Quick Hits: June 12, 2020
1) Yesterday, the National Hockey League and the NHL Players Association jointly announced that July 10 will mark the start of Phase 3 of the return-to-play plan. While this is contingent upon favorable health and safety conditions and the league and the players' union coming to a final agreement on various details for Phase 4 (resumption of games), it's fair to say that the two sides haven't come this far without being determined to see it through to completion.
The length of training camps in July has yet to be determined. One possibility is that camps will be two weeks in length at team training facilities and then another six days in the "hub" city to which the team will be assigned.
2) In today's edition of "Flyers Daily" on the Flyers Broadcast Network, Jason Myrtetus interviewed Flyers assistant general manager Brent Flahr about various prospects in the farm system. In the second segment, Jason and I discussed the ramifications of Phase 3 and also discussed prospects Jay O'Brien and Wyatt Kalynuk. Click here to download the podcast.
3) Elliotte Friedman's latest "31 Thoughts" included two Flyers-related notes. He stated that Morgan Frost will be on the extended roster when play resumes -- not a surprise -- and that the team would like to symbolically add Oskar Lindblom (long-term injured reserve) to the roster as a way to acknowledge his battle with Ewing Sarcoma. That, however, may not be possible. Friedman's other note was that several NHL teams will have interest in signing Kalynuk if the Flyers are unable to come to terms with him on a one-year entry-level contract. This is also not a surprise.
4) Today in Flyers History: On June 12, 2002, the Flyers announced a trade with the Phoenix Coyotes. The Flyers sent goaltender Brian Boucher and a 2002 second-round pick originally belonging to Nashville in exchange for center Michal Handzus and goaltender Robert Esche.
5) Today in Flyers History: On June 12, 2013, the Flyers sent AHL forward Shane Harper and a 2014 fourth-round pick to the New York Islanders in exchange for the negotiating rights to impending unrestricted free agent defenseman Mark Streit. On June 28, the Flyers signed Streit to a four-year, $21 million contract. In his first season with the Flyers, Streit posted a 10-goal, 44-point season while dressing in all 82 games and averaging 17:36 of ice time.
6) With all of the bad news that has inundating us across the country, I have been looking for some feel-good stories from time to time whether hockey-related or not. Flyers Warriors player Jason DiPietro just shared one with me a nice little story that I wanted to pass along.
Freddy,the son of Jason's longtime friend Jill Cox, wanted to set up a lemonade stand for his neighbors; something that many of us did at one point or another during childhood. Unfortunately, Freddy's plans got literally washed out due to heavy rain. He was pretty bummed until Jill and he came up with an idea to hold a virtual lemonade stand instead.
Freddy's got a good future ahead of him as a businessman, because the virtual lemonade stand has been a hit at 50 cents "per cup." Patrons are buying "virtual lemonade" via Jill's Venmo page (@Jill-Cox-023).
Good work, Jill, and way to go, Freddy!