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QUICK HITS: JULY 6, 2016
1) On Tuesday, the Flyers signed unrestricted free agent defenseman T.J. Brennan to a two-way, two-year contract. The 27-year-old Moorestown, NJ, native and former Jr. Flyers player has long been rumored to come to the Philadelphia Flyers' organization, and it has now come to fruition.
Brennan, a prolific offensive defenseman at the American Hockey League level is a two-time winner of the Eddie Shore Award as the AHL's top defenseman. At the NHL level, much like a latter-day John Slaney, he is mostly a fill-in player in the event of injuries.
The 6-1, 215-pound Brennan is coming off a 25-goal, 68-point (in 69 games) season for the Toronto Marlies. He also dressed in seven NHL games for the Toronto Maple Leafs, chipping in one goal. He has played 53 NHL games overall (five goals, eight assists, 13 points, minus-22).
The addition of Brennan and the recent signing of Willie O'Neill, himself a fine AHL offensive-minded defenseman and an AHL All-Star Game participant and postseason second-team AHL All-Star, potentially give the Lehigh Valley Phantoms the most potent blueline in the league next season. As a matter of fact, it will be interesting to see how much power play time that highly touted rookie Travis Sanheim -- one of the highest-scoring defensemen across all Canadian Hockey League affiliated circuits the past two years -- is able to carve out next season.
Assuming that Brennan is assigned to the Phantoms and does not earn a seventh defenseman spot on the Flyers, the Phantoms will have three veterans (Brennan, O'Neill and young vet Mark Alt) and four young defensemen (Sanheim, Samuel Morin, Robert Hägg and Reece Willcox) in as their top seven.
Additionally, the Phantoms signed playing forward Mark Zengerle to an AHL contract. Although he slumped to nine goals for Grand Rapids last year (after scoring 15 his first AHL year), the University of Wisconsin grad still managed to produce 38 assists. Zengerle was one of the NCAA's top playmaking centers during his collegiate career and previously once racked up 87 assists in 60 games while playing junior A hockey in the BCHL.
The only drawback to Zengerle is that he's yet another mighty mite (5-foot-8) forward on a team that just added first-line center Andy Miele (also 5-foot-8) and already had returning second year player Danick Martel (yet another 5-foot-8 forward). There's a lot of talent, speed and creativity with the puck among that trio, however. The smallish (5-foot-10) Greg Carey -- who led the AHL in goal-scoring at the three-quarters mark of the 2015-16 season before fading down the stretch -- was also recently signed by the Flyers to a two-way contract.
2) Happy birthday to an original Flyer (in every sense of the term), Flyers Hall of Fame defenseman Joe Watson. The two-time Stanley Cup winner and two-time NHL All-Star Game selection was born July 6, 1943 in Smithers, BC.
3) Over on the Flyers' official website, I authored an in-depth, three-part Development Camp preview that doubles as a farm system update from last year and a detailed look at the Flyers' prospect development philosophy. Part 1 looks at forwards. Part 2 covers the defensemen. Part 3 (to be published today) discusses the goaltenders.
4) On the Players' Tribune, Flyers 2016 third-round pick Wade Allison filled out an "NHL job application" in which he self-rates his skills among other things.
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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.
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