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Quick Hits:Vigneault, Special Teams Practices, Flyers Warrior Hockey, TIFH

September 5, 2019, 3:56 PM ET [11 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Quick Hits: Sept. 5, 2019

1) Earlier today, newspaper Flyers beat writers Dave Isaac and Sam Carchidi spoke with head coach Alain Vigneault at the Skate Zone. Vigneault acknowledged that he has spoken one-on-one with both Ivan Provorov and Travis Konecny. The coach the two unsigned restricted free agents both told him they were looking forward to the season. Vigneault said that while he certainly wants and hopes for both players to be in camp at the start of camp, he can put himself in their shoes and understands that contract negotiations are part of the business.

As tweeted by Carchidi, Vigneault unsurprisingly said that Scott Laughton would see time in camp not only at fourth line center but on a third-line wing, as both possibilities are presently on the table for opening night depending on how things shake out in the weeks to come.

2) Carchidi also tweeted that Vigneault said, as a matter of personal preference, the coach prefers to keep to a minimum the number of players who regularly play on both ends of special teams. That is interesting, as the Flyers have numerous candidates who can kill penalties as well as appear on the power play.

One would think that Sean Couturier is still a lock to be on both the power play and PK. Claude Giroux has historically done both, but perhaps his PK work may be reduced under Vigneault and Mike Yeo. Once signed, Provorov is a lock to remain a key penalty killer and has, more often than not under the last two head coaches and former power play coach Kris Knoblauch, been the defenseman of their primary choosing to play the point on the second power play unit.

Travis Sanheim is also vying for the PP2 point role, and became one of the PK rotation guys as last season progressed. Oskar Lindblom has seen periodic power play duty and became a PK regular last season after Scott Gordon took over as interim head coach. Kevin Hayes is a candidate to play either or both ends of special teams; certainly PK, possibly power play.

Thus, it will be interesting to see which players do get assigned to regular duty on both ends of special teams, and which are primarily part of only one or the other. Laughton and Michael Raffl are likely PK guys but not likely power play participants. Shayne Gostisbehere, James van Riemsdyk and Jakub Voracek are power play locks but not probable PK candidates. Matt Niskanen will certainly kill penalties regularly and, in the past, was power play regular. Justin Braun will see PK work; the vet has never been a power play type.

3) I was not at the Skate Zone but will ask Vigneault upon his next availability on whether he feels that having multiple players who play on both ends of special teams is disruptive on practice days. I feel that it can be.

Inevitably, when players work both ends of special teams, they practice with their power play unit almost exclusively when special teams work is done at practice. Couturier and Giroux are examples. This means that, in addition to the guys who kill penalties but are on the PP units, there are inevitably "stand-in PKers" (starters who don't typically play either end of special teams in games as well as the healthy scratches) in special teams drills.

This means that a lot of the preparation reliance for games is placed on having productive PK video meetings since your collective PK units aren't together on the ice very often due to the preference for the dual PP/PK guys to work on PP at practice. Theoretically, it is possible to switch up at some point and have "PP stand-ins" for the affected players' spots but you don't really see it because practice time rapidly become scarcer and scarcer once the regular season game schedule inevitably starts to get tightly packed. Having only a couple guys who play both ends of special teams has a theoretical benefit of more continuity in practicing PK on days where special teams is part of the work plan.

4) At 2:30 p.m. on Sept. 16, the Philadelphia Flyers Warriors team will play an exhibition game at the Wells Fargo Center against the Pittsburgh Warriors. Later than evening, when the NHL's Flyers play their preseason opener against the New York Islanders, the Flyers Warriors will hold a raffle winner drawing for a series of prizes:

Grand prize -- one pair of Flyers lower-bowl season tickets (section 122) for the 2019-20 season.

2nd prize -- A suite for a Flyers 2019-20 regular season home game (date TBD).

3rd prize -- Autographed Claude Giroux jersey.

4th prize -- Autographed Carter Hart jersey.

5th prize -- Four tickets to a 2019-20 Flyers regular season home game (date TBD).

Raffle tickets cost $20 for one or $50 for three. All proceeds go to benefit Flyers Warrior Hockey, which provides disabled military veterans an opportunity to play hockey. More information on how to purchase tickets and on the program itself is available by emailing [email protected]


5) Today in Flyers History: On Sept. 5, 1975, the Flyers signed Dave "the Hammer" Schultz to a five-year, $350,000 contract extension. There was no such thing, of course, as AAV back in 1975. That was the total value of the contract back in a very different era. For its time, though, it represented a nice salary for an NHL role player. Schultz would play one additional season with the Flyers before he was beaten out for a roster spot by young winger Paul Holmgren and traded to the LA Kings on Sept. 29, 1976.
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