Later this morning, the Flyers will hold their final practice at the Skate Zone in Voorhees before departing on Sunday for the Secure Zone ("the Bubble") in Toronto. The roster cuts from the final group of 31 players (including goaltenders) the team is allowed to take to Toronto will be announced during the day.
If Wednesday's Group B practice players prove to be the cut list from the Bubble, the cuts would be German Rubtsov, Andy Andreoff, Egor Zamula, Andy Welinski, Nate Prosser and fourth-option goaltender Kirill Ustimenko. It is possible that Tyler Wotherspoon cut be a cut in lieu of Welinski. The players who do not go to Toronto will remain in Voorhees to stay in shape in case postseason roster attrition necessitates adding reinforcements to the depth chart.
Both Carter Hart and Sean Couturier, whose wife Laurence gave birth yesterday to a healthy baby girl named Ella, are expected to participate in Saturday's practice.
Couturier is not the only Flyers player who will be away from their baby for an extended period of time while in the Bubble. James van Riemsdyk, whose wife gave birth in early May to a baby girl named Scarlett, and team captain Claude Giroux, who son Gavin will soon celebrate his first birthday, are in the same situation. Yesterday, I asked JVR about the dueling emotions of going all out to win the Stanley Cup and facing potentially a long period of total physical separation from his wife and child.
"It’s tough. You want to be there for your family. You want to be there for all those little moments and the things that go along with that. Obviously now is a time where things are changing pretty much every day with the little one at home," said van Riemsdyk.
"With that being said, everyone in my family and close to me knows how important this is to me and how important winning a Stanley Cup is. These are sacrifices that families have make in the world of professional sports. Obviously, we are very fortunate to get to do what we do. They are excited to support me. Kind of chasing down a dream."
Over the course of camp, Alain Vigneault and staff meticulously increased the pace each day (with two off-ice work days and one complete day off built in), eventually adding in systems refreshers, special teams and the competitive simulations of three scrimmages. For example, Scott Laughton, at different junctures of camp, got full-day reps at center (early on) and left wing. He played primarily with his most frequent linemates, but also had JVR on his line at one early juncture. Laughton got in a lot of PK reps this week at practice.
On Thursday, I asked Laughton what's left on his pre-travel to-do list with one on-ice practice remaining. Apart from simply wanting to work up a good sweat and execute well on his reps in the last practice, much of his focus is on making sure all of his off-ice errands are done and he's already packed and ready to go come Sunday.