CAMP UPDATE: JULY 20, 2020
1) The Flyers have a complete off-day today. Tomorrow, training camp resumes with the second of three 60-minute scrimmages on the docket; the final scrimmage will be on Thursday. Wednesday will a split group/combined group practice, in which special teams will be the focus of a portion of the session. Friday is an off-ice workout day. Saturday is a split group/combined group practice. The next day, the team departs for Toronto.
2) Jakub Voracek was back on the ice on Sunday after a one-day absence. The reason why he was not available for Saturday's scrimmage was that his Covid-19 test was delayed and the results came back inconclusive. He re-tested, and the results came back negative. Voracek said that he felt 100 percent fine all along. The veteran also vehemently -- and colorfully -- defended players' right to medical privacy but said that, in his case, he didn't mind volunteering the information.
3) The best player on the ice in each of the Flyers' last two practices, by almost unanimous agreement, has been team captain Claude Giroux. He has been laser focused, and any rust he showed on Day 1 of camp, is gone. He's also been a pest to the goalies, whacking away at any and all pucks until he hears a whistle; just as he would in a game. He's even shot a puck or two from higher in the zone as he hears the whistle sounding to change players. I joked yesterday that if Giroux had ever played with Ron Hextall as a teammate, the goalie would have fired the puck right back at him.
4) Alain Vigneault noted on Saturday that he planned to mix around line combinations during the second week of camp. For the first time, he did just that for Saturday's practice. There were a few different looks in terms of forward combinations, as well as positions (Scott Laughton saw reps on left wing as well as at center, and there were also some reps where German Rubtsov and Andy Andreoff switched off who was in the middle). All of the defense pairs from the first week of camp remained intact. The combos are below:
Claude Giroux - Sean Couturier - Jakub Voracek James van Riemsdyk - Kevin Hayes - Travis Konecny Joel Farabee - Derek Grant - Tyler Pitlick Scott Laughton - Nate Thompson - Nic Aube-Kubel Michael Raffl - Morgan Frost - Connor Bunnaman Andy Andreoff - German Rubtsov - Carsen Twarynski
Ivan Provorov - Matt Niskanen Travis Sanheim - Phil Myers Robert Hà¤gg - Justin Braun Shayne Gostisbehere - Mark Friedman Egor Zamula - Andy Welinski Tyler Wotherspoon - Nate Prosser
Carter Hart Brian Elliott Alex Lyon Kirill Ustimenko
5) After practice, Vigneault discussed his roster plan moving forward. Although teams are allowed to carry 30 skaters and an unlimited number of goalies, the head coach said he anticipates carry 30 players overall (skaters plus goalies). Presently, the Flyers have 18 forwards, 12 defensemen and four goalies.
Specifically, Vigneault said, "There’s a couple guys here right now that aren’t going to make it to the bubble in Toronto. There’s other guys that if you intend on having a long playoff run, you need depth. We are going to obviously need that depth. Usually this depth is playing in the American League or they’re what we like to call the Black Aces. They’re staying ready, just in case the team needs them down the road.
"This is a different situation with us going to Toronto and the bubble. They’ve got to come right now. I think anybody that’s going to be with our group, that’s going to go through what we’re going through right now as far as on ice stuff, preparation, video preparation is going to benefit from this. All our strength and conditioning guys are coming with us, if you are not one of the regulars, you are going to have a very strict program that we expect all our guys to follow. Just like if they were in the summer going through their program, getting themselves ready for training camp. They’re going to keep themselves ready just in case we need them."
Last week, Vigneault said that four games -- one exhibition game and three round-robin games -- were not going to be sufficient to get game action for everyone who is in camp. He also felt that it would be unfair to ask any players who have not played in a bonafide game since mid-March to be ready to jump right into a Stanley Cup playoff game in the event of several injuries higher on the depth chart.
It seems quite likely that Egor Zamula's involvement in camp was solely intended as a head start toward readying himself for the 2020-21 season. He has shown that he's recovered from back surgery, and once again did not look out place skating with and battling against pros. There may also another cut or two from the lower end of the defense depth chart (perhaps veteran Tyler Wotherspoon or Nate Prosser) and a forward cut or two. In terms of the forwards, the entire group of 18 has seen at least some NHL action this season.
It would take both Hart and Elliott going down for Ustimenko to dress even as a backup in the playoffs, and it would take Alex Lyon to also be incapacitated for the young goalie to get on the ice in the postseason. However, given the fact that every team is going to need at least a fourth goalie as a precaution (some teams have as many as six in camp) and that goalies do not count against the playoff roster limit this year, I'd be surprised if there are any goalies in Flyers camp who aren't brought along to Toronto.