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Meltzer's Musings: Phantoms Roster Battles, Today's Games, All-Time Roster |
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Subject to change, here's where you can follow today's games involving current Flyers players in Europe as well as Flyers prospects. If webcast links become available, I will add them here and post them on my Twitter account (@billmeltzer):
* Ilya Bryzgalov's CSKA Moscow team plays a road game against Traktor Chelyabinsk. The game starts at 9 AM eastern U.S./Canada time, and
live text updates can be followed from the English version of the official KHL site. There is a possible free webcast link
here that may or may not work come game time.
* Jakub Voracek and his HC Lev Prague club face a tough challenge today when they travel to face Evgeni Malkin's Metallurg Magnitogorsk club. Game time is 9 AM eastern. Click here for live text updates. A free webcast may be available here.
* Ruslan Fedotenko's HC Donbass Donetsk is in the road to take on Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod today. Game time is 11 AM eastern. Click here for live text. A possible webcast link is here.
* Flyers prospect Derek Mathers and the Peterborough Petes host the Erie Otters tonight. Game time is 7:05 PM eastern. A streaming radio feed from Peterborough is available for free or you can purchase a webcast for $6.99.
* The Players Tour organized by Flyers' players Bruno Gervais and Max Talbot gets underway tonight at Leo-Crepin in Chateauguay. The game starts at 7 PM.
* Valeri Vasiliev's MHK Spartak club played the first of consecutive-day road games against the Amur Tigers earlier today in Russia. Spartak won, 3-2. I'll post more information when it's available. The clubs rematch in Amur tomorrow.
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With the Phantoms training camp slated to get underway in Voorhees on Saturday, a couple of people have asked me how I think the roster battles and line combinations will shake out with six Flyers players incorporated into the opening-night lineup. I have no idea what line combos and defense pairing Terry Murray will use. I'm sure he'll experiment a lot during camp and the preseason anyway.
Note: There is no active roster limit in the AHL. There is, of course, a limit to how many players can dress for any given game. The Phantoms may carry about three or four total spare players as healthy scratches but they also have the option of assigning players to the ECHL's Trenton Titans.
Here are the players likely to be in the roster spot mix. I've indicated which players I think are on the bubble at this point.
FORWARDS (20)
Sean Couturier
Brayden Schenn
Eric Wellwood
Zac Rinaldo
Ben Holmstrom
Jason Akeson
Matt Ford
Andrew Johnston (Rookie)
Harry Zolnierczyk
Tye McGinn
Shane Harper
Tyler Brown
Mike Testwuide
Garrett Roe
Marcel Noebels (Rookie, possibly on the bubble; has WHL eligibility)
Matt Mangene (Rookie, could see ECHL time with roster spill-over)
Rob Bordson (AHL-ECHL roster bubble)
Sergei Sentyurin (tryout player with KHL experience; must impress to make team)
Luke Pither (Likely a roster casualty; could go elsewhere in AHL or down to ECHL)
Ian Slater (AHL-ECHL roster bubble)
Defense (11)
Erik Gustafsson
Marc-Andre Bourdon
Brandon Manning
Oliver Lauridsen
Danny Syvret
Blake Kessel
Zack Fitzgerald (Tough guy, possible seventh D or on the bubble due to lockout)
Matt Konan (Rookie, possibly on the AHL-ECHL bubble during NHL lockout)
Cullen Eddy (Likely on the the AHL-ECHL bubble, especially with NHL lockout)
Tyler Hostetter (AHL-ECHL roster bubble)
Connor Goggin (Tryout player with rookie status, saw AHL time in 2011-12. Good mobility)
Goaltenders (3)
Niko Hovinen (Rookie, possible starter but coming off hip surgery)
Scott Munroe (Veteran will likely split starting time with a rookie early in season)
Cal Heeter (Will compete with Hovinen; could start in ECHL)
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Yesterday's vote for the top seven wingers on the Flyers' All-Time Roster produced the closest results of any of the votes so far. John LeClair ended up gathering a higher percentage of the vote (93 percent) than Bernie Parent, Bobby Clarke, Mark Howe or Eric Lindros received in the votes at their respective positions.
Now, I am a huge Johnny Vermont fan, but that result was a bit mystifying to me. It was also unexpected with so many quality wingers to consider from team history.
I'd personally rank LeClair as the number four or five winger, after Hall of Famer Bill Barber, Brian Propp (who was a better and healthier version of many of the the elements Simon Gagne later brought), Tim Kerr and possibly the less consistent but even more offensively explosive Reggie Leach.
The seven automatic roster spots go to LeClair, Barber (79 percent), Mark Recchi (74 percent), Gagne (73 percent), Kerr (68 percent), Leach (64 percent) and Propp (61 percent). Rick Tocchet (60 percent) was barely edged out by Propp for an automatic spot but seems to have the inside track in the runoff vote for one of the two remaining forward roster spots.
We'll do the 12th/13th forward vote tomorrow. Today, it's the 6th/7th defenseman vote. I have added in five new candidates for the second vote, as well as the holdovers who didn't get a spot in round one.
Note: Mark Howe, Eric Desjardins, Chris Pronger, Kimmo Timonen and Brad McCrimmon were the winners of automatic roster spots in the first round of voting.
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