Quick Hits: Oct. 26, 2022
1) There were various injury updates -- or, in the case of Cam Atkinson, a non-update -- on various injured players following Tuesday's practice at the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees.
Atkinson is still dealing with an upper-body injury, of which no specifics have been revealed publicly. Head coach John Tortorella said on Tuesday that his situation is "status quo; he's just trying to find his way". Later, he said that he does not think Atkinson's injury is season threatening but that the player still does not feel comfortable on the ice.
Tortorella does not want to go into specifics about the nature of what's ailing Atkinson. He'll leave it to the player to discuss when he's ready. Tortorella said that he knows Atkinson badly wants to play as soon as possible.
It should be noted that Atkinson went from day-to-day with an upper-body injury first acknowledged on Day 4 of training camp (when he sat out the second scrimmage of training camp but participated in a post-scrimmage practice) to not practicing but skating with a group of rehabbing players to taking a short trip home to Columbus (dealing with a personal matter and also meeting with a trainer with whom he'd worked in the past) to briefly participating in the final practice of training camp to once again being off-ice. Right up until the day before the regular season opener, Tortorella expressed confidence that Atkinson would play on opening night. When the coach said that Atkinson would be unavailable for the opener, he described the situation again as something day-to-day.
Thursday night will be two weeks since the opener against New Jersey. Atkinson has not practiced with the team, was not on the recent three-game road trip (in which most of the players on the injured list traveled and skated) and yet still remains on the active roster as of this writing. It's a perplexing situation. It makes no sense that Atkinson was barely on the ice in training camp, played no exhibition games, has played no regular season games, and has not practiced since the season started but has been on the active roster the whole time. It's permissible to back-date an IR designation to the start of the season, so he'd be eligible to be activated immediately if he's ready. After 10 games and 24 days into the season, Atkinson would be in LTIR territory if the Flyers need additional allowance to exceed the salary cap ceiling.
The knee-jerk fear is that Atkinson's situation is reminiscent of Ryan Ellis' trajectory of "day-to-day," then "week-to-week", then out indefinitely and then shut down for the rest of the 2021-22 season after appearing in only four games (the first three plus one November game) all year. It was finally revealed that Ellis' lower-body issue was pelvic pain and a psoas muscle issue but also a multi-layered medical problem with symptoms in the hip, lower abdomen, etc. that no one single surgery would alleviate. Ellis tried to a summertime rehab program without surgery, but has never progressed to anything close to a sufficient degree to ramp up toward playing. He's still in limbo, placed on LTIR for cap-exceeding allowance, and with no timetable to play in 2022-23. Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher conceded at the start of training camp that, without some sort of major breakthrough, Ellis' situation is career-threatening for the 31-year-old defenseman.
While I'm certainly concerned by the lack of clarity about when Atkinson may be back, I'm not ready to equate his situation to Ellis's injury saga. However, the frustration from nebulous-at-best information about a lengthening absence is not only felt by the player alone. I have zero doubt that Ryan Ellis (who did not deserve the booing he received on opening night) would love to play again if only he could. Likewise, I have no doubt that no one wants Atkinson to be back on the ice for the Flyers more than the player himself.
Atkinson is a high-energy type by nature, and he was also the roster's most vocal advocate for hiring his former Columbus coach, Tortorella. The timing of the injury could not have been worse nor the ongoing nature any more frustrating than it is. The bottom line, though, is that Cam Atkinson isn't playing, no one around (but not on) the team or within the fan base knows exactly why and there's not even a guesstimate of a return timetable. So, yes, it's a frustrating situation from all angles.
2) James van Riemsdyk suffered a broken finger in Sunday's game against San Jose. He will undergo surgery on Friday. Tortorella at first said they hoped the player would miss no more than a month -- 4 or 5 weeks is quite often the rough return-to-play timetable for such injuries -- but then immediately backed off the estimate, saying he's not a doctor and didn't actually know what the timetable will be.
3) There's better news in regard to Owen Tippett and Rasmus Ristolainen. Tippett (suspected concussion) practiced with the team on Tuesday and is slated to practice again on Wednesday. As long as he passes the league-mandated protocol, Tippett may be activated off IR and appear in the lineup on Thursday against Florida.
Ristolainen (lower-body) was mixed and matched into third-pair reps on Tuesday. He's close to being ready to play his first game this season. Tortorella said he's undecided as to what to do with the lineup when Ristolainen is activated to play. The coach said that he doesn't feel any of the six defensemen who've dressed in the six games to date deserve to come out of the lineup. It's possible, Tortorella said, that he may start out by dressing seven defensemen but that he'll cross that bridge when he comes to it. It's also possible that Ristolainen could be held out a little bit longer to allow for more practice time before his return.
4) Tortorella said on Tuesday that he's pleased with the progress that Egor Zamula has been making. The young defenseman isn't immune from gaffes -- sometimes big ones -- but the head coach said it's all part of the process of coaching a young defenseman. There's a lot to work with and a lot to like with Zamula, according to Tortorella, who noted the combination of height, mobility and puck-moving skills plus coachability that the young Russian blueliner possesses.
5) The head coach said that he plans to remain patient with Noah Cates after the player's outstanding training camp and flashes of considerable two-way upside through six games of the regular season. However, he thinks that Cates could use some offensive success and increased confidence (he had one regular season point -- the game-winning goal in Tampa Bay -- and just four shots on goal through six games).
For this reason, Tortorella is weighing the idea of at least temporarily switching Cates back to left wing and moving Scott Laughton (who took most of the faceoffs last game with Cates struggling at a 34.95 percent clip in the circle) back to the center spot. Tippett will play right wing on that line.
Tortorella has said many times that he does not look whatsoever at stats. He goes solely by his own eye test and gut feelings. The Flyers as a team have struggled mightily in puck possession numbers and Cates in particular has struggled in his underlying numbers at center. Tortorella is not worried in that regard as pertains to Cates. He just feels that the player needs to relax a bit and just play the game, because he's already demonstrated a high hockey IQ and two-way upside.
5) Speaking of numbers, Tortorella noted that Morgan Frost has had quite a few golden scoring opportunities of late including two breakaways in the last three games (a topic I blogged about yesterday) but has had payoffs since his stickhandling produced an assist in the Tampa Bay.
The scoring chances are nice but the bottom line, per the coach, is that Frost needs to be a regular contributor to the team's scoring by committee approach. That, per Tortorella, is the player's primary value.
While this is true, I'd also note the following; There has been concerted effort on Frost's part to contribute something in different ways when he doesn't have the puck.
* Frost leads all Flyers forwards with four takeaways through six games, and he's in the black in his ratio of takeaways vs. giveaways.
* Although physicality will never be his forte, Frost has made a conscious effort to take the body more often, and his 10 credited hits are fifth among Flyers forwards.
* He's done a little penalty killing, although not much in the last few games. There are still needed improvements in this area at the NHL level but he's been a regular PKer at every other level.
*Frost by far led all Flyers centers in faceoff winning percentage (north of 60 percent) in the preason but he's struggled in recent games in that department and is now at 40 percent for the young regular season. That should stabilize a bit, as his true ability on draws is somewhere in the middle of the two.
Tortorella noted that when he extended the ice time (including power play opportunity) for various younger players including Frost, Cates and Tanner Laczynski in Sunday's game when he rotated just nine forwards, the players responded in the third period. It's something that Tortorella said was useful information to him that he'll consider moving forward.
Personally, once Frost gets straightened out a bit again on faceoffs, I want to see Tortorella at least give the trio of Cates, Frost and Tippet -- which was, in Sean Couturier's Exit Day estimation, the team's best line over the final 12 games last season -- a look as an intact unit. For various reasons, they never skated as much as one shift together as a three-man unit on a single day of training camp. Cates moved to center and Tippett got injured on opening night. During camp, Frost also thrived with JVR and Travis Konecny as his two linemates.
With all due respect to Zack MacEwen and Deslauriers, I think the former group of regular linemates plus periodically slotting into PP1 would better put Frost in position to produce more offense so long as he keeps up his end of the bargain of continuing to try to push himself out of his comfort zone in other areas.
6) As for as Tortorella is concerned, the coach said he has already turned the page on sitting Konecny and Hayes on the bench from late in the second period through the final buzzer of Sunday's game. The coach acknowledged that Hayes and Konecny have been the team's two main offensive sparkplugs so far and that both are off to strong starts production wise. Tortorella said he believes too much was made out of what happened on Sunday and it was just a game-specific decision because he didn't think either player was having a good night. That had no further implications, he insisted, and both would presumably receive their typical usage and ice time come Thursday against Florida.
Hayes has been the Flyers' best distributor, without a doubt. His seven assists among his team-leading eight points have been a boon to the team. The Flyers could use a few more goals in the mix from Hayes but he's wired to be a pass-first player (as is Frost).
There are other areas, though, where the Flyers need a bit more from Hayes. He's been a culprit in several turnovers or suspect coverages that either ended up in the Flyers net or created odd-man rushes. He's on the wrong end a 5-to-2 giveaway to takeaway ratio. Although he's big and strong, Hayes is not and will never be a crushing hitter and that's OK. Even so, a little more physical engagement than one credited hit in six games would be helpful in accelerating the team's question for a new identity.
Only Cates (103 faceoffs taken) has taken more draws than Hayes so far (96). Hayes is capable of significantly better than his current 41.7 percent winning ratio, and the Flyers desperately need that. Laughton (49 faceoffs) leads the Flyers with a pedestrian but not atrocious 46.9 percent winning rate on draws. Frost, as noted, has to bring up his 40 percent rate across his first 70 faceoffs. Flyers centers have collectively lost too many draws cleanly this year but they've also collectively gotten too little help from wingers in coming up with the ones that produce 50-50 puck battles when the puck drop itself does not produce clear possession for either team.
Until Sean Couturier gets back, it would be huge help to the Flyers if Hayes can get much colder to the 50 percent break-even mark. He's not a true first-line center but he's the best the Flyers have in lieu of Couturier and there are definitely areas where Hayes can supply more juice to the team beyond the undeniably excellent setup passes he's been making. The Flyers need him to be the 2019-20 version of himself on a regular basis for the club's 4-2-0 start to be remotely sustainable. That's just the reality on this roster.
As for Konecny, there's always going to be some-risking and some defensive give-and-take to his game but his overall body of work in five of the first six games has been a clear positive for the team.
7) Joel Farabee was knocking on the door of an offensive breakout game before his three-point night (1g, 2a) and disallowed would-be goal off the rush in Sunday's match against San Jose. Hopefully he settles into a good groove now.
8) Philly could also use some pucks going in the net courtesy of Wade Allison. The power forward bagged the season's first goal on a rebound slam dunk on opening night, had a similar opportunity (which did not result in a goal) early in the second game against Vancouver but has not scored since. There've been several good chances and 12 shots on goal overall but he only has the one point to show for it so far. Allison absolutely is capable of scoring and can do it two different ways; at the net or via one-timers.
Laczynski's camp and first regular season game pleased Tortorella but the Flyers seemed to fall out of favor by the end of the first period in Game 3 and he went back down to the fourth line (moving from 4C to a wing). He's stayed in the lineup, mostly as the 12th forward, but Tortorella praised his third period play in some extended minutes on Sunday. He assisted on both of Frost's goals in the opener. Laczynski is yet another Flyer with offensive potential and pre-NHL pedigree of producing. Doing so with about 7 minutes of fourth line time is tough, however.
9) Flyers forward and power play coach Rocky Thompson is Jason Myrtetus' guest on Wednesday's edition of Flyers Daily. To listen to the podcast, click here.