UPDATE 5:45 PM
Brian Elliott is being inducted into the University of Wisconsin Hall of Fame and is not with the team tonight. Michal Neuvirth is ill. Alex Lyon has been recalled from the Phantoms and will get the start in goal. Neuvirth will be the backup.
UPDATE 10:45 AM
Projected Flyers lineup:
28 Claude Giroux - 14 Sean Couturier -93 Jakub Voracek
40 Jordan Weal - 64 Nolan Patrick - 17 Wayne Simmonds
11 Travis Konecny - 51 Valtteri Filppula - 22 Dale Weise
15 Jori Lehterä - 21 Scott Laughton - 24 Matt Read
9 Ivan Provorov - 57 Travis Sanheim
23 Brandon Manning - 3 Radko Gudas
50 Sam Morin - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere
49 Alex Lyon
[30 Michal Neuvirth]
Scratches: Oskar Lindblom, Taylor Leier, Michael Raffl, Andrew MacDonald, Robert Hägg.
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PRESEASON GAMEDAY: FLYERS VS. BRUINS
In the penultimate game of the exhibition schedule, the Flyers host the Boston Bruins on Thursday night at the Wells Fargo Center. Game time is 7 p.m. EDT. The game will be televised on CSN Philadelphia.
The Flyers have played five overtime games to date in the preseason, winning two and losing three. Their only regulation decision was a 3-2 split-squad loss in Brooklyn to the New York Islanders. Earlier this week, the Flyers and New Rangers traded off overtime decisions in a home-and-home set. Travis Konecny netted the game-winning goal for the Flyers in Tuesday's 4-3 final at the Wells Fargo Center. Sam Morin, Scott Laughton and Oskar Lindblom also scored for Philadelphia.
With two games remaining in the exhibition schedule, both Michal Neuvirth and Brian Elliott will get one more start in goal apiece. Neuvirth, who started Monday's game at Madison Square Garden, might get the nod for this game after Elliott went on Tuesday. Both goalie accounted well for themselves in their previous starts.
The Flyers had an off-ice day on Wednesday following the back-to-back games against the Rangers. The team will have a fully attended morning skate on Thursday (10:30 a.m.) at the Skate Zone in Voorhees, NJ. The starting line combinations will be posted as a blog update.
Wayne Simmonds, who had a night off on Tuesday and dealt with an illness the previous week, is likely to be back in the lineup against Boston. Valtteri Filppula, Jori Lehterä, Ivan Provorov and Radko Gudas were also given off Tuesday's game. For Thursday's game, it is also worth seeing if the Flyers continue the experiment of having team captain Claude Giroux played left wing on a line with Sean Couturier and Jakub Voracek.
The Flyers made two roster cuts on Wednesday, sending Mikhail Vorobyev and Mike Vecchione to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (AHL) camp.
Vorobyev was previously assigned to the Phantoms but was recalled for Tuesday's game as a reward for a strong camp, and he played a very strong game on a line with Lindblom and Konecny. Vecchione, who only got into the Rookie Game, preseason opener (scoring a deflection) goal, and the Brooklyn half of the split-games last Wednesday, was scratched from both ends of the home-and-home against the Rangers.
As soon as the Flyers moved up 11 spots in the NHL Draft lottery and selected the NHL-ready Nolan Patrick, the likelihood of Vecchione making the Flyers opening night roster went from about 50-50 to rather slim odds. He moved from center to wing in camp, but there have been other players projected to have a special teams role -- such as Taylor Leier -- who have had strong camps. Vecchione played fine when given a chance, but the numbers game worked to his disfavor. He remains a callup candidate in the event of injury, and is waiver exempt. The Phantoms have home preseason games on Friday and Saturday against the Charlotte Checkers.
The Flyers now have one remaining forward roster cut and one remaining defense roster cut to make before the Oct. 3 deadline to file an opening night roster with the NHL.
The forwards on the bubble appear to be Leier and veteran Matt Read. On defense, rookie candidates Morin, Robert Hägg and Travis Sanheim have all played quite well overall. They're creating
enviably tough decisions for head coach Dave Hakstol and general manager Ron Hextall.
Two of the rookies will almost certainly be on the opening night roster. If the Flyers name all three to the team, one among Brandon Manning or Andrew MacDonald would be waived and, if they clear, assigned to the AHL, while the other might be relegated to a seventh defenseman role on opening night.
Two years ago, the Flyers dispatched MacDonald to the AHL for most of the season partially for much needed salary cap relief and partially because he struggled both the previous season and in training camp. Even before the decision was made, there were indications from both Hakstol (then in his first year as head coach) and Hextall that they were not satisfied with MacDonald's game-night play in camp.
That is not the case this time around. Whenever asked about the play of the young defensemen in camp, either collectively or individually, Hakstol praises their performance in several regards (maturity of their respective games, poise, resiliency, etc) but then turns the focus to the entire "group of eight" playing well in his estimation. He was also pleased with MacDonald's play last season, and pretty much ever since the player has been back from the AHL. While MacDonald is an unpopular player with a large segment of the fan base, the coach and GM have the decision-making power here.
With Provorov, Gudas and Shayne Gostisbehere as locks to make the roster, that leaves Brandon Manning back in a familiar position for him: fighting the numbers game to win (and then to protect) an NHL roster spot. Manning is returning from off-season back surgery and had a slow start to camp, although he's looked better of late.
The feeling here is that MacDonald opens the season in the top six, Manning is the seventh defenseman and the Flyers assign either Hägg or Sanheim -- this could prove to be off-base, but I have a hunch that Morin has one of the roster spots just about sewn up -- to the Phantoms. The Flyers have long been intrigued by Morin's combination of massive size, above-average straight ahead skating (lateral movement and turning footwork has largely come around, too, through several years of hard work) and mean streak. He's started to learn to pick his spots, although he'll still make some positional mistakes and puck-decision errors.
Of the other two, second-year pro Sanheim appears to have some roster-decision disadvantages relative to Hägg. The fact that Sanheim was the one sent (for a single day) to a Group 2 practice after uneven performances in the Rookie Game and the exhibition opener suggested that he was behind the other two if a decision had to be made at the time.
Since then, Sanheim has played the best overall of the three -- in fact, he was arguably the best defenseman on the ice for either the Flyers or Rangers in Monday's game at MSG. However, the fact that he's not part of even the second power play unit (except when Provorov was given a night off on Tuesday) and didn't get a third-period look there on Monday with four-on-four and five-on-five goals already to his credit suggests that he still may be the odd man out if there are only two spots available for opening night.
Hägg already has under his belt three full AHL seasons and, before that, one-and-a-half pro seasons for Modo in the SHL. He now plays a much more structured, defense-first kind of game than he did as a teenager and 20-year-old. It would be easier for the Flyers to reason that Hägg has nothing left to gain from the American Hockey League whereas Sanheim could move up to the top of the Phantoms lineup -- although veteran T.J. Brennan is still the primary featured power play guy among the defensemen -- and springboard it to a Flyers callup when opportunity arises.
Two years ago, that was the route the Flyers took with Gostisbehere. He was a late cut in camp (a highly unpopular decision among many Flyers fans), with an instruction to tighten up some of his two-way play. When Mark Streit was lost for two months, Gostisbehere was recalled. En route to placing as the Calder Trophy runner up, Ghost made an immediate impact and never returned to the AHL. Over the long term, Sanheim's upside may actually be higher than Gostisbehere's. Sanheim is bigger, a fine skater in his own right, and his two-way abilities are starting to blossom along with his signature offensive game.
All of this, naturally, is simply conjecture and tea-leaf reading based on past decisions of a similar nature. My read on the internal pecking order could be wrong.
Lastly, keep in mind that there are still two preseason games to be played. There's still time for the pecking order for opening night roster spots to change if anyone falls off and if their competition continues to play well.
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FLYERS ALUMNI TEAM CELEBRATE YOUTH HOCKEY WEEKEND
As part of the Flyers Skate Zone's "Youth Hockey Weekend" to kick off the 2017-18 season, the Flyers Alumni Team will play its own first game of its 2017-18 slate with a game on Saturday (Sept. 30) at the Flyers Skate Zone location in Northeast Philadelphia. Game time is 12:20 p.m. EDT and will be followed by a 2:20 p.m. autograph session.
The Flyers Alumni team will play against the Blazers coaches as part of the Blazers' opening weekend at the NE Skate Zone. The Flyers Alumni Team roster includes Danny Briere, Kimmo Timonen, Philly native goaltender Eric Semborski, Flyers Hall of Fame defenseman Joe Watson, Bob "the Hound" Kelly, Brad Marsh, Terry Carkner, Doug Crossman, Riley Cote, Todd "Fridge" Fedoruk, Frank "the Animal" Bialowas, Larry "Izzy" Goodenough , AHL Hall of Fame forward Mitch Lamoureux and forwards Brett and Chase Watson (Jimmy Watson's sons).
Tickets are just $10 for adults and $5 for kids (free for current Blazers players and their siblings). Tickets can be purchased at the door on the day of the event. Below is the full press release on the event:
Flyers Skate Zone is celebrating the beginning of the youth hockey season with a day of festivities at Aria Health Flyers Skate Zone in Northeast Philadelphia on Saturday, September 30.
The day starts with beginner hockey players setting foot on the ice for the first time with the Philadelphia Flyers Rookie Program at 8:40 AM. Former Flyers forward Riley Cote will serve as a guest instructor during the Flyers Rookie Program session.
The Flyers Alumni Team will also be playing an exhibition game at 12:20 PM against the coaches of the Blazers Hockey Club. The Blazers Hockey Club, with Flyers Skate Zone as their home facility, will be celebrating their “Opening Day” with all ten youth teams playing at home all day and into the evening.
Family fun activities will also take place throughout the day, including the Flyers Community Caravan and appearances by the Flyers Ice Girls from 10:00 AM-12:00 PM, along with food trucks, basket raffles, and more.
More information about the day’s fun activities can be found at http://www.nephilly.flyersskatezone.com .
Flyers Skate Zone will also have their first session of lesson programming start on September 30. Classes include Learn to Skate (a six week skating lesson class) and Future Flyers (a six week hockey lesson program).
The Flyers Rookie Program, now in its second year and open to boys and girls ages five to nine, provides each participant with a full set of Flyers-branded hockey equipment including: helmet with cage, shoulder pads, elbow pads, hockey gloves, hockey pants, shin guards, skates, jersey, socks, stick, and equipment bag. Upon completion of the program, participants can keep their equipment. The six-week course also includes age-appropriate instruction by a certified coaching staff, including NHL alumni. Those families interested in registering their child for the program can visit PhiladelphiaFlyers.com/RookieProgram.
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