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QUICK HITS: JULY 9, 2018
1) If the 2018-19 regular season started tomorrow, Scott Laughton would be the most likely candidate to occupy the third-line center role. It is not impossible that Morgan Frost or a player who spent last season in the American Hockey League with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms -- Mikhail Vorobyev or Mike Vecchione being the top two candidates -- could win the job out of training camp. However, Laughton currently appears to have the inside track.
This past season, Laughton appeared in 81 of 82 regular season games, chipping in 10 goals (an NHL career-high to date) and 20 points while mostly playing fourth-line center. Early in the season, he was the backbone of a regular line with Michael Raffl and Taylor Leier. As the season progressed, Laughton played with a variety of different linemates.
In the Flyers six-game loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round of the playoffs, Laughton was quietly among the Flyers more effective forwards. At head coach Dave Hakstol's exit day press conference on April 26, the coach made a point of singling out Laughton for praise after expressing overall disappointment with the team's performance in the series.
"You look at some of the guys that don’t get a lot of spotlight. I thought one of the guys who had a really solid series was Scotty Laughton. So you’re starting to talk about some of those important pieces that play a role, some of those players, I think we have a lot of that on our roster," Hakstol said.
More recently, in explaining why he was not inclined to offer a multi-year contract to the unrestricted free agent centers on the market after July 1, Flyers general manager Ron Hextall said that he felt the available players were not superior to what the organization already had in-house. He cited Laughton as a leading candidate to take on the 3C role, while taking more of a "we'll see" approach on Vorobyev and noting several times that he felt Frost still had a lot of work to do (mostly in adding muscle) before the GM views him as an NHL-ready option.
In an upcoming article for the Flyers' official site, I will look at what Frost needs to do, whether it is for the 2018-19 or 2019-20 season, to be ready for the NHL. Apart from adding muscle, the second main area involves adjusting the pacing of his game to be ready to deal with the checking he'll face at the NHL level.
2) Chris Therien and I will have a new edition of the "Real Deal Hockey with Bundy and Bill" podcast this week on the Flyers Alumni's Talkshoe channel. We're working on coordinating a time with a special guest. Over on Flyers Radio 24/7, Brian Smith and I will have the new edition of FlyerBuzz, talking about the Flyers' offseason to date, and what's to come.
3) If you cannot attend the Flyers Charity Classic on July 15, you may prefer to donate what you can to the cause in the name of one of the participants. I am a member of Brad Marsh's Ides of Marsh team, doing the family 5k run/walk. Thanks to all who have kicked in, I'm now just $63 away from my goal of raising $400. All proceeds raised by Ides of Marsh go to the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation. My donation page is here. Thanks again!
4) Below is a Youtube compilation of Flyers left wing prospect Isaac Ratcliffe's regular season highlights from the 2017-18 regular season. Ratcliffe had a breakthrough campaign for the OHL's Guelph Storm, especially in the second half of the season. The 6-foot-6 forward improved from 28 goals in his 2016-17 draft-eligible season to 41 goals last season. Ratcliffe was recently named captain of the Storm for next season. He will turn 20 on Feb. 15, 2019.
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