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Quick Hits: Lines for Home Opener, Simmonds, Hart, Schultz Family & More

October 8, 2019, 4:13 PM ET [28 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Quick Hits: October 8, 2019

1) Although Monday was a mandatory off-day for the Flyers after returning from Prague, most of the team voluntarily elected to skate, per head coach Alain Vigneault. The only players not on the ice were Scott Laughton (wisdom teeth extraction) and Matt Niskanen (minor medical procedure). Everyone, including Laughton and Niskanen participated in practice on Tuesday.

Tuesday's practice lines:

28 Claude Giroux - 13 Kevin Hayes - 93 Jakub Voracek
23 Oskar Lindblom - 14 Sean Couturier - 11 Travis Konecny
25 James van Riemsdyk - 21 Scott Laughton- 81 Carsen Twarynski
81 Connor Bunnaman - 12 Michael Raffl- 18 Tyler Pitlick
Extra forward: 44 Chris Stewart (PTO)

9 Ivan Provorov - 61 Justin Braun
6 Travis Sanheim - 15 Matt Niskanen
53 Shayne Gostisbehere - 8 Robert Hägg
Extra defenseman: 55 Sam Morin

79 Carter Hart
37 Brian Elliott

On Wednesday, the Flyers will hold a morning skate at 10:30 a.m. at the Wells Fargo Center. Although Vigneault plans to keep morning skates this season to a minimum, the sheer number of non-game nights since last Friday's opener in Prague justified holding a morning session ahead of Wednesday's game.

2) Hart will get the start in Wednesday's Wells Fargo Center home opener against the New Jersey Devils, per Vigneault and the player.

3) Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher provided an update of sorts on center Nolan Patrick, who is battling chronic migraine syndrome, is on a course of medication and has made strides over the last couple months -- enough to enable him skate on his own and shoot pucks -- but not enough to have a timetable to be cleared to practice and play.

The news is that there is no news. Patrick remains in the same holding pattern he was in before the Flyers departed for Europe. He apparently hasn't had a setback, but his condition is also still not resolved sufficiently to make a more definitive timetable. Thus, he remains on the same nebulous week-to-week status in which he entered training camp.

If the Flyers end up having to use LTIR in order to exceed the salary cap ceiling, the team could back-date Patrick's designation to the first day of the regular season. If the team does not need to exceed the cap, however, there really isn't a benefit changing his status from INR to LTIR.

4) Defenseman Andy Welinski (lower-body injury) returned to skating last week and was on the ice again on Tuesday. Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher said late last week that Welinski, who was injured in the second game of the preseason, is progressing well in his injury rehab. When Welinski is cleared to play, he will be eligible to be placed on waivers and then, assuming he clears, be assigned to the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms. If so, it will free up $750,000 of cap space for the Flyers.

5) Wednesday's game will mark the return of Wayne Simmonds to Philadelphia for the first time since he was traded to Nashville minutes before the expiration of the 2019 NHL trade deadline. As an unrestricted free agent this summer, Simmonds signed with New Jersey. Although Simmonds has joked that he'd be disappointed if he's not booed by Flyers fans upon his return, the longtime fan favorite will most certainly get the video tribute/ standing ovation treatment at the first stoppage of play.

Although Simmonds won't break from his game face, the fan response will no doubt mean a lot to the player after nearly 8 seasons in Philadelphia as a heart-and-soul player, locker room leader and one of the most active players anywhere in the NHL in terms of his involvement in his team's local community.

6) During a subsequent stoppage of play in Wednesday night's game, the Philadelphia Flyers Warriors will be honored for their championship at the 2019 USA Hockey Warrior Classic national tournament in Las Vegas this past weekend. The Flyers have provided 40 club box tickets to the Warriors and their families. I'm looking forward to stopping by and seeing everyone. A Flyers Alum will be coming down with me to congratulate the guys.

On a similar note, thank you to Bernie Parent and wife Gini for recording a congratulatory video for the Flyers Warriors yesterday.

7) Earlier in the day on Wednesday, there will be a City Hall ceremony to honor the Flyers Warriors. In addition to the players, head coach Brad Marsh and assistant Rob Baer will be in attendance.




8) The NHL made a scoring change from Friday's opening game in Prague. The power play goal by Oskar Lindblom, originally recorded as unassisted because the puck bounced in off a Chicago player and classified as an own goal, has now been changed to add assists to Travis Konecny and Ivan Provorov. As a result, Konecny officially had a three-point opening night (2g, 1a).

9) Vigneault told the assembled media at the Skate Zone today that he had a good talk with 19-year-old forward Joel Farabee before the player left the team to join the American Hockey League's Lehigh Valley Phantoms. The head coach told Farabee that he was pleased with the youngster's camp and that if he takes the right attitude to Allentown -- it's an opportunity to play in all game situations and lots of minutes on the top end of the lineup -- it won't be very long in Vigneault's estimation until Farabee is called up to the NHL.

A similar discussion was had the previous week with Morgan Frost, who also played well in camp in between battling a recurrent minor groin pull. Frost made his pro hockey regular season debut for the Phantoms on Saturday. He had a couple highlights -- a dazzling stickhandling dangle and shot on goal, and creating an early second-period power play as he was taken down near the net -- but the team got shut out by Providence.

The Phantoms, with Farabee, Frost and defenseman Phil Myers all on hand, return to action on Friday as they host the WB/S Penguins. The next night, the Hershey Bears come to the PPL Center.

10) For a rundown of memorable moments from Episode 3 of Behind the Glass, click here for the third-part of the four-part series at the Flyers official website.

11) Flyers Hall of Fame tough guy Dave "the Hammer" Schultz and the Schultz family (son Chad and daughter-in-law Jen) asked the Flyers Alumni to pass along this message.

From Dave Schultz:

Hello to our Flyers Alumni family and Flyers fans everywhere. The webpage link below is for my sweet and wonderful 9-year-old granddaughter, Annalise.

Our world was shattered this August when Annalise was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor. There are no words to express how much we love her and how much Annalise means to our family. Please help support her if you can and if you can’t, please share her story.


AmazingAnnalise.com.

From Annalise’s Mom and Dad (Dave's son, Chad, and daughter-in-law Jen):

We have set up a GoFundMe page for Annalise at:

GoFundMe.com/f/vwpbx7-amazing-annalise

All donations go to supporting Annalise’s fight. With your help, we can care for her 24/7, create moments that bring smiles to her face, and cover the mounting medical costs, therapies, and experimental treatments we’re forced to explore. This is our journey to find a cure for Annalise and other families battling pediatric brain cancer.

Thank you for joining us and keeping her going strong and totally recovering from this devastating tumor.
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