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Flyers Preseason Gameday: 9/29/11 vs. Devils |
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UPDATE 1:45 PM
Per the Flyers' official site, here is tonight's roster for the Flyers:
GOALTENDER
Ilya Bryzgalov - starter
Sergei Bobrovsky
FORWARDS
Jake Voracek, Blair Betts, Wayne Simmonds, Sean Couturier, Scott Hartnell, Matt Read, Max Talbot, Claude Giroux, Harry Zolnierczyk, Zac Rinaldo, Danny Briere & Jaromir Jagr
DEFENSE
Braydon Coburn, Matt Walker, Chris Pronger, Matt Carle, Andrej Meszaros, Kimmo Timonen, Oskars Bartulis & Andreas Lilja
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Update 11:30 AM
Well, this is a bit of a surprise: Chris Pronger will be playing tonight.
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The Flyers and Devils will take to the ice at the Wells Fargo Center tonight to begin the home-and-home set of games that will conclude the preseason portion of the schedule. The Flyers bring a 3-1-1 record on the exhibition slate to tonight's game, which will be broadcasted nationally by Versus and locally by CSN. The game starts at 7 p.m. EDT.
At this point of the preseason, the primary objectives are to get your regulars through the games without any significant injuries and to determine the final roster cuts. The Flyers plan to spend much of their practice time working on special teams.
The Flyers have started to rack up a fairly significant injury list, but the good news is that none of the injuries are of the long term variety: Chris Pronger (recovery from back surgery), James van Riemsdyk (lower body), Andreas Nodl (lower body) and Brayden Schenn (upper body) are all out tonight, along with Jody Shelley (suspension). Scott Hartnell (elevated heart rate) has now been cleared to play.
I will post tonight's lines when available.
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There has been a lot of talk over the last day about the Flyers' cap situation and the need to free up some space. There are plenty of ways the Flyers can do it without making a pure salary dump trade.
For example, if Schenn were to start his rookie season in the AHL, the Flyers would (at least temporarily) free up $3.1 million of cap space to start the season. Although Schenn would be disappointed, it wouldn't be the end of the world.
Claude Giroux started his rookie season in the AHL for the first 33 games, and he was an important contributor on the big club by the time the playoffs started. Schenn has actually had a better training camp this year than the one Giroux had in Sept. 2008. The Flyers could call up Schenn at any point they like during the season, and assess (both from hockey and cap standpoints) how to best bring him into the lineup.
As mentioned many times before, Jody Shelley's $1.1 million contract is a lot to carry, given the team's cap situation and his shaky grip (even before his suspension) on the team's 12th forward/ enforcer role with limited ice time.
There has been a lot of talk about the possibility of both Schenn and Couturier making the club to start the season. Personally, I still don't think Couturier is quite NHL ready but, if the cap space is there, I suppose it can't hurt to give him a cup of coffee on the opening night roster and then decide before the 10-game mark if he should go back to the Q or remain with the big club.
In regard to the Scott Hartnell to Nashville "rumor" from yesterday, there was apparently nothing to it. While the Flyers are no doubt talking to a variety of teams about possible trades, I suspect that if the team's incumbent second-line LW was going to be traded (for which he'd have to waive his no-trade clause), it would have happened over the summer.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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