On a special one-hour edition of Flyers Daily, Jason Myrtetus has a one-o-one interview with Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher about the Flyers 2020-21 schedule and his expectations heading into training camp and the season.
In the second segment of the show, Jason, Brian Smith and I break down the schedule and focus on what will be different about this season than a normal campaign, even apart from the lack of fans in the stands at least at the start of the season. What are the keys to success in such a tightly packed schedule planned entirely within the Eastern Division?
In the final segment, the three of us give our picks for which Flyer we think will be the club MVP, who will be the best defenseman (Ivan Provorov excluded), and our picks for the bounceback candidate of the year.
After Chuck Fletcher spoke with Jason, he did a video conference call with members of the local media. A transcript follows below, courtesy of the Flyers.
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What changes for you now in terms of roster construction or what the taxi squad is going to look like?
Not much. The taxi squad’s basically going to be our top recalled players that will physically be in our own little bubble at Voorhees with us. It will depend on performance in training camp, obviously the health of our roster and where we may need to fill. I think we anticipate having a 23-person roster this year. We have enough cap flexibility to easily carry 23, so we’ll build the taxi squad around those 23, in terms of performance in camp, health of our club. Obviously we’ll carry a third goalie and we’ll have to make other decisions as we see fit.
Will there be players that you would want playing down in the AHL versus being up with the team, just to get the experience? Or will you keep the best recall options with the taxi squad?
We’ll probably deal with it differently as the season evolves. Initially with the January 13th start date, we’ll keep the players we need to keep around to make our team as competitive as possible and give our coaches the proper options to help us win games. When and if the American League season gets going, we’ll have to revisit that. There’s a little bit of a quarantine issue if you try to change players on your taxi squad or bring new players in. We’ll have to be mindful of that, but certainly if the American league is playing, it may be an opportunity to make sure some players are getting games. We may have to juggle that as things warrant going forward. Initially we’ll just start out the players that have earned the right to be on the taxi squad and that are the closest to helping us win games in the NHL. We can make adjustments as we go forward.
You have to keep three goalies, correct? Can one of them be on the taxi squad or does he have to be on the 23 man roster?
You can do either. Our plan would be to keep one on the taxi squad. If we fill all six taxi squad spots, we’ll have one goalie and five skaters, I would assume. We’ll see how camp goes. I think our plan would be 21 skaters and two goalies on our active roster, and then five skaters and one goalie on our taxi squad. Like all theories, things can change pretty quickly.
Can you talk about the pros and cons of not traveling as much as usual? Note: The Flyers won't have to travel any further north than Boston, any further south than DC, or any further west than Pittsburgh.
I’m really pleased with our schedule. Obviously, we’re in an incredibly difficult division. It was very difficult last season and certainly isn’t any easier this season. The quality of the competition will be high. That’s exciting. Certainly every game will be difficult. In terms of schedule construction, it’s better than I anticipated. We only have eight back to backs. We obviously don’t change time zones. In terms of our division, I don’t think any of us can have any complaints. I’m sure we’re going to have the fewest air miles flown. There’s going to be more recovery time than I think I anticipated. I guess I’m pleasantly surprised. I think the NHL, Steve Hatze-Petros and his group deserve a ton of credit. I can’t imagine what they’ve had to go through and all the different permutations they’ve dealt with the last couple months and the what ifs. We’re pleasantly surprised by the amount of recovery time that’s built into the schedule.
Is it going to be a little nostalgic going to see all these division games and back to backs?
The Patrick Division; we’re bringing it back! It’ll be great. Again, it’s a hard division. Last year, I felt we had the best division in the league, and I think it’s the same this year. Any of the eight teams can make the playoffs. We all can make it, we all can miss. There’s going to be some drama and some tension. In terms of re-establishing rivalries and renewing a few others, I think it will be tremendous. It will be great for our fans. I think our players will enjoy it. We won’t have to do a whole bunch of pre-scouting as the season goes on. I think our coaches will save a lot of time on the pre-scouting. You’re only playing seven teams all year. I’m just thrilled we get a chance to play. The league and the union did a tremendous job getting this all together. It’s going to be exciting. It’s equal footing for everybody. It’ll be tough, but I can’t wait. It’ll be fun.
With Nolan Patrick and Oskar Lindblom, how are they doing as camp nears?
I’ll start with Oskar. He’s doing really well. Obviously, he was cleared to return to play in the bubble and he played two games in there. Since that time, he’s had a tremendous off-season. He’s been able to rebuild his body, if you will, and regain some of the muscle mass he lost during his treatments last spring and summer. He’s in really good shape physically. All of our players will get their pre-season physicals in early January and at that point, we’ll find out if there’s any issues. We’re anticipating no problems at this point. Oskar looks good. Nolan, I watched him skate today. He’s an amazingly talented young man. He looked great. Feels good. Again, we’ll wait for the doctors to meet with him for the pre-season physical. Life is unpredictable. We certainly saw that last year. I can’t make predictions on anybody. I think we’re in a good shape going into camp and we’re excited to get these two players back.
Do you anticipate making any trades or new signings before the season starts?
I would anticipate this is our roster. We’re not entertaining any free agent signings at this point in time. You never know with trades. It’s been relatively quiet, at least on our front. October was a pretty busy month. A lot of communication, but things have quieted down since then. We like our team. We like our group. We like the fact that we have a little bit of cap space to make adjustments as we may need to in-season. I think that would be a fine route to go for us. Let’s see what we have in camp. Let’s see how some of these players perform and get into the season. I’m sure there will be surprises, both positive and negative that we have to deal with. We should have the ability to do those things in a pro-active manner if need be once the season starts.
Do you anticipate that taxi squad filled with all prospects or some veteran players?
The majority of our players that played in Lehigh Valley are prospects. I would think there will certainly be some prospects. Depending on how players play, there could be some players who have a little bit more experience. The important thing is based on where we’re at at the end of camp, based on where our health is and who makes the 23, we’ll just try to use the taxi squad to complement the roster in the best way possible.
If Nolan Patrick is cleared to join camp, is there a possibility that you might be conservative with bring him back into games? If he is in camp and good to go, he can possible play in game one?
We’ll have to wait and see how things going with Patty and how he feels. I don’t know that you take it slowly. If anything, everybody’s basically on the same page right now. Nobody’s in mid-season shape. In some ways, this might be the right time to re-introduce players back in. I know he hasn’t played in a while, but at the same time there’s seven teams that haven’t played games since last March. It’s going to be a different start for a lot of players and a lot of teams. Clearly, everybody will be in better form by mid-season than what they are at the beginning. It’s going to be relative even that way. It might be a good opportunity for everybody to get going on the same page.
How much is this camp going to be similar to the one in July? What did you take away that could help the group once you get back on the ice on the 4th of January?
First thing is you have to hope everybody’s put in the time and effort to come to into camp in great shape. If players are behind the eight ball in conditioning, it’s going to be difficult to get them where you want them to be by the start of the season. That’s the first part. At this stage, there’s not much we can do about that. We’ve obviously been checking in with players and giving them detailed programs. The ones that I’ve seen around here look like they’ve put a lot of time and effort in. We’ll hope for the best in that regard. We’ll hope that we’re healthy. The most important thing you can do is have as many game-like situations as possible in practice, whether that’s scrimmaging or drills, working on the shootout, whatever that may be. You want to make things as game-like as possible and get as ready as you can be without playing a game.
Will you address the team that they aren’t in the Toronto bubble anymore? Or is it a given that they will understand that protocol and things like that?
We’ll meet with the team. The NHL and the NHLPA have a PowerPoint presentation that we watched prior to going into the bubble in Toronto and we’ll be able to show it again this year, just as a reminder. It’s always good to understand what the protocols are and what the rules are. We’ll remind people. I’m sure there will be a little bit of a transition, but we’ll certainly make sure they’re aware of all the rules and regulations. The players understand. They get it. They understand how important it is to stay out of harm’s way and stay healthy so we can complete this season. Obviously we’ll work closely with them to make sure that everyone has all the information they need.
Will everybody ready to go for the start of camp and the first day of ice? Does anybody need to have extensive quarantining processes once here?
We anticipate everybody being ready to go. The vast majority of our NHL players from last season are in town. We have some of our players that played in the American League working their way back. Some are here already and some are coming in after Christmas. We should have enough time to have them ready to be on the ice by the 4th, certainly.
When you have these quick little road trips -- New York, Newark -- does it afford you the opportunity to not to have to stay in the city?
You’re allowed to come back. This year, you can travel even by bus the day of the game if you want to. I’ll sit down with AV and Bryan Hardenbergh and we’ll go through. I anticipate that we might be there like we would the night before and travel like we normally would. There may be a couple instances where you can save a couple days on the road by staying here and just bussing closer to the game. We have four cities we can bus to and only three cities we’ll have to fly to. Pittsburgh, Boston and Buffalo are all about a one hour flight. The three New York teams and Washington are all relatively easy bus trips, particularly these days. We’re very fortunately of the division we’re in, in that our travel should be really manageable compared to the other three divisions. Every team in our division should be thankful for that.
How is the taxi squad going to affect the Phantoms' preparation?
Well, there’s so much up in the air with the American League, we’ll just have to see. We have some players that we have signed to some American League contracts. There’s still a question as to whether every American League team will even operate. There may be NHL teams looking to loan some of their prospects to American League teams that are playing. Who knows? The landscape right now is very unclear, but we’ll just have to adapt and adjust as we get information on what it is. We’re prepared to operate and to do what we need to do to develop our players. There’s still a lot of time between now and then and a lot of questions that have to be answered.
With a spot on the top pairing with Provorov, what are your expectations of Phil Myers going into this season?
Just to continue to improve. At even strength I hear top pair andsecond pair. I think those are a little bit misleading. At even strength our ice time is relatively evenly allocated. I really like Sanheim and Myers together. I think they have great chemistry. I like the way the complement each other. I like the way they play the game. I like that they are both continuing to evolve and develop into really good NHL defensemen. Ultimately that will be up to AV and his coaching staff to decide. My conversations with AV, I think we’re open-minded to anything.
We could have different pairings depending on the time of the game, the score of the game. A lot of it is going to depend on health and how players are performing. I can assure you that Provorov will get lots of ice time. I think Sanheim and Myers will. We have some guys that are competing to increase their role. One thing I will say about Phil Myers, with Niskanen retiring, there’s now potentially more PK ice time available. Phil did not kill a lot last year for us. That’s a role I think he can excel at as he gains experience in the league. We’re excited about Phil’s future and I think there’s an opportunity for Phil to take on a bigger role, regardless of the pair that he’s in.
In terms of the taxi squad, what are your thoughts in terms of positional distribution? For example, three forwards, two defensemen, one goalie.
I think it depends a little bit. If we carry 13 (forwards) and 8 (defensemen), for example, it might make sense to have more forwards than defensemen in the taxi squad. If we carry 14 and 7 on the active roster, it could be a little more evenly distributed. I’d like there to be real meaningful competition in camp and we’d like to have the ability to reward the players who have earned the right to be with our group, whether it’s making our 23 man roster or making the taxi squad. I don’t mean to be vague.
Our health will determine it, but certainly player performance will be a big part of who’s around. If we do carry 29 players, counting the taxi squad, in theory you would like it to be our 29 best players. There may be an extenuating circumstance or two where you do something based on the prospect’s development if all things are equal. We’ve never been through this. It’ll be exciting to see. It would be great to get all the input and see what everyone’s list is. That’s what we’ll do as camp goes on. I’ll ask everybody to give me their list.
I’m like the teacher, I get to grade them all. See what everybody says. It’ll be interesting to get everybody’s opinion and I’m sure there will be some interesting ideas.