TRAINING CAMP DAY 2
Following an intensive opening day of training camp that many players (including captain Claude Giroux and top right winger Jakub Voracek) described as the toughest and most competitive first day of camp in their careers, the Flyers will return to the ice on Saturday for Day 2. On Sunday afternoon, the preseason schedule opens with a road game against the New York Islanders.
Flyers general manager Ron Hextall said on Friday afternoon that the team will make a decision on Sunday about potential roster cuts. Some other notes from Day One:
* Neither Nolan Patrick nor Oskar Lindblom did not look at all overwhelmed or out of place in their respective first days of NHL training camp. The prettiest individual play goals of the day, however, were made by second-year NHLer Travis Konecny and undrafted camp tryout player Ivan Kosorenkov.
* With each passing day, it seems more and more likely that Kosorenkov will be signed to an entry-level contract -- if not by the Flyers, then by some other NHL team -- before he returns to the Victoriaville Tigres of the QMJHL for the 2017-18 season. He has scorer's hands and has a solid work ethic on top of it.
* First year pro defensemen Mark Friedman has a bit of swagger to him that almost borders on cockiness but it serves him well. He's come into camp and excelled so far, especially when he has the puck on his stick. In the Group One bag skate, Friedman raced to the front of pack and stayed there. In a battle drill, he jostled with the bigger and more experienced Jori Lehterठand stood his ground. Although listed at just 5-foot-10 ("Give me 5-11" he said with a grin after practice), Friedman is very strong pound-for-pound.
"I'm a very competitive guy," Friedman said. "If you don't come first, you come last."
Although Friedman is still far more likely to be assigned to the Phantoms than to open the season on the NHL roster, he's been making a statement that he deserves to be part of the discussion about the talented young defensemen in the system. In Wednesday's Rookie Game, he outplayed both Travis Sanheim and Philippe Myers and gelled nicely in a pairing with Samuel Morin. It was just one day and one scrimmage-like exhibition game, but it was an encouraging performance by Friedman and he kept right on competing effectively on Friday in his first-ever day of camp among established pros.
* Myers, who left the Rookie Game after the second period for precautionary reasons due to a minor lower-body injury, practiced in full on Friday in Group 2. He looked fine. During the Group 2 bag skate, it was Myers who led the pack going goal line to goal line.
* 2016 second-round pick Pascal Laberge sustained an injury during Group One on Friday. He left the ice early for medical evaluation. Hextall said more would be known over the weekend.
* There is at least a decent chance that some of the lines used on Day One will stay together for a preseason game or two as head coach Dave Hakstol looks to see if there is chemistry with these combinations. The Day One combos:
GROUP 1
Lindblom - Giroux - Konecny Bardreau - Filppula - Lehtera Laberge - Rubtsov - Kosorenkov Carey - Knight - Salinitri Leier - Vorobyev - McDonald
Provorov - Sanheim Morin - MacDonald Lamarche - Friedman
Brian Elliott, Alex Lyon and John Muse in goal.
GROUP 2
Weise - Couturier - Voracek Weal - Patrick - Simmonds Raffl - Laughton - Read Bunnaman - Varone - Vecchione Twarynski/Goulbourne - Fazleev - Martel
Hagg - Gostisbehere Brennan - Gudas Manning - Myers Hora/de Haas - Willcox
Michal Neuvirth, Carter Hart, and Leland Irving in goal.
* For more notes, observations and video from Day One, see my camp report on the Flyers' official website.
* Saturday's practice schedule is below:
Groups 1 and 2 for today's #FlyersCamp pic.twitter.com/Jm2onOl89w
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) September 16, 2017
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QUICK HITS: SEPT. 16, 2017
1) Morgan Frost, in his first game back with the OHL's Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds after being among the four OHL-affiliated 2017 Draft picks cut from the Flyers' preseason roster, notched a goal and an assist to take 2nd-star honors in a 6-5 preseason loss to the Sudbury Wolves on Friday night.
2) USHL: Flyers goaltending prospect Matej Tomek notched an 18-save shutout on Friday as the Waterloo Black Hawks blanked the Des Moines Buccaneers, 3-0.
3) SHL: The regular season gets underway on Saturday. Flyers prospects David Kase (Mora) and David Bernhardt (Djurgà¥rden)are both in action.
4) MHL: On Thursday, Dynamo St. Petersburg beat SKA St. Petersburg's top junior team via shootout, 2-1. Kirill Ustimenko was the backup goalie for Dynamo. Ustimenko has won three of his first starts this season, posting a 1.99 GAA, one shutout and a .906 SV% to date.