CUT-DOWN DAY: FLYERS REDUCE PRESEASON ROSTER BY 23
One day after Philadelphia Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol said there would a round of preseason roster cuts coming on Wednesday, the team announced that it was paring its preseason roster down by 23 players.
In addition to the already-known roster cuts involving the CHL reassignments of 2014 first-round pick Travis Sanheim, 2015 first-round draftees Ivan Provorov and Travis Konecny, 2014 second-round pick Nicolas Aube-Kubel, 2015 fourth-round pick Samuel Dove-McFalls and recently signed free agent defenseman Philippe Myers plus the release of amateur tryout player Luke Philp, the Flyers announced the following roster cuts:
Reassigned to CHL Radel Fazleev (Calgary Hitmen, WHL)
NHL two-way contracted players reassigned to AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms Brandon Alderson Mark Alt Cole Bardreau Tyrell Goulbourne Maxim Lamarche Taylor Leier Danick Martel Derek Mathers Samuel Morin Jesper Pettersson Anthony Stolarz Petr Straka
AHL contracted players assigned to AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms Connor Knapp Nick Luukko Martin Ouellette Pavel Padakin Michael Parks Logan Pyett Jay Rosehill
The roster cuts, including those of 2013 first-round selection Morin, Sanheim, Provorov and Konecny should not have come as a surprise to anyone who has been paying attention. Not only has general manager Ron Hextall said repeatedly that he plans to stick by his long-term development plan of not rushing teenagers and 20-year-olds to the NHL, he has also cautioned against putting too much stock in the illusory nature of preseason games.
In the case of first-year pro Morin, the handwriting was already on the wall by the time the Flyers opened the first few days of full camp with their expected NHL roster plus a few bubble players working out in one group and the rookies/prospects/AHL players assigned to a separate group.
With the OHL and WHL regular seasons about to start -- the QMJHL season has been underway for a couple weeks -- sending Provorov, Konecny, Sanheim, and Aube-Kubel back avoided disrupting their season. Just as importantly, the organization wants to be especially cautious about the development process for its young defensemen. Lastly, there is still a numbers game on the NHL roster battles and both Hextall and Hakstol have said they wanted to get the "NHL group" together as quickly as possible.
Provorov had some ups and downs in his first couple preseason games but, in general, did not seem too far away from being NHL ready. That's well south of the almost unreachable bar Hextall set for any of the recent draftees to make themselves impossible to cut this year.
In Sanheim's case, the 19-year-old actually had a better camp last year than his showing in rookie camp, scrimmages and Tuesday's preseason game this year. Sending him back now gives him a chance to regroup.
With Morin, who can be recalled from the Phantoms at any point, the player seemed to have been told even before the start of camp that he was probably headed for the Phantoms. With a little further refinement of his footwork, decision-making and discipline, he will be NHL ready. It could take a half-season, one year or more: that will become clearer as the year progresses.
In right winger Konecny's case, despite the player's strong offensive performances in Monday and Tuesday's preseason games, the 18-year-old was pretty much a lock from day one to make a quick return to the Ottawa 67's. He still weighs only 177 pounds, for one thing. For another, both he and Sanheim have much to play for this season at the junior level, including potential first-time trips to the World Junior Championships.
Aube-Kubel is off to a red-hot start in the Quebec League and is also at least an outside candidate for Team Canada's WJC roster. However, he is still working on establishing greater consistency in his all-around game and in cutting down the number of retaliatory minor penalties he takes.
Fazleev, who was unable to participate in camp while continuing to rehab a July upper-body injury, is a potential Team Russia candidate for the WJC. Prorovov is a lock for the Russian team.
Leier, who battled through injuries to both shoulders and a wrist in the second half of his rookie pro season, is now fully healthy. He enjoyed a pretty strong camp and could be a breakthrough candidate for the Phantoms this season.
The number one to keep in mind with all of the notable roster cuts is that their early demotions do not at all reflect on their future potential. The Flyers have assembled arguably their deepest group of prospects since the group that led the 2004-05 Philadelphia Phantoms to the Calder Cup but it's going to take time to start seeing dividends at the NHL level.
Prospects still remaining in camp as of now include second-year pros Scott Laughton, Shayne Gostisbehere and Robert Hà¤gg as well as third-year pro Nick Cousins. All have had fairly strong camps up to this point. Laughton is on the bubble to break camp with the NHL roster, while Hà¤gg and Cousins could be among the next round of cuts and are likely in any case to be in Allentown when the season starts. Gostisbehere could be among the late cuts but is also expected to start out the year with the Phantoms.
Among the veteran on two-way contracts still in camp are goalie Jason LaBarbera, defenseman Davis Drewiske and forwards Chris Porter, Colin McDonald, Tim Brent, Aaron Palushaj and Chris Conner.
Porter is on the NHL roster bubble depending on whether there are any injuries or trades made before the opening night roster is set. The rest are all probable to be assigned to the Phantoms relatively soon, but are all call-up candidates depending on the team's needs at a given time. Former New York Islanders regular McDonald quietly had a strong performance against the Rangers' "B" squad on Tuesday. LaBarbera will serve as the Phantoms' starter and the Flyers emergency backup.
Swiss rookie defenseman Christian Marti is still in camp with the team. He has been skating with the development coaches and apparently suffered an undisclosed-by-the-team injury prior to the scrimmages because he did not play in any of them. He is not an NHL roster candidate at this point and will join the Phantoms when ready.
The remaining players at camp will resume practice on Thursday. On Friday the Flyers have a 6 p.m. EDT game at the Wells Fargo Center against the New York Islanders. The game will see another NHL-mandated 3-on-3 overtime demonstration regardless of the score at the end of regulation.
For every point he registers during the 2015-16 season, Flyers All-Star right winger Jakub Voracek will donate $1,000 to the multiple sclerosis charitable foundation he created in honor of his older sister, Petra, who is afflicted with the incurable and degenerative condition of the central nervous system.
Public donation and corporate contribution information, the foundation's three-fold mission statement as well as information about the direct beneficiaries of all monies contributed and distributed are available on its bilingual (Czech and English) official website JakubVoracekFoundation.com.
In the interest of complete transparency, the Voracek Foundation site will publish its first financial resource allocations in April 2016 and subsequently follow up on a quarterly basis.
Initially, the funding allocations will be geared MS toward patients in the Czech Republic, but the founder plans over time to offer support to people in need in North America as well.