsson completed a highly successful Four Nations tournament in Lake Placid earlier this month. Although the 19-year-old backliner didn't light up the scoresheet, he was one of the most confident, decisive and effective defensemen on any of the four participating junior national teams.
Bertilsson's strong showing in Lake Placid was not a surprise, as he already plays against pros in Elitserien as a member of Brynäs. Injuries set him back last season, forcing him to miss the World Junior Championships and limiting him to 32 regular season games in Elitserien.
A European scout for a Western Conference NHL club told me via email last year that he considered Bertilsson a steal for the Flyers in the third round (87th overall) of the 2009 draft, likening him to the Chicago Blackhawks' Niklas Hjalmarsson.
Bertilsson isn't as big as Hjalmarsson but he displays similar characteristics in his game. In addition, according to Flyers' European scout Ilkka Sinisalo, Bertilsson is unafraid to mix it up physically even though he's never going to someone who rattles the boards with big hits. But his combination of speed, good defensive reads, first pass ability and willingness to get involved physically make him a solid NHL prospect.
At the Swedish J20 level, Bertilsson was an offensive force as well as playing strong defense, scoring 9 goals and 31 points in 30 games before graduating to the Swedish Elite League. He also did well offensively playing internationally at the U18 level. However, the offensive game has yet to emerge at the Elitserien level or in international U20 competition.
Even if he produces modest offensive totals, if Bertilsson can build on his strong preseason and go on to play a strong WJC and Elitserien season, he has the chance to vault over several defensemen currently on the Phantoms on the Flyers' prospect charts.
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As former Flyer Peter Forsberg prepares for the final two games of the
Icebreakers charity game series, questions have naturally arisen about whether he will try to play hockey this season. Forsberg, who had been practicing with Modo, has said that the Icebreakers games will be a "final test" to see if he can play this season.
Today, new Modo head coach Charles Berglund told Swedish newspaper
Expressen that he doesn't see Forsberg continuing with Modo this season. He and Forsberg plan to talk after the Icebreakers are finished, but does not foresee a return to Modo.
Said Berglund, "I'm not closing the door for him, absolutely not. No one would say no to a whole and fresh Foppa. But he's not really there yet."
The coach said that he and Forsberg are agreed that neither wants yet another "will he or won't he play" soap opera to drag on and potentially distract the team.
Berglund did not comment on whether Forsberg may opt instead to work toward another NHL comeback attempt without playing in Elitserien or Team Sweden first, nor did Forsberg make himself available for comment.
However, the general impression right now is that this may finally be the point where Forsberg concedes that his foot will never again allow him to play more than a few games at a time before it acts up again.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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