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Flyers Gameday: 3/28/23 vs MTL; Quick Hits

March 28, 2023, 3:33 PM ET [85 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Game 73 Preview: Flyers vs. Canadiens

With 10 games remaining in their 2022-23 schedule, John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (28-32-12) are home on Tuesday evening to take on Martin St. Louis's Montreal Canadiens (29-38-6). The match is the final one in the Flyers' current seven-game homestand. Game time is 7:00 p.m. EDT.

The Flyers are 4-1-1 during the current homestand. They have won three straight games and have collected points in five straight tilts (4-0-1). After this game, the Flyers have three remaining home games -- April 1 vs. Buffalo, April 9 vs. Boston and April 11 vs. Columbus -- as well as six road games including one on Thursday in Ottawa.

This is the third and final meeting of the season between the teams and the second game in Philadelphia. The Flyers are 0-1-1 this season against the Habs.

Carter Hart will get the start tonight against Cayden Primeau (son of Flyers alum and former team captain Keith Primeau). Hart enters this game coming off a 29-save shutout of the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday.

Nicolas Deslauriers will re-enter the Flyers lineup tonight after missing the previous two games with an upper-body injury. The team will once again dress 11 forwards and seven defensemen. With Tyson Foerster and Egor Zamula having been assigned on Sunday to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, Justin Braun will re-enter the lineup as the seventh defenseman. Kieffer Bellows will remain in the lineup and Tanner Laczynski will remain a healthy scratch.

Montreal, which is playing for the third time in four nights and has won back-to-back games, is coming off a 4-3 (2-1) road shootout victory over the Buffalo Sabres last night. The Habs remain an injury-riddled club with nine players on IR.

Montreal forward Brendan Gallagher tallied his 200th career NHL goal in last night's game. Flyers counterpart James van Riemsdyk is two tallies away from his 300th NHL goal.

For more, see today's Five Things on PhiladelphiaFlyers.com

The Flyers did not practice on Sunday (Flyers Charities Carnival) or Monday (off day). They held an optional morning skate today. The Canadiens, at the end of their B2B/3-in-4 stretch, did not skate. Projected lineups below are subject to change:

Flyers

86 Joel Farabee - 49 Noah Cates - 74 Owen Tippett
22 Brendan Lemieux - 48 Morgan Frost - 57 Wade Allison
25 James van Riemsdyk - 13 Kevin Hayes - 20 Kieffer Bellows
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 21 Scott Laughton - xxxxxxxx

9 Ivan Provorov - 45 Cam York
6 Travis Sanheim - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
24 Nick Seeler - 77 Tony DeAngelo
61 Justin Braun

79 Carter Hart
[32 Felix Sandström]

Canadiens

49 Rafael Harvey-Pinard -14 Nick Suzuki - 68 Mike Hoffman
25 Denis Gurianov - 77 Kirby Dach - 27 Jonathan Drouin
56 Jesse Ylönen - 71 Jake Evans -11 Brendan Gallagher
55 Michael Pezzetta - 67 Chris Tierney -60 Alex Belzile

8 Mike Matheson -58 David Savard
44 Joel Edmundson -52 Justin Barron
54 Jordan Harris -26 Johnathan Kovacevic

30 Cayden Primeau
[34 Jake Allen]

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Flyers Sign Emil Andrae to ELC

The Flyers announced on Tuesday that they have signed defense prospect Emil Andrae to a three-year entry-level contract. The deal will kick in for the 2023-24 season.

Andrae, drafted by the Flyers in the second round (54th overall) of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, is currently on a PTO with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. That arrangement will stay in place for the remainder of the current AHL campaign.

The 5-foot-8, 181-pound offensive-minded defenseman has collected a pair of assists in his first two games with Lehigh Valley. After captaining Team Sweden at the 202 IIHF World Junior Championship (4g, 4a in seven games played), Andrae posted 26 points (6g, 20a) in 51 SHL games played this season for a low-scoring HV71 Jönköping team that finished 11th in the 14-team league and missed the playoffs.

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Comcast Spectacor Announces Scott's Retirement, Hilferty's Promotion

On Monday, Comcast Spectacor and the Flyers announced that Dave Scott, the Flyers' Chairman and Governor, will retire on April 17. Scott worked for Comcast for 30 years and was handpicked by the late Ed Snider to take over the Flyers' helm prior to Snider's passing.

Dan Hilferty, who was recently named CEO of Comcast Spectacor, will succeed Scott as Chairman of the company on April 17 and as Governor of the team on July 1.

Comcast Spectacor issued the following in a press release to announce the change:

"Dave is a highly talented executive who contributed to the growth of our business in many ways over the past three decades," said Brian L. Roberts, Chairman and CEO of Comcast Corporation. “He was one of the early entrepreneurs as we expanded our company nationally, first as a Division President and then as CFO of Comcast Cable during some of our most pivotal years. We're very grateful to Dave for all he has done for Comcast, and for his leadership of Comcast Spectacor over the last decade.”

"Working for both Comcast and Comcast Spectacor have been the opportunity of a lifetime, and I'm very proud of all that we've accomplished over the last 30 years," said Scott. “It has been an incredible honor to work for such a terrific company and I’m very thankful to Brian for his trust in me. I’ve also been fortunate to work with so many fantastic colleagues and look forward to watching this company continue to grow under Dan’s leadership.”

“I’ve enjoyed partnering with Dave since I joined Comcast Spectacor last month and I’m energized about the opportunity to further advance the company,” said Hilferty. “Our number one goal for the Flyers will be to consistently compete for the Stanley Cup. It is going to be a process that will take time to get on that path, but I’m confident we are headed in the right direction with Danny Briere as interim GM, Coach Tortorella, and our hiring of a President of Hockey Operations soon. Our leadership team will be fully focused to deliver on this for our fans while also continuing to make the sports complex the best location for sports and entertainment in the nation.”

Scott joined Comcast Spectacor in December 2013 and under his leadership it became an internationally recognized leader in the sports and entertainment industry. In addition to his role as Governor of the Philadelphia Flyers, Scott has led the Wells Fargo Center's $350+ million transformation into a new arena, which will conclude in the coming months, and oversaw Spectra, a leading venue management and hospitality company, which was later sold. Scott also brought professional lacrosse back to Philadelphia in 2017 by re-establishing the Philadelphia Wings, launched Spectacor Gaming, which has broadened the company's reach around the globe through esports, and returned professional ice hockey back to Portland, ME after the company acquired the Maine Mariners of the ECHL.

Scott will continue to serve on the board of T1, Spectacor's competitive esports team based in South Korea, which is part of a joint venture between Comcast Spectacor and SK Square created under Scott’s leadership. He also served on the Executive Board of Snider Youth Hockey in support of Ed Snider’s legacy and is currently a Board Member Emeritus. Scott first joined Comcast in 1993, was President of what is now Comcast’s Central Division from 1996 to 2005 and served as Comcast Cable’s CFO from 2005 to 2013

As Chairman and CEO of Comcast Spectacor, Hilferty will lead the company’s entire portfolio, including the Philadelphia Flyers. Spectacor Sports and Entertainment CEO Valerie Camillo will continue to work directly with Hilferty, overseeing the Wells Fargo Center, including its continued transformation, and lead the Flyers’ Business Operations.


This change has been rumored quite some time. The only (slight) surprise is that it was announced in March rather than after the season finale on April 13. There are expected to be other significant high-level changes to come in addition to the recent hiring of Danny Briere as interim general manager and the announcement of a search for a new President of Hockey Operations after Chuck Fletcher held the dual role of GM and President.

At some point, the interim tag is likely to be removed from Briere's general managership title. Brent Flahr is expected to stay on as assistant general manager. There may be additional changes with hockey operations. When those will happen and whether there will be changes within pro scouting, amateur scouting, player development, the Player Personnel director role, and/or changes in the senior advisory roles (Bob Clarke, Paul Holmgren and Dean Lombardi as advisors the GM/president of hockey ops, Bill Barber as hockey matters advisor to the Comcast Spectacor/ Flyers chairman, and/or Mike O'Donnell as senior advisor on player development) all remain to be seen at present.

The one clear indication from within the organization is that there will be further changes of some sort on the hockey side; possibly after a President is hired.
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