Quick Hits: September 14, 2019
1) Here are the ice times and groupings for the second day of Flyers training camp at the Skate Zone in Voorhees. All sessions, per usual, are open to the public and free to attend.
GROUP C -- Scott Gordon and Kerry Huffman coaching.
8:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. (Flyers rink)
FORWARDS (6)
52 - Greg Carey LW
70 - Gerry Fitzgerald C
74 - Egor Serdyuk RW
75 - Pascal Laberge C
77 - Max Golod LW
89 - Mika Cyr LW
DEFENSEMEN (6)
60 - Reece Willcox
71 - David Drake
80 - Robert Michel
84 - Sean Comrie
85 - Josh Couturier
86 - Wyatte Wylie
GOALTENDERS (2)
32 - Felix Sandstrom
67 - Kirill Ustimenko
GROUP B
10-10:45 am (Flyers Ice)
11-11:45 am (Phantoms Ice)
FORWARDS (12)
12 - Michael Raffl RW
13 - Kevin Hayes C
21 - Scott Laughton C
23 - Oskar Lindblom RW
24 - Mikhail Vorobyev C
25 - James van Riemsdyk LW
44 - Chris Stewart RW
50 - German Rubtsov C
51 - Kyle Criscuolo RW
64 - Maksim Sushko RW
72 - David Kase C
82 - Connor Bunnaman C
DEFENSEMEN (8)
5 - Philippe Myers
6 - Travis Sanheim
26 - Tyler Wotherspoon
39 - Nate Prosser
53 - Shayne Gostisbehere
54 - Egor Zamula
61 - Justin Braun
63 - Mason Millman
GOALTENDERS (2)
34 - Alex Lyon
79 - Carter Hart
GROUP A
FORWARDS (12)
10 - Andy Andreoff RW
14 - Sean Couturier C
28 - Claude Giroux LW
29 - Kurtis Gabriel RW
46 - Cal O’Reilly C
48 - Morgan Frost C
49 - Joel Farabee RW
62 - Nicolas Aube-Kubel RW
76 - Isaac Ratcliffe LW
78 - Matthew Strome LW
81 - Carsen Twarynski LW
93 - Jakub Voracek RW
DEFENSEMEN (8)
3 - Andy Welinski
8 - Robert Hagg
9 - Ivan Provorov
15 - Matt Niskanen
20 - Chris Bigras
43 - TJ Brennan
55 - Samuel Morin
59 - Mark Friedman
GOALTENDERS (3)
32 - Felix Sandstrom
35 - J-F Berube
37 - Brian Elliott
2) For an in-depth rundown of Day 1 news, notes and quotes,
click here.
3) The news that Nolan Patrick is week-to-week with an upper-body injury and general manager Chuck Fletcher is uncertain as of now whether the third-year player will be ready for opening night was certainly not what anyone wanted to hear at the start of the first day of training camp. According to Fletcher, the injury is something Patrick has been dealing with for awhile. He had been skating daily with the veterans in the days leading up to camp. On Friday, Patrick skated on his own in the morning, and then did off-ice rehab and conditioning work.
4) Both Fletcher and head coach Alain Vigneault were blunt in saying that they believe the absence of unsigned restricted free agent right winger Travis Konecny hurts the player as much or more than it affects the team. From a preparation standpoint, the GM and the coach said it will be treated the same way as the uncertainty over how long the injured Patrick will be out.
Said Vigneault, "I am very disappointed that TK is not here. It’s the start of a new era, new group. I felt that it was very important for everybody to be here. With my time in the NHL, my experience, anyone that falls behind whether its injury or in TK’s situation not coming to camp, it usually takes them a little bit of time to get back at it. Especially this time with a new coaching staff and a new way of doing things. It’s unfortunate, but I am going to work with the players that are here, and I am going to work extremely hard with those players."
Added Fletcher, "It doesn’t help. It certainly doesn’t help him. For us, he’s a good player, he can help our team, but for now, it’s no different than an injury during the season, you don’t have a player. We believe we have good depth, we like our depth and there is opportunity now for other players to step up and show what they can do. We would rather Travis be here, but he’s not so we just have to move on without him."
5) According to Fletcher, Konecny's agent, Mark Guy, is not interested in a bridge deal. He wants a non-bridge deal at a specific number. The GM said while he is flexible about long-term possibilities as well as bridge deals of varying lengths, there is an impasse over the cap hit at the term the Konecny side wants. It's not a closeable money gap at present for such a specific term, so the sides took a break from negotiating, will regroup and try again.
"I honestly don’t know what to say. I’ve been doing this 25 years and I think we go about it the right way, but we just can’t seem to get to the same language on this one," Fletcher said. "They have some specific demands with respect to term, and we’re trying to work with them in that regard. I think we are a little more flexible. I think we would look at a two- or three-year deal, or a longer-term deal, and they prefer a longer-term deal. Certainly, that makes it a little more difficult when you narrow the scope of the length of term you are negotiating on. We’ll continue to work at it."
3) Ivan Provorov said, and Fletcher confirmed, that the player valued long-term security with the Flyers over and above the possibility of becoming an unrestricted free agent in four years. The two sides never got close on bridge-deal figures, even after Zach Werenski signed with Columbus for three years, but they were able to work out a contract structure on a six-year term that presented a favorable cap hit ($6.75 million) to the Flyers for the long term.
This season, all of the cap hit comes via a $6.75 million base salary. Subsequently, every July 1, Provorov will receive alternating signing bonus installment checks of $2 million (2020, 2022, 2024) and $3 million (2021, 2023). His in-season base salaries for those years will be $2.75 million (2020-21), $4.125 million (2021-22), $2.75 million (2022-23), $5.5 million (2023-24) and $6.625 million (2024-25).
"I’m happy to be here for six years. We have a great organization, great players, great coaching staff and I’m really excited to get going and be here for six more years and try to win and get to the playoffs and go as far as possible and hopefully win the Cup," Provorov said.
4) Perhaps the most intriguing facet of Day 1 of camp was the presence of Joel Farabee on the top line with Sean Couturier and Claude Giroux, and of placing Jakub Voracek with Morgan Frost and Isaac Ratcliffe. Fletcher, who along with assistant GM Brent Flahr suggested camp opening lines to Vigneault, explained his reasoning during his Friday press conference.
"These are good young players. We may as well put them with good players and give them a chance to show what they can do. I don’t know what it means for the season or the short term, but these guys are very important parts of our future and think we want to give them a chance to show what they can do and give them some confidence. Any chance you get to practice with Giroux or Couturier or Voracek, that’s a great opportunity to watch and learn and be a part of it and hopefully feel good about yourself. There is no sense putting them with checkers. Let’s give them a chance to show what they can do," Fletcher said.
Will these lines stay together during the preseason game schedule? Fletcher was hesitant to go there after Day 1.
"We’ll see what happens in the preseason games. I think Joel will have to play more games than Claude and Coots, so I don’t know that that will be a line. I talked to Alain about it, same thing with Frost and Ratcliffe, having Voracek there," he said.
5) Fletcher fielded questions about tryout veteran Chris Stewart, and the one-way contracts given to forward Andy Andreoff and defenseman Andy Welinski during the summer.
Fletcher said of Stewart, "Chris I’ve known for a long time. His draft year, we went by him when I was in Anaheim, He went 18th overall, he’s a guy I remember interviewing during his draft year. A guy that scored 30 goals in the league, power forward, tough kid, can skate pretty well. Actually, has surprisingly good hands if you watch him in practice you see him do some things that would surprise you for a big, physical guy. He’s a player I’ve long admired. He can bring some different elements to your team from physicality, to intimidation to some skill. Frankly not having Wayne Simmonds this year, not having Dale Weise, not having Radko Gudas, it’s important to have some elements that can compete for some openings on our roster if that’s what the coaches what. Chris is a great human. It’s going to be a long battle for him, but he’s in great shape and I’m excited to see what he can do for us."
The GM said of the other two, "I thought they were both great today. Welinski’s a really good defender, mobile guy. He got a lot of time in Anaheim last year and he certainty is pushing to get into the mix. We have pretty good depth on defense, we’ll have to see how things play out, but there are a couple other defensemen out there who are pushing to get into that conversation. We have a lot of experience on the back end.
"Andreoff is a young man who can play center or left wing. He’s worked hard on his skating. I thought he moved well today, looks like he’s quicker. He’s put a lot of time and effort here He had a big season last year in Syracuse after three or four seasons in LA kind of playing forth line minutes and not getting a lot of opportunity for ice time. He went down to Syracuse last year and became a big-minute guy, played power play, had a tremendous season. Pretty good poise with the puck and sees the puck okay. I’m going to be curious to see where he’s at. He’s a physical, competitive, team-oriented kind of guy. There are some different elements he brings. We will see how the preseason goes. We feel he’s clearly a guy who can play. It’s going to be up to him."
6) Prospect update: Flyers 2018 first-round pick Jay O'Brien recorded a pair of assists on Friday night as his Penticton Vees club defeated the Meritt Centennials, 7-3. Through the first three games of the BCHL regular season, O'Brien has four points (2G, 2A).
7) The brand new Philadelphia Flyers Warriors team of injured and disabled military veterans is having its own training camp at the Skate Zone ahead of its schedule of playing the 10 other teams affiliated with USA Hockey's Warrior hockey program. During a special noontime ceremony on Saturday at the Skate Zone, legendary Flyers captain and Hockey Hall of Fame member Bob Clarke will do a jersey presentation exchange with inaugural Flyers Warriors captain Jim Young.
8) At 5:00 p.m., Flyers Alumni players Brian Propp, John LeClair and many others will take part in the WCRE Celebrity Hockey game at the Skate Zone in Voorhees. Proceeds benefit seven charity and community organizations: Flyers Alumni Association, American Cancer Society, Bancroft CARES Institute at Rowan Medicine, Jewish Federation of Southern New Jersey, Samaritan Healthcare & Hospice, and Susan G. Komen - Philadelphia.
9) Sept. 14 Flyers Alumni Birthday: Orest Kindrachuk (1950).
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