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Musings:Flyers Return Home, Phantoms Update, Frost, Hart and Much More

December 9, 2017, 7:38 AM ET [97 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
1) The Philadelphia Flyers remained in Vancouver on Friday after completing a sweep of their three games in four nights road trip through western Canada. The team will fly back to Philadelphia on Saturday and resume practice on Sunday at the Skate Zone in Voorhees, NJ.

The Toronto Maple Leafs pay a visit to the Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday night as the Flyers open a five-game homestand. After posting seasons of 53, 54, and 55 points on home ice the last three seasons but struggling to win on the road, the Flyers have a losing record (4-6-4) thus far at home and are 7-5-3 in away games.

Even with their three game winning streak, the Flyers still have plenty of climbing to do after their 0-5-5 stretch to move back into competitive position to challenge for a playoff spot when the second half of the season rolls around. Philly is currently six points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for what would be the lower wildcard seed if the season ended today. The Flyers are also behind the New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens, while most of the teams behind Philly in the standings have one or two games in hand with Philly idle the next three nights.

2) Over on the Flyers' official website, I wrote a five-point analysis of the factors that drove the Flyers sweep of the road trip. The keys: Brian Elliott's play in goal, lineup changes clicking, special teams uptick (and the discipline inherent in only taking two minors per game), improved third periods and a bit of puck luck stemming from hard work and opportunism.

3) Mark Alt played well on the road trip in his third-pairing defense role. However, he is likely headed back to the Phantoms with Radko Gudas eligible to return from his 10-game suspension. With the Flyers on a five-game homestand and the Phantoms traveling no further away than Charlotte, there is not really a need to carry seven defensemen on the roster during the homestand.

4) The Flyers reassigned veteran defenseman T.J. Brennan to the Phantoms on Friday. With the Flyers still in Vancouver, however, Brennan could not make it back to the area in time to play for the Phantoms in their home game against Hershey. As a result, the Phantoms designated Brennan as their "AHL veteran healthy scratch" on Friday. The teams rematch in Hershey on Saturday.

5) For the second straight game, due to severe blueline attrition caused by multiple injuries and the NHL recalls of Brennan and Alt, the Phantoms had to dress primarily ECHL defensemen on defense on Friday. The starting blueline against Hershey on Friday consisted of Will O'Neill, Mark Friedman, Maxim Lamarche, James de Haas, Adam Comrie and Frank Hora.

6) Depleted blueline and all, the Phantoms earned a 5-4 win against Hershey as they built a 5-1 lead and then barely held on as the edge was whittled down to a single goal with 2:28 left to play. Tyrell Goulbourne (5th goal, tallies in three of the last four games and a four-game point streak) and Comrie (1st) scored on bleeders that eluding struggling Hershey starter Pheonix Copley. Hershey switched goalies after Mike Vecchione (7th) sniped one over him for a 3-1 lead. Phil Varone (8th) and Greg Carey (13th) added to the lead with insurance goals that proved vital. Dustin Tokarski, coming off a 5-0 shutout of the Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins last game, earned another win with 19 saves.

Nicolas Aube-Kubel recorded the first three-assist game of his two-season AHL career. With 17 points (six goals, 11 assists, +11) through 25 games, NAK is now just one point away from matching his rookie output in 71 games last season.

Aube-Kubel's regular linemate, Danick Martel, entered Friday's game still leading the American Hockey League in goals (14) despite being one full month removed from his last goal, including a four-game NHL stint with the Flyers. On Friday night, Martel was denied three times in a single sequence; the first two of which were by far Copley's best saves of his abbreviated outing. Martel finished with five shots on goal. He and Aube-Kubel earned the helpers on Vecchione's first goal since Nov. 17.

7) WHL: Another night, another shutout for Carter Hart. The Flyers' 2016 second-round pick stopped all 39 shots he faced to take first-star honors in the Everett Silvertips' 3-0 home win on Friday against the Spokane Chiefs.

With 24 career shutouts, he is now two shutouts away from the all-time Western Hockey League record held by Tyson Sexsmith (Vancouver Giants). For the season to date, Hart is 12-3-1 with a 1.34 GAA, .960 save percentage and five shutouts.

Hart has a strong chance of becoming Team Canada's starting goalie this year after splitting work last year with Tampa Bay prospect Connor Ingram (then 19, now splitting his rookie pro year between AHL and ECHL work). This year, 18-year-old Vancouver Canucks prospect Michael DiPietro is the heir apparent and is being groomed for the international starting role when Hart ages out of junior eligibility.

8) OHL: Another night, another multi-point game for Morgan Frost. The Flyers' "other" 2017 first-round pick recorded a first period secondary assist and a late third period empty net goal to seal the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds' 16th consecutive victory in a 3-1 win over the North Bay Battalion on Friday night.

Frost has an active streak of seven straight multi-point games. In fact, he's averaging an even 2.0 points per game in his last 16 matches (11 goals, 21 assists, 32 points). For the season overall, Frost is averaging 1.54 points per game. He is third in the OHL scoring race with 46 points, second in assists (31), and tops in plus-minus rating (+32).

The 18-year-old Frost was snubbed by Hockey Canada for consideration from the World Junior Championship this year. It was disappointing but not surprising.

Hockey Canada has a tendency to favor 19-year-old players or at least those 18-year-olds who have represented Canada before in tournaments. Not even Claude Giroux, who had a 112-point season in the Quebec League in his draft-plus-one year of 2006-07, was selected for the World Junior team at age 18 largely because he didn't have the benefit of prior Team Canada experience.

Once Frost was ignored for the 2017 Summer Showcase roster and Hockey Canada's national team development camp in August, he had no shot at the World Juniors regardless of whatever he's subsequently done this season in the Ontario League. That's just how Hockey Canada politics work.

To add him now for the selection camp after ignoring him over the summer would mean publicly admitting an oversight earlier. With so much depth of talent in the prospect pool, it's easier for Hockey Canada to simply wait until Frost is 19 to deign him ready to compete internationally even if he is as ready now as any of the 18-year-olds who got Selection Camp invites.

Somewhat ironically given the nonstop debate over the return on the Brayden Schenn trade, St. Louis Blues' 2017 first-round pick Robert Thomas did get a WJC selection camp invite from Hockey Canada. The Blues selected Thomas 20th overall, whereas the Flyers took Frost with the 27th overall selection obtained from St. Louis along with a 2018 first-round pick and veteran forward Jori Lehterä.

Thomas, who has 42 points this season (18 goals, 24 assists, plus-10) for the London Knights, previously was part of Team Canada selection camps in younger age groups as well as their summertime World Junior Summer Showcase roster in August of this year. Plain and simple, that gave him an inside track for December compared to the later-blooming Frost.

Other 2017 draftees to earn WJC selection camp invites from Hockey Canada also had inside track position months ago. Forward invitee Cody Glass, selected 6th overall by the Vegas Golden Knights, played at the Under-18 Worlds last season and 2017 Summer Showcase. Nick Suzuki, selected 13th overall by Vegas, represented Canada at the Ivan Hlinka tourney at the U18 level and was previously with Canada White at the U17 level. Defensemen Cale Makar, taken 5th overall by the Colorado Avalanche, was a Canada West representative in 2015 and 2016 and, you guessed it, a 2017 Summer Showcase attendee. Ditto defenseman Cal Foote, chosen 14th overall by the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Not all of these players will make Team Canada this year. All including Frost are strong candidates for the 2018-19 WJC.

9) Speaking of the World Junior Championships it is unlikely that the Flyers will offer up the services of Nolan Patrick to Team Canada. Patrick will be the main focus of Sunday's blog. Another main topic: Should the Flyers switch their second power play unit from a four-forward, one-defenseman (Ivan Provorov) setup to a 3F/ 2D (Provorov and Travis Sanheim) setup?

10) The next edition of the FlyerBuzz show on Flyers Radio 24/7, co-hosted by Brian Smith and yours truly, will air on Monday evening. Previous shows are also available for free on-demand. To subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Android, Google Play or via RSS or email notifications, click here.

Other programs slated to air weekly on Flyers Radio 24/7 include Bob Rotruck's Phantoms Update show and Bill Clement's Hockey World, Jason Myrtetus' podcast and additional partner programming to come. On every Flyers game night, the radio feed with Tim Saunders and Steve Coates on the call simulcasts on Flyers Radio 24/7, and the broadcast is subsequently replayed. Select Phantoms games also simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7 with Bob Rotruck on the call.

Flyers Radio 24/7 also periodically features "Flyers Classic Radio" with vintage game broadcasts in their entirety, such as a recent broadcast from the early 1980s with Hockey Hall of Fame broadcaster Gene Hart doing the play-the-play.

Over time, the goal of Flyers Radio 24/7 is to eventually become just what the name implies: nonstop Flyers coverage and talk throughout the hockey season. Currently, the programming is about 90 percent music (an eclectic mix of classic rock, contemporary country and top 40 pop). Eventually, the goal is to have more and more Flyers and less and less music.

Please check out the online station, spread the word and let the Flyers know you want a listening place where Flyers-related programming IS the focus.
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