Quick Hits: January 30, 2020
1) The Flyers' bye week officially ends at 2 p.m. ET today. The team will then take to the ice for practice at the Skate Zone in Voorhees -- their first practice since January 20 -- and then head to Pittsburgh for the back half of their All-Star break/bye week bisected home-and-home set against the Penguins.
The team will then return home from western Pennsylvania right after the game and host the Colorado Avalanche at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday night. This will be an uncommon scenario in that the road team will actually have been in the host city ahead of the home team, with a full practice and a regular night of sleep in that city. With the Avalanche also exiting their bye week, it afforded them the opportunity to approach Saturday's game in the same fashion as a club would for an opening night game on the road.
I'm not sure, however, if the "fatigue factor" (Flyers on the second half of a back-to-back while the opponent is rested) in this case would outweigh the "rustiness factor" (Flyers already having had a game to recover their game legs and timing, while the Avalanche might need a period or so to do with just a single practice in since playing their last game on Jan. 20).
We'll see how it unfolds over the weekend. With the Eastern Conference so tight and the Flyers on the wrong side of the playoff cutoff line, these are four crucial points at stake on Friday and Saturday nights.
2) Before the break began, Carter Hart (lower abdominal muscle strain) had just returned to skating but was not yet ready to take reps in net at that point. With Brian Elliott coming off a shutout of the Penguins on Jan. 21, the veteran is a lock to get the start on Friday. The conundrum is for Saturday against Colorado.
Even if he's well enough now to practice in full on Thursday, Hart will likely need several days of practice before he's ready to play again. Core muscle injuries, even minor ones, are nothing to trifle with. In the meantime, Alex Lyon was just OK in a 4-1 home loss to Montreal. Elliott has not started on back-to-back nights this season, and the Flyers have yet another game on Monday (on the road in Detroit, which virtually has a neon "Trap Game Alert!!!" sign flashing overhead after playing Pittsburgh and Colorado).
We will see shortly what the plan will be. If it were my call, barring Hart being somehow ready for Saturday, I'd go back-to-back with Elliott against Pittsburgh and Colorado and then go with whomever is available (Hart if he's ready by then or Lyon if Hart needs a few more days) on Monday. Trap game avoidance or not, it's not wise to have Elliott start three times in four nights given the severity and duration of his own core muscle issues of recent years. Elliott is healthy now but it's better to be cautious about his use, especially with Hart needing to make sure he is truly back to 100 percent before playing again.
Until Hart went down, the Flyers had been very fortunate with their goalie health all season. The last thing the Flyers need is to push it too far with Elliott before Hart is back. Lyon, who has been a good AHL goalie for the Phantoms and has four wins (4-4-1 record) across his 11 career NHL games is capable of backstopping the Flyers to a win in Detroit if the team in front of him gives him a chance to make enough saves to hold up to whatever goal support he gets. But for the Colorado game, I think Elliott gives the Flyers the best chance to win regardless of whatever happens on Friday in Pittsburgh.
3) Arthroscopic knee surgery recovery timetables are usually very reliable. Shayne Gostisbehere was projected to be out three weeks from January 9 (the procedure itself was done on Jan. 14). As such, he should be ready to return to the lineup in short order but, like all rehabbing players, will need a practice or two (or perhaps a morning skate and being a game-day decision in lieu of a second practice availability). We'll see where things stand with "Ghost" after Thursday's pracice.
4) The full three-part series of the Flyers' player-by-player prospect updates, with progress report insights on each from Flyers assistant general manager is now available on the Flyers official website. Click below for each:
5) Yesterday, the Flyers officially announced the launch of the new Flyers Broadcast Network digital media platform. The hockey content on the network will include the following on-demand programs.
* Flyers Daily: Every day, Jason Myrtetus will provide a synopsis of team news and happenings.
* Flyers Fix: This is a bi-weekly show co-hosted by Jason Myrtetus and Brian Smith. It is a much longer-form variation on Flyers Daily; somewhat akin to the FlyersBuzz show that Brian and I did on Flyers Radio 24/7 during the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons. One major difference is that every episode will include an in-depth interview segment with a Flyers player, coach, or hockey operations front office figure. In the first episode, which is already available, Jason did a really good interview with Flyers goalie coach Kim Dillabaugh.
* Broadcaster's Roundtable: This show has ported over from Flyers Radio 24/7 to the new platform. Once per month, a panel consisting of Tim Saunders, Jim Jackson, Steve Coates, Chris Therien and myself will discuss and debate various issues surrounding the team and our observations on the club. The January edition was recorded yesterday. I was on an airplane from Dallas to Philadelphia at the time of the episode taping, so I had to sit this one out. I'll be back on the panel in February.
* Prospect Pipeline: I'm very excited about this show and the opportunity to work directly with Brian Smith again. Once a month, Brian and I will do a half-hour show devoted to Flyers prospects on the Phantoms, Royals, NCAA hockey, Canadian juniors and Europe. Sometimes we'll do a roundup and other times it might be focused in more on a particular prospect or two. Periodically, we may ask Flyers assistant general manager Brent Flahr to offer on-air insights.
* Flyers Radio 24/7: The station will still exist but, rather than being a stand-alone channel with mostly music interspersed with Flyers programming (game radio simulcasts and rebroadcasts, highlight segments and podcasts), the programming will be tweaked. The music component may become an extension of in-arena host Andrea Helfrich's work with the team and periodically feature Flyers players as guest DJs picking their favorite songs and doing segments with Andrea. The game-related radio programming will stay put.
Additionally, Andrea now has her own show as part of the Flyers Broadcast Network platform, called Everything but Hockey. In it, she talks with Flyers players and other figures close to the team about their interests and back stories away from the game. The show, like the others, is already available for subscription.
6) Several people have asked me via social media if the weekly "Real Deal Hockey with Bundy and Bill" show that I did with Chris Therien will carry over. It will not be part of the stand-alone programming suite on the Flyers Broadcast Network package. It may or may not remain as a program offered under the Flyers Radio 24/7 umbrella. That has yet to be determined.
Personally, I'd love for it to continue because Bundy and I have a blast with it, and we'd recently started to add in more opinion segments and around-the-league material into the show. If you missed Bundy's pre-All Star Break rant on round one of Tkachuk vs. Kassian, it was a beauty that harkened back to Chris on the radio on WIP.
7) Today, starting at 6:30 p.m. at Riverfront Rink in Wilmington, Flyers Alumni Jim Watson, Bob Kelly and Brad Marsh will be coaching a hockey clinic for kids age 12 and under, across two sessions. Gritty will also take to the ice and circulate around to hand out -- well, probably throw -- Flyers swag. The event is sponsored by AAA.
8) On Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m., Flyers Alum defenseman Kimmo Timonen will be making a bottle signing and beverage tasting event appearance and the Fine Wine and Good Spirits Premium Collection store location at 180 West Girard Avenue. Timonen will be autographing purchased cans of a spirited-based beverage called the "Finnish Long Drink Cocktail." It's said to taste like a spiked version of a citrus soda drink. For more info, click here.