SATURDAY QUICK HITS
*
Claude Giroux skated twice yesterday at the Flyers training camp in Voorhees, going out with the first and third groups on the ice. During the first session, the Flyers captain tested out his hand by shooting the puck. That activity was not supposed to be part of his recovery timetable from right index finger tendon repair surgery until next week.
"It wasn’t planned to shoot," said Giroux. "It was spontaneous. When I got on the ice, I was stickhandling and it felt really good. I’m just going step by step here. Obviously, I know I can’t be rushing it. I wasn’t shooting the puck really hard. I was just trying to see what I can do. Every day, it's feeling better and I've been taking a lot of treatment on it at night. I just want to get back to 100 percent as soon as possible."
Giroux added that he planned to skate again in the third practice session of the day but would refrain from shooting pucks again for several days. He was true to his word.
The captain did not take any full-fledged shots in session three but, at one point, stickhandled in from center ice as though he was taking a penalty shot. Giroux did not try to snap a shot. Instead, he gently flipped the puck as he approached the net.
* Although the Flyers said on Thursday that defenseman
Marc-Andre Bourdon (post-concussion syndrome) was on a day-to-day basis, his non-participation in the first day of training camp was a bit of a red flag. Yesterday, he once again did not take part in practice. Afterwards, it was revealed that the player will begin the season on the long-term injured reserve list. Whether he eventually skates in camp is still unknown, but Bourdon is still not symptom-free after suffering as many as three concussions during the 2012 calendar year.
* There is much better news on the
Mark Alt injury front. The highly regarded rookie defenseman, who sustained a concussion in the Rookies Game on Monday, reported no symptoms the rest of the week. He participated in practice yesterday.
* Tryout defenseman
Hal Gill, a veteran of over 1,100 regular season NHL games and 110 Stanley Cup playoff matches, worked out with Braydon Coburn as his partner in practice yesterday after working with Kimmo Timonen on the first day. When he first came out to the interview area, there was a pause as reporters waited for Tim Panaccio to ask the first question (as Panotch usually does).
Gill, who has a reputation as one of the most approachable, well-spoken and affable players in the league, smiled and quipped during the initial silence, "I don't have a written statement prepared, guys, so I'm ready when you are."
The hulking veteran defender was asked about whether he could see himself fitting in with Peter Laviolette's up-tempo system if he made the team. Gill went on talk about how he's played in just about every system that NHL coaches employ, has worked with both youngsters and veterans as his partners and is fully prepared to play with either a smaller puck-mover or a fellow big-bodied stay-at-home defenseman in a shutdown pairing.
The odds are against Gill earning a spot on the Flyers due to the sheer number of veteran bodies in camp. However, it is possible that he could beat out Bruno Gervais for the seventh defenseman role. The 38-year-old shot blocker would have to significantly outplay the 28-year-old puck mover at his respective specialty and sign a modest one-year contract with a cap hit similar to Gervais' $825,000 deal.
Another possibility for Gill if he can't hook on with the Flyers or another NHL team may be to sign a minor-league contract with Adirondack or another AHL team and wait until an injury creates an opening for an NHL contract. He may find himself standing at that bridge soon, and he will have to decide if he wants to to cross it in order to prolong his career one additional season.
It is easy to root for Gill to find an NHL job somewhere because he's a likable person (so is Gervais, for that matter) and has been a quality role-playing defenseman for many years. You don't get to play nearly as many NHL games as Gill has unless you are an asset to your teams. But hockey is a cruel business and the Flyers already have the younger Nicklas Grossmann to perform the same tasks that are Gill's specialties. Size is not an issue on the Flyers' blueline, either, between Braydon Coburn, Luke Schenn and Grossmann.
* Speaking of hockey being a cruel business, I can understand where
Simon Gagne is coming from in his "slap in the face" comments to La Presse. He feels the Flyers strung him along all summer and then told him they were going in a different direction when they thought they had landed Daniel Cleary to fill their third-line left wing spot. Gagne had his heart set on staying in Philly -- much the same way that Cleary was obviously set on remaining in Detroit if at all possible -- and putting all his eggs in that basket has come back to leave him scrambling to find a job.
I feel for Gagne, and can even relate to his experience in some ways. However, I also fully understand why the Flyers did what they did. Although things didn't work out in bringing him here, Cleary's style of play represented a better fit for the team's specific needs on the third line. Gagne also represents a very significant injury risk and he is nowhere near the scorer that he was in his prime.
At 33, Simon is not chronologically an "old" player but he's got a lot of wear-and-tear on him. He is still a plus skater but no longer has elite speed. He's still a good two-way player but no longer is significantly better than his competition in any one area. Although he has moxie, Gagne is more of a finesse type of player than a grind-it-out type who is going to win the trench warfare battles that the Flyers need their left winger on a line with Sean Couturier and the speedy and well-rounded but undersized Matt Read to win.
As such, I have to say that the decision not to bring Gagne back was probably the right one from a personnel standpoint. There may be a younger and/or cheaper forward who can play with similar or superior effectiveness, even if he puts up fewer points than Simon probably still can.
Believe me, it brings me no joy whatsoever to write that. I saw virtually every game of Gagne's two stints as a Flyer, from his first training camp to his second go-round with the club last year. I appreciate what he brought to the team. I've also always enjoyed interviewing him in the locker room and have found him to be every bit the earnest, down-to-earth person that he is known to be.
Lastly, I lament the fact of life that loyalty and business are often incompatible in the real world. For the same reason that I think the Flyers made a decision that was probably in the current team's best interests, I never begrudge a player for doing what's best for his own career either financially or hockey-wise.
I believe that no player should ever take a "hometown discount" or limit his negotiating options in free agency to a single team. Likewise, no team should ever tie itself into to retaining a certain long-tenured player if it feels there is a better-fitting alternative. I don't think fans, especially younger ones, always grasp this. I know I didn't when I was younger and more naive. While people are rushing to side with Gagne, I think it should also be said that we've only heard one side of the story here thus far.
The bottom line here is that Gagne still has enough left in the tank to fit some team's needs. He'll still be the same good guy he's always been. When the sting subsides, there will still be the memories of many productive, winning seasons in Philly that he was part of. I just wish the exit didn't end up being an awkward and painful one, because it didn't have to be.
* The Flyers have signed former Edmonton Oilers forward
Chris VandeVelde to a minor league contract with the Adirondack Phantoms. The 26-year-old checking center dressed in 11 games at the NHL level and played in 26 games for Edmonton over parts of the last three seasons while primarily playing at the AHL level. The Flyers are currently maxed out at 50 contracts but there are three slide-rule eligible players (Taylor Leier, Anthony Stolarz and Scott Laughton). There is a chance that VandeVelde's minor league deal could be replaced by a two-way NHL contract when a slot opens up.
VandeVelde, who was a fine two-way collegiate player during his career at North Dakota, has had trouble producing offensively at either the AHL or NHL levels. However, he is a defensively responsible pivot with good size. Along with the recuperated Ben Holmstrom (returning from season-ending knee surgery), VandeVelde should help the Phantoms improve their team defense among the forward corps.
* Tryout left winger
Doug Clarkson has also received a minor league contract with the Phantoms. A crash-and-bang sort of plumber with a 6-foot-5, 245-pound frame, the 24-year-old Clarkson spent time in the ECHL last season with the now-defunct Trenton Titans as well as the Toledo Walleye. He is a candidate to be loaned to Greenville if he is unable to stake down a fourth-line role on Terry Murray's Phantoms.
* The third and final day of the Wells Fargo Center portion of the Flyers training camp takes place today. The groupings and combos from day one changed somewhat yesterday and will change again today. The preseason schedule opens tomorrow night against the Maple Leafs in London, Ont.
* The Swedish Hockey League (SHL) regular season kicks off today.
Robert Hägg, the Flyers second-round pick in the 2013 Draft, will be in the starting lineup for Modo when it visits the Växjo Lakers. During the preseason, Hägg primarily skated on the top defensive pairing with former NHL back Richie Regehr.
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