UPDATE 10:30 AM ET
Goalie Kirill Ustimenko is back on the ice today as the Flyers players warm up before their third and final scrimmage of camp. Carter Hart is not on the ice.
Quick Hits: July 23, 2020
1) Day 11 of the Flyers' 13-day training camp will see the team conduct its third and final scrimmage. The first two periods will be conducted at 5-on-5. There will be special teams in the third period. The team practiced special teams on Wednesday for the first time in camp.
2) Wednesday's practice, for the first time, saw the Flyers do special teams work. Rookie center Morgan Frost subbed for Couturier on the first power play unit, centering PP1 regulars Claude Giroux, Travis Konecny, Jakub Voracek and Ivan Provorov. The second power play unit consisted of Kevin Hayes, James van Riemsdyk and Niskanen taking every rep, with Joel Farabee/ Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Shayne Gostisbehere/Travis Sanheim alternating reps.
3) On Wednesday, the Flyers announced that they have signed left winger Oskar Lindblom to a three-year contract extension worth $3.0 million per season. The deal, which preempts Lindblom's restricted free agency this offseason, is a tangible expression of the mutual faith that the organization and the player have in one another.
"We got the deal done literally in two or three phone calls. Oskar did have salary arbitration rights this year. You are able to compare his stats to other players. Obviously the way his season ended and the battle that he’s had the last six, seven months makes it different. You can still look at what he’s done over the 130-odd games he’s played in his career and you can compare it to other players who have signed contracts after a similar number of games," said Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher.
"We felt really strongly, again not that we were going to go to arbitration, but using the arbitration comparable model, we felt that a one-year, two-year arbitration award he was looking at a number in the mid-twos. In this flat cap era, to have that cap certainty for the next three years is great for us. From Oskar’s standpoint after everything he’s been through, the security I’m sure was welcomed by him. Hopefully this is a win-win. As I said to him earlier today, this is hopefully the smallest contract he signs for the rest of his career."
Lindblom was recently diagnosed as achieving remission from Ewing Sarcoma; a rare form of bone cancer that is generally found in pediatric patients rather than adults. Over his seven-month ordeal since a cancerous tumor was found in his ribcage last December, Lindblom underwent chemotherapy and rib resection surgery (an operation in which the tumor, along with surrounding ribs were removed; the resectioned areas were then replaced with kevlar and mesh). Finally, after completing his final chemotherapy treatment, Lindblom was diagnosed as being in remission when no cancerous cells were able to be detected any longer.
Fletcher also had another surprise to announce: Lindblom is being added to the 31-player roster the Flyers are taking to Toronto. He has been cleared by his oncologist and by Flyers' team doctors. He will live, skate, and practice with his Flyers teammates. While it is unlikely that Lindblom will be ready to play again until next season, Fletcher would not completely rule out the possibility that Lindblom could even see game action at some point in the playoffs.
4) Carter Hart remained off the ice on Wednesday after he had to leave the scrimmage the previous day during the first period. Unofficially, it sounds like he's on a day-to-day basis right now but it is not expected to be a long-term absence.
5) Also missing from Wednesday's practice: Sean Couturier (his wife, Laurence, was in labor with the couple's first child, a girl), Connor Bunnaman (undisclosed) and Kirill Ustimenko (undisclosed).
6) Yesterday, Chris Therien and I did a rundown of the developments in Flyers camp through the first 10 days. Additionally, on today's "Flyers Daily" podcast, host Jason Myrtetus discusses the Lindblom contract extension. The program features audio from yesterday's media availability with Chuck Fletcher, Alain Vigneault, and Matt Niskanen.