Quick Hits: Dec. 28, 2021
1) The Flyers have announced that Morgan Frost and Kevi Hayes have both exited COVID-19 protocol. They will practice with the team in Voorhees today and should both be ready to play tomorrow night when the Flyers begin a four-game road trip against the Seattle Kraken.
2) The following players remain in COVID protocol: Carter Hart, Sean Couturier, Scott Laughton and Derick Brassard. There is a chance that Couturier could be cleared by the end of the upcoming road trip but that remains to be seen.
3) With Felix Sandström on the active roster for the road trip due to unavailability of Hart, the Flyers have recalled Reading Royals goaltender Kirill Ustimenko to the Taxi Squad. The team also recalled defense prospect Cam York to the Taxi Squad.
4) The Flyers are holding an 11 a.m. ET practice today prior to leaving for Seattle. The line combinations are as follows:
86 Joel Farabee - 13 Kevin Hayes - 11 Travis Konecny 23 Oskar Lindblom - 28 Claude Giroux - 89 Cam Atkinson 25 James van Riemsdyk - 48 Morgan Frost - 20 Gerry Mayhew 71 Max Willman - 38 Patrick Brown - 17 Zack MacEwen
Extra forward: 59 Jackson Cates
9 Ivan Provorov - 61 Justin Braun 6 Travis Sanheim - 70 Rasmus Ristolainen 3 Keith Yandle - 8 Kevin Connauton
Extra defensemen: 24 Nick Seeler, 45 Cam York
35 Martin Jones 32 Felix Sandström
Extra goalie: 67 Kirill Ustimenko
5) WJC: Emil Andrae logged 23:22 of ice time and two shots on goal in Team Sweden's 3-0 shutout win over Slovakia on Day 2 of World Junior Championships action on Monday. Brian Zanetti made his WJC debut for Team Switzerland and played 18:23 across 29 shifts (0 SOG, E) in Switzerland's 4-2 loss to Russia. The Swiss play Team USA later today. Team Canada (Elliot Desnoyers) will oppose Austria.
6) The AHL has postponed Wednesday's scheduled game between the Lehigh Valley Phantoms and Cleveland Monsters due to a COVID outbreak on the Cleveland roster. This is the seventh Phantoms game that has been postponed; all due COVID situations on other teams. To date, the only confirmed COVID case on the Phantoms roster was the one that kept Cam York out for a couple of weeks.