Quick Hits: July 25, 2018
1) At 11:00 a.m. today, the Flyers will hold a formal "reintroduction" press conference for James van Riemsdyk. Flyers general manager Ron Hextall will also address the media. A transcript will be posted later.
2) What are the chances that either Nicolas Aube-Kubel or Mikhai Vorobyev will make the Flyers' NHL roster this season? While Hextall is encouraged by what he saw from both players last season with the Phantoms, he is not ready to declare either forward NHL-ready roughly two months before the start of the preseason.
"Nic had a real good year last year. He didn't have such a good year his first season. He still has some things to tidy up in his game, but he's tidied up the defensive side of the game to some degree," Hextall said.
Phantoms head coach Scott Gordon said that he saw gradual improvement from Aube-Kubel as a rookie but that his rate of development accelerated in year two, which is why he was entrusted with a bigger role.
"If you asked me at the start of the year, I'd have said that if he improves about as much as he did from last year to the beginning of this one, it would be a pretty good second year for him. But he's surpassed that. With a lot of young players who were big scorers in junior hockey, it takes time to figure out how you have to play to be successful as a pro - where you have to go, being harder on the puck, when you can make a play and when you should just live to fight the next battle, the physical side, the mental side in finding an identity as to what you need to do to. There's a whole lot involved. He had some tough adjustments last year, and this year, the light went on for him and he gets it. He's become a lot harder to play against," Gordon said.
The GM said that Vorobyev had "a pretty good year" as a rookie with the Phantoms although he was set back by injuries (58 regular season games, nine playoff games). Gordon said in April that Vorobyev was arguably the best passer on the team. The coach said that the rookie struggled at first with the stylistic transition from the KHL to the American Hockey League, made significant progress but the injuries sometimes disrupted the progress and he'd take one step backward in the first couple games after his return before moving forward again.
Vorobyev has made progress -- more rapidly than countryman German Rubtsov, who will play his first pro season this year in Lehigh Valley -- in learning English. He still is not comfortable enough yet to do interviews in English but will converse with teammates and coaches. Phantoms forward Radel Fazleev, who went from speaking virtually no English to near-fluency within a year during his junior hockey career with the Calgary Hitmen, roomed with Vorobyev last season.
3) Over on the Flyers' official website, I wrote an article on Jay O'Brien's family background of prioritizing both academics and sports, which played into his decision to stay at Thayer Academy and purse collegiate hockey at Providence College. Jay's his late grandfather, "Junie" O'Brien, is something a New England scholastic hockey and baseball coaching icon and his father, Frankie, was a student-athlete at Lake Forest. For more,
click here.
4) The newest edition of the series of Flyers prospect interviews and analysis on FlyerBuzz on Flyers Radio 24/7 is
now available for download. In this episode, hear from Mark Friedman, Matthew Strome and Jay O'Brien. If you are region-blocked from accessing Flyers Radio 24/7 online, the podcast can alternatively be accessed
here.
5) Today in Flyers history: On July 25, 1988, the Flyers acquired young defenseman Terry Carkner from the Quebec Nordiques in exchange for defenseman Greg Smyth and a 1989 3rd-round pick (John Tanner).
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