Quick Hits: August 12, 2023
1) I was remiss in not posting this a couple weeks ago: The Flyers recently announced which players are changing their uniform numbers in 2023-24. The list is as follows:
* Noah Cates has changed from No. 49 to No. 27. I never found it especially tough to tell whether it was Cates or Morgan Frost (No. 48) on the ice, but I know that some found it difficult. That was particularly true during national television broadcasts, both in the booth and the studio.
* Cam York has switched from No. 45 to No. 8. York prefers a single-digit jersey number and wore No. 8 for a time with Team USA. He wore No. 4 at Michigan and as team captain of the gold-medal winning USA squad at the 2020-21 World Junior Championships, but the Flyers have retired No. 4 for the late Barry Ashbee. York also wore No. 2 with the USNTDP but it's a retired number (Hockey Hall of Fame defenseman Mark Howe) for the Flyers.
* Wade Allison has switched out No. 57 for No. 17. The latter is less of a "training camp" number and was previously sported by the likes of Rod Brind'Amour and power forwards Wayne Simmonds and Paul Holmgren. Allison, who is subject to waivers, needs to stay healthier next season regardless of his sweater number. Although he's been effective at the NHL level when reasonably healthy, he's battling a different sort of numbers game -- the sheer number of wingers vying for NHL spots -- as camp slowly approaches.
* Tyson Foerster wore No. 52 when he made his NHL debut this past season. He initially requested No. 18 for the 2023-24 season and donned a No. 18 jersey for the start of Development Camp. However, when the Flyers signed veteran NHL defenseman Marc Staal to a one-year contract, Foerster ceded No. 18 to Staal. Foerster will instead wear No. 71, which is also his number with the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms and, previously, his number with the Ontario Hockey League's Barrie Colts.
* Defenseman Egor Zamula, who should be fully healed from surgery and is probably looking at his last chance for a regular lineup spot with the Flyers out of training camp, has switched his NHL number from No. 54 to No. 5. The latter is a common uniform number for defensemen. Past Flyers to wear the number for most or all of their stints with the club included Braydon Coburn, two-time Barry Ashbee Trophy winner Kim Johnsson, 1974-75 Stanley Cup team member Larry "Izzy" Goodenough, speedy and feisty mid-1990s Flyers blueliner Kevin Haller and the late Dmitri Tertyshny. With the Phantoms, Zamula has sported No. 4.
* Defenseman Ronnie Attard, who will enter the camp on the bubble for an NHL roster spot vs. starting his second full professional season in the AHL with the Phantoms, has switched his NHL number from No. 47 to No. 23. Among others, mid-to-late 1990s Flyers defenseman Petr Svoboda wore No. 23 in Philadelphia with some distinction among the blueliners in team history (although it's primarily been a number used by forwards such as Ilkka Sinisalo, Alexei Zhamnov and Oskar Lindblom). Lukas Sedlak wore No. 23 last year during his brief stint with the Flyers prior to opting to return home to Czechia. With the Phantoms, Attard has worn No. 12 (which is also more commonly a "forward number").
* Among players the Flyers acquired via trade or signed as free agents this offseason, their Philadelphia jersey numbers will be as follows: Staal, as noted with Foerster, will take his customary No. 18. Garnet Hathaway will wear No. 19, as his more customary No. 21 is worn in Philly by Scott Laughton. Ryan Poehling opted for No. 25, which he also wore with the Canadiens and Penguins (the departure of James van Riemsdyk via free agency made the number available in Philly, too). Goalie Cal Petersen will be No. 40, which he consistently wore previously in the USHL with Waterloo, the under-20 national squad with Team USA, the AHL with the Ontario Reign and in NHL with the LA Kings. Likewise, fellow ex-King Sean Walker will transfer his LA sweater number, No. 26, over to Philadelphia.
2) Today in Flyers History: August 12, 1999
The Flyers signed undrafted free agent Ukrainian winger Ruslan Fedotenko to his first pro contract on this day in 1999. A two-stint Flyer, the hard-working Ukrainian forward came over to North America as a teenager to pursue his dream of playing in the NHL.
At the recommendation of Chris Pryor, then a Flyers amateur-level scout and later the team's assistant general manager, Fedotenko was signed by the Flyers out of the USHL at age 20 worked his way up through the minor league system.
As a rookie in 2000-01, Fedotenko notched 16 goals and 36 points in a third-line role over 76 games. In his second NHL season, Fedotenko scored 17 goals and 26 points. In the playoffs, he scored the only goal in a 1-0 overtime win in Game One of the Flyers' series against the Ottawa Senators. Fedotenko later won the Stanley Cup as a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning (2004) and Pittsburgh Penguins (2009), enjoying strong playoff runs for both clubs. He returned to the Flyers for one season during the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season.
3) August 12 Flyers Alumni birthday: Rosaire "Rosie" Paiement. The first Flyers player to notch a hat trick in the Stanley Cup playoffs (Game 5 of the 1968 quarfinals against the St. Louis Blues), Quebec native Paiement was born on this day in 1945. His younger brother, Wilf, also later played in the NHL.
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