Quick Hits: August 27, 2019
1) The Flyers announced on Monday that recently acquired forward Tyler Pitlick will miss approximately four weeks after undergoing left wrist surgery to repair a tear suffered during his offseason training. It is the same wrist that Pitlick injured last season, when he underwent mid-season surgery and was limited to 47 games played.
The recovery timetable is shorter this time, but Pitlick will still miss most or all of training camp after he begins rehab work on Sept. 2. His projected return would be right about the same time that the Flyers depart for Europe to play an exhibition game in Switzerland before opening the regular season in Prague against the Chicago Blackhawks.
Assuming a healthy return, Pitlick is still likely to placed in the Flyers' top 12 of the forward rotation when he gets back. However, the injury likely knocked him out of the running for the season opening third-line right wing spot.
Playing on a line with Radek Faksa in Dallas in 2017-18, Pitlick produced 14 goals and became one of Ken Hitchcock's most trusted role-playing forwards. This past season under Jim Montgomery, Pitlick's wrist injury cut the heart out of his season. His eight goals prorated to 13 had he not missed 35 games due to the injury.
Unfortunately, injury setbacks have been a major part of Pitlick's career story to date. Every time he earns a promotion and starts to run with the opportunity, he seems to get hurt. Most notably, a torn ACL while playing for Edmonton took him roughly a full calendar year to return to form. Originally selected by the Oilers with the first pick (31st overall) of the second round in the 2010 NHL Draft, Pitlick's main assets are his size, north-south skating and tenacity in puck pursuit.
Pitlick's injury opens the training camp competition field a little wider. Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher and assistant general manager Brent Flahr have publicly pumped the brakes several times on speculation about whether the likes of Joel Farabee or Morgan Frost will be ready to make an immediate jump from the college/junior ranks to the NHL. However, barring an outside acquisition or an incumbent veteran such as Michael Raffl filling the spot, the chances of Farabee, Frost or other rookie hopefuls such as German Rubtsov or Mikhail Vorobyev (who opened last season in the NHL) earning a spot out of camp probably increased with the news of Pitlick's injury.
Players such as veteran signee Andy Andreoff and fourth-year pro Nicolas Aube-Kubel will be vying in camp for the 12th and 13th forward spots but seem less likely to be plugged into the 9th forward role at five-on-five.
2) In Part 2 of the "Line Play" series on the Flyers official website, the attention moves from the projected first line (Claude Giroux and still-unsigned RFA Travis Konecny flanking Sean Couturier) to the second line anchored by newcomer Kevin Hayes and right winger Jakub Voracek. A spoiler: I chose Oskar Lindblom over James van Riemsdyk for the left wing spot on the Hayes line. The reasons will be explained in the article.
3) Here's a pop quiz with an answer that may surprise many Flyers fans. Over the last three seasons, which notable NHL forward has posted the most points, the Flyers' Jakub Voracek, the Blues' Vladimir Tarasenko, the Stars' Jamie Benn, the Sharks' Joe Pavelski (now with Dallas), or burgeoning young Hurricanes standout Sebastian Aho?
The answer is Voracek. Over the last three seasons, Voracek has posted 212 points in 242 games, compared to Tarasenko's 209 points in 238 games. Voracek ranks 23rd in forward scoring in the NHL over the past three seasons, also placing him ahead of the likes of Benn (201), Pavelski (198) and Aho (197).
As with any statistic and ranking, there is broader context needed to understand the big picture. However, the point here is that Voracek's critics do not seem to realize that he is not an easy player to replace in a lineup.
4) August 27 Flyers Alumni birthdays: Ryan Bast (1975), Mark Botell (1961), Evgeny Medvedev (1982), Adam Oates (1962).