Quick Hits: October 11, 2019
1) Most of the Flyers -- except for the rookies (Carsen Twarynski and Connor Bunnnaman), healthy scratch defenseman Sam Morin, goaltender Brian Elliott, PTO winger Chris Stewart, and rehabbing players Nolan Patrick and Andy Welinski -- took an off-day on Thursday prior to the team's 2 p.m. flight to Vancouver. The team will practice in Vancouver on Friday, ahead of playing the Canucks on Saturday night.
Patrick is still week-to-week while the efficacy of his medication regimen for chronic migraine disorder is monitored and/or adjusted. However, according to Bob McKenzie, he has progressed to the point where he was slated to make the western Canada road trip with the team and to begin intensifying his workload. Even since before training camp started, Patrick has been skating on his own almost daily and shooting pucks. The next phase, once he's medically cleared to do so, is to start working him in practices and eventually working up to where he can play.
Given the nature of Patrick's medical condition and the fact that he entirely missed the on-ice portion of training camp (save for his personal and small-group skating sessions), it's not something that can be rushed. General manager Chuck Fletcher indicated earlier this week that Patrick is not yet to the stage where there's a more specific timetable than "week-to-week" status.
2) Yesterday at the Skate Zone, Chris Therien and I recorded the new edition of the "Bundy and Bill" show for
Flyers Radio 24/7. This week, among a slew of topics, we discussed the Flyers' 4-0 win over New Jersey, three early tweaks we've noticed systems wise (neutral zone, puck pursuit and penalty kill), the play of Carter Hart, the right game to get Brian Elliott in for the first time this season and a preview of the western Canada road trip through Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton.
If you missed it on Flyers Radio 24/7, you can access the podcast via
Flyers Podcast Central.
Tentatively, the next Broadcasters Roundtable -- featuring Tim Saunders, Jim Jackson, Steve Coates, Chris and me -- will be done shortly after the team's current road trip.
3) On the Flyers' official website, we did an "Inside the Moment" article breaking down Hart's highlight reel glove save on Taylor Hall with the Flyers shorthanded 5-on-3 for two minutes late in the second period. It's a detailed account from the players on the ice, the penalty box and the bench on what was instant save-of-the-year candidate in just the second game of the campaign. For more,
click here.
4) The new edition of "Therien's Take" for Flyers.NHL.com should run later today. In this installment, Bundy writes about the trials and tribulations of playing for a new head coach. The article ties into the present day Flyers with Alain Vigneault now at the helm, and is filled with stories about things Chris learned while playing for six different Flyers head coaches with very different personalities, hockey philosophies and communication styles: Terry Murray, Wayne Cashman, Roger Neilson, Craig Ramsay, Bill Barber and Ken Hitchcock.
5) AHL: The Lehigh Valley Phantoms are back in action in Friday night, hosting the Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins at the PPL Center. The Phantoms are coming off a home shutout loss to Providence in the regular season opener last Saturday. Friday's game will mark the AHL debut of Joel Farabee, the second AHL game for Morgan Frost, and the return of third-year pro defenseman Phil Myers. Alex Lyon, who was on the Flyers trip to Switzerland and the Czech Republic along with Farabee and Myers, has also returned to Allentown.
With the Flyers in Vancouver, I will be in Allentown tonight to cover the game. A report will be folded in tomorrow's blog as a subsection to the Flyers vs. Canucks game preview.
6) The NCAA regular season begins this weekend in many of the conferences. From a Flyers prospect-watching standpoint, the two most notable Friday games are Michigan vs. Clarkson and Western Michigan vs. Ohio State. In the former, Flyers 2019 first-round pick Cam York, coming off a two-goal game and excellent overall play in an exhibition game last Saturday, will make his regular season collegiate debut for Michigan. In the latter, senior forwards Wade Allison (Western Michigan) and Tanner Laczynski (Ohio State) will go head-to-head.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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