Quick Hits: July 4, 2023
1) Yesterday, the Flyers signed 36-year-old veteran defenseman Marc Staal to a one-year, $1.1 million contract. With 1,101 regular season games and 128 Stanley Cup playoff games under his belt -- including a run to the 2023 Cup Final with the Florida Panthers -- Staal is being brought in on a similar basis to forward signing Garnet Hathaway.
In announcing the signing, general manager Danny Briere said he explained -- and Staal was on board with -- the organizational direction shifting to a greater emphasis on youth. As an older veteran, Staal will be asked to aid in the transition.
Normally, this means accepting a somewhat reduced role from what the veteran is used to playing. It should be noted, however, that Staal dressed in all 82 regular season games for Florida this past season and saw his ice time increase -- going from 18:12 in the regular season to 20:52 in the playoffs - when the postseason rolled around. He's averaged 20:07 of ice time for his career as a whole.
As such, I have a feeling that Staal will see plenty of deployment by head coach John Tortorella, whom he knows well from their five seasons together with the New York Rangers. That does not mean it will be impossible for one of the younger defensemen in the system to break into the rotation regularly over the course of the 2023-24 season but it may well mean that Staal is entrenched unless he plays himself out a job or suffers an injury.
As of now, the Flyers blueline consists of Travis Sanheim, Rasmus Ristolainen, Cam York, Staal, Nick Seeler and Sean Walker. Tony DeAngelo is still on the team but, reportedly, will be traded to the Carolina Hurricanes on July 8.
Briere has said that defensemen Egor Zamula (who is no longer waiver-exempt and is coming off shoulder surgery back on Apil 10) is someone the organization want to take an extended NHL look at heading into next season. Ronnie Attard, incoming rookie Emil Andrae, newcomer Helge Grans and Adam Ginning are also in the mix somewhere.
Right now, the numbers don't add up for the younger D to get extensive NHL playing time. Their respective levels of NHL readiness are also uncertain in several cases. It will be interesting to see how it plays out by opening night.
For more on the Staal signing, click here.
2) Today is, of course, Independence Day in the United States. It is also an off-day in the Flyers' Development Camp. There will be one more on-ice double session on Wednesday and a 5-on-5 scrimmage on Thursday between Team Clarke and Team Lindros to close out the camp.
Yesterday, development program co-director Nick Schultz spoke to the media about his observations from camp so far:
J.R. Avon, who won the OHL championship to advance to the Memorial Cup in 2022-23 and will be turning pro in 2023-24 to (most likely) join the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, also spoke after Monday's session:
An older freshman at Northeastern last season, Hunter McDonald emerged as one the top shot-blocking defenders in the NCAA last season. Recently, on the 32 Thoughts Podcast, former Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher identified McDonald as a sleeper within the Flyers farm system who Fletcher believes will eventually play in the NHL. McDonald spoke with the media after Monday's on-ice work: