MELTZER'S MUSINGS: JUNE 30, 2016
1) The Flyers officially announced their 2016 Development Camp schedule and roster yesterday. Camp runs from July 7 to 11, with the Trial on the Isle ending the camp on July 12.
There will be daily two-a-day sessions for forwards and defensemen on the first two days of camp, along with three sessions for the goaltenders. On July 9, the format switches to one-per-day sessions for forwards and defensemen plus two mixed-group sessions. There are still three goalie sessions per day. On the final day, there are two group sessions followed, starting at 3:00 p.m., with a 3-on-3 tournament. The first daily session on every day but July 11 (10:00 a.m. start) will be at 8:30 a.m.
The camp will be primarily instructed by Flyers' development coaches John Riley (forwards), Kjell Samuelsson (defensemen) and Brady Robinson (goaltenders).
2) Flyers 2016 first-round pick German Rubtsov will not attend camp. It can be difficult to get the necessary clearances for KHL-committed Russian players in the short time between the NHL Draft and teams' Development camps. This does not automatically preclude the player getting a release from his KHL contract (which requires significant compensation for a prominent young player to secure from his KHL organization).
Rubtsov was selected by the QMJHL's Chicoutimi Saguenéens with the 27th overall pick of the 2016 CHL Import Draft. Basically, Chicoutimi is rolling the dice on the player being able to get a release from his two-year contract with Vityaz Chekhov. The player himself has expressed a preference to play in North America next season, but the reality is often that securing an early release from his contract is not financially attractive unless he has a realistic shot at playing in the NHL the next season.
Hulking Russian goaltender Ivan Fedotov, whom the Flyers drafted in the seventh round of the 2015 Draft, was not able to attend Development Camp last year. He's listed on the roster this year.
3) Flyers defense prospect Philippe Myers, who suffered an injury on an apparent knee-to-kneet hit in the Memorial Cup final on May 29, will not attend the Development Camp. I will try to find out his exact status.
4)There will be six goalies in camp this year. Phantoms goaltender Anthony Stolarz, who had been at every camp since he was drafted in 2012, has "graduated" from the camp now that he's entering his third professional season. The six attendees are highly touted free agent signing Alex Lyon, 2016 draftee Carter Hart, 2015 draftees Felix Sandström, Matej Tomek and Fedotov, plus 2013 draftee Merrick Madsen.
5) The Flyers will have four unaffiliated invite players at the Development Camp:
Kamloops Blazers (WHL) defenseman Ondrej Vala is a huge-framed (6-foot-4, 216 pound) project player from the Czech Republic. Ranked 102nd overall on the Central Scouting North American list and 188th overall by International Scouting Services, Vala went unselected in the 2016 NHL Draft. He played for the Czech team at the 2016 Under-18 World Championships in Grand Forks. During the WHL regular season, he posted 21 points (four goals, 17 assists) and 52 penalty minutes in 71 games. Still quite raw in many aspects of his game -- hardly unusual for many big-framed teenage players -- the 18-year-old does possess a heavy shot. During the 2014-15 season with the HC Pardubice J20 team, he scored nine goals in 29 games and added four more in 21 games for the Czech national Under-17 squad.
Guelph Storm (OHL) defenseman Garrett McFadden is an undersized (5-foot-11, 185-pound) offensive defenseman who will turn 19 years of age on August 21. The undrafted player, who served as an alternate captain for the Storm this past season, is coming off a strong offensive campaign (11 goals, 40 points) that was third in scoring for a woeful team that had the worst record in the Ontario League this season. On any team that has a record as bad as Guelph's (13-49-6), one typically will lots of players with ugly-looking traditional plus-minus numbers, and that's certainly the case with the 2015-16 Storm. The more one plays, the worse the numbers generally look. McFadden was minus-41 at even strength this season, while Carolina Hurricanes 2016 draftee defenseman Noah Carroll was minus-48 and team captain C.J. Garcia was minus-50. McFadden was a member of Team OHL in the 2015-16 Super Series, suiting up in one game against the Russian national Under-20 team.
Vancouver Giants (WHL) defenseman Brennan Menell is an undersized righthanded-shooting offensive minded defenseman who turned 19 in April. The 5-foot-10, 187-pound player posted 53 points (seven goals, 46 assists) in 69 regular season games this season for a Giants club that missed the playoffs. He was tied for third on the team in scoring and was minus-20 in traditional plus-minus on a team with a half-dozen players with similar or worse minuses. A fine puck-mover, Menell is one of the better passing defenseman in the WHL and he usually gets his shot attempts on the net.
Union College (ECAC) forward Mike Vecchione is a two-way winger with quick hands and who plays a responsible game without the puck on his stick. He is slated to enter his senior collegiate season. Vecchione is not big but he's deceptively strong. The 23-year-old American forward has had a good all-around collegiate career, although his junior season raw numbers (nine goals, 29 points in 34 games) may not look as nice on paper as ones he put up on superior Union teams, including the 2013-14 Frozen Four champion squad for which Shayne Gostistbehere was the team's most dominant player and which much better depth than last year's team. In his sophomore season, Vecchione had 19 goals and 50 points in 39 games. The right winger stands just 5-foot-10 but packs 194 pounds.
It is something of a surprise that the Flyers have invited this many unaffiliated players to camp. Last year, Flyers GM Ron Hextall said during a group interview session at camp that he prefers to focus the in-house time and resources at the camp on players early within the organization.
Each and every year at every NHL team's Development Camp, the GM and the instructors repeat the mantra that it is not an evaluation camp and there are no contracts to be earned and no NHL jobs to be won. While true, there is a certain amount of secondary evaluation and competition that goes on, especially for guys hoping to get a Rookie Camp invite for September.
6) On the Flyers' official website from Sunday through Tuesday, I will have a series of Flyers farm system updates -- one on forwards, one on defensemen and one on goaltending -- looking at developments in the prospect chain since last summer. Naturally, that includes the influx of prospects selected in the 2016 Draft.
7) Tomorrow, of course, is the start of free agency "season" in the NHL. Typically, I do a running Flyers blog during the first day with a wrapup entry in the evening. That will be the case this year as well. This time around, I think the Flyers will make a signing or two from the middle tier of the market, although they may also hold off a few days and try to pluck a bargain.
It will be interesting to see what the teams who were rumored to be in Steven Stamkos do now for a Plan B after he decided to re-sign with the Lightning. The Flyers were never really involved on Stamkos because they are still trying to get their salary cap situation (while already vastly improved) to more ideal territory and also to continue building from within.
8) When the one-for-one trade between the Edmonton Oilers and New Jersey Devils that swapped top-line forward Taylor Hall out for defenseman Adam Larsson was announced, I was initially as flabbergasted as most everyone other than Peter Chiarelli seems to be.
That is pretty clearly not enough of a return for Hall. On the other hand, I will wait to see what else the Oilers do before I lambaste Chiarelli. I will also say that Larsson fills a need on the defense-starved Edmonton roster, although trading Hall straight up is a shocker.
Larsson may not become the franchise D-man he was touted to be in the 2011 Draft. The offensive side of his game has not developed thus far as hoped. But he's just 23 years old, shoot righthanded, played 22:30 of ice time per game for the Devils in 2015-16, dressed in all 82 games, and was a traditional +15 on a low-scoring team despite starting a team low 30.5% of his shifts in the offensive zone.
To those why are saying "Why didn't the Flyers just trade [fill-in-the blank(s)] for Hall?" the answer is that Chiarelli was obviously aiming for something specific: a proven young defenseman, especially a righthander, who is good without the puck (to help a team that is pretty awful without it), has a big frame but also skates well and who has been through the NHL learning curve and can step right in and eat a lot of minutes. There aren't a lot of those around.
Sorry, but the Flyers do not currently have such a player. They have some very good prospects who could become impact NHL defensemen but no one who is ready to step in right now and immediately pull 22-plus minutes of ice time a game. Ivan Provorov, hopefully, can arrive at that point in a couple of years but won't be expected to shoulder that sort of load right away even if he does make the Flyers' NHL roster this season. Theoretically, even if the Flyers were willing to trade Calder finalist Shayne Gostisbehere, he is still more of an undersized offensive defenseman who is becoming solid enough defensively not to be a liability but his role will never be that of a defensive backbone (if it is, he's being misused).
Sorry, folks, but offering "Michael Del Zotto, Scott Laughton and a third-round pick" wasn't going to land Hall for the Flyers. I will not sit here and tell you that, at his current stage of development, Adam Larsson is worth a one-for-one trade for Hall. I will say I am confident and hopeful that Provorov will prove to be a superior all-around player to Larsson if his development is handled better than Larsson's early development in New Jersey was.
However, for 2016-17, the Flyers sure could immediately use a defenseman with Larsson-like traits. I understand why Chiarelli wanted him and I think he will help the Edmonton blueline. However, unless the Oilers' GM still believes that Larsson will yet live up to what he was hyped to be in 2011, I just cannot see where he saw full value in yesterday's deal. I also don't think there are many others who still view as Larsson as someone who is going to become a franchise defenseman. If this deal was Ryan Nugent-Hopkins for Larsson, I could understand the Edmonton side of it much better. Not Hall.
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2016 FLYERS ALUMNI GOLF INVITATIONAL
The 2016 Flyers Alumni Golf Invitational will be held on July 18 at the Philadelphia Cricket Club. The event will raise money for the Flyers Alumni Association, Flyers Charities and BLOCS.
The Golf Invitational will offer a round of golf, lunch, cocktail reception and dinner program.
Subject to changes and additions, the following Flyers Alumni -- widely representing every decade of team history -- will be attending: Ray Allison, Bill Barber, Frank Bathe, Craig Berube, Brian Boucher, Jesse Boulerice, Danny Briere, Terry Carkner, Lindsay Carson, Jeff Chychrun, Bob Clarke, Bill Clement, Steve Coates, Riley Cote, Doug Crossman, Barry Dean, Eric Desjardins, Andre "Moose" Dupont, Doug Favell, Todd Fedoruk, Ross Fitzpatrick, Mark Freer, Larry Goodenough, TJ Gorence, Paul Holmgren, Ed Hospodar, Mark Howe, Kerry Huffman, Bob "the Hound" Kelly, Tim Kerr, Orest Kindrachuk, Mike Knuble, Ian Laperriere, Mitch Lamoureaux, Neil Little, Brad Marsh, Phil Myre, Bernie Parent, Dave Poulin, Brian Propp, Chris Pronger, Luke Richardson, Don Saleski, Dave "the Hammer" Schultz (attending but not golfing), Ilkka Sinisalo, Derrick Smith, and Joe Watson.
For more information,
click here.
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