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Quick Hits: May 12, 2020
1) The American Hockey League's decision to cancel the remainder of the 2019-20 regular season and Calder Cup playoffs does not any direct bearing on the National Hockey League's decision on their own paused campaign. In the case of the AHL, where there is no leaguewide television deal (apart from sporadic local television coverage), it simply made no economic sense to continue to wait for a return to play empty-arena games in order to finish the season.
One area where there is a direct impact on a potential NHL return is the need for immediate NHL roster expansion if/when the leagues' teams reconvene for a training camp. The vast majority of American Hockey League players, like their NHL counterparts, have been off-ice for two months as of today. They, too, would need a couple weeks of on-ice and dryland training plus a formal training camp in order to be game-ready in the case they are needed to dress in place of an injured player on their parent franchise's main NHL roster.
Expanding NHL rosters, for many teams that were already capped out or very near the cap ceiling, would require the league to go into "playoff mode" (where the cap and 23-man roster limit no longer apply). Players have already received their final regular season paychecks, anyway. Several weeks ago, it was rumored that NHL roster limits upon a return could expand to as many 30 players even if some regular season games are, in fact, rescheduled.
When I did my recent one-on-one interview with Flyers head coach Alain Vigneault, I asked him if an expanded roster would create any sort of additional challenges or disruptions to a relatively abbreviated training camp in which it will be vital to get the main group ready to play as soon as possible.
"I don't think it would be a big disruption, whether it's 23 guys or 30 or whatever the parameters will be. Over the course of this season, we pretty much drummed down to our regular roster. We've had some injuries -- Nolan [Patrick], Oskar [Lindblom's battle with Ewing Sarcoma] -- but we've been lucky for the most part with injuries," Vigneault said.
"In training camp, we were putting systems in place and we felt our main group needed additional preseason games and smaller group practices from what we had planned originally. Now, we'd be looking in terms of getting our conditioning and timing, and start working to get back to the point where we were when the season stopped. So, from my perspective, I don't think it would be a big adjustment if the rosters do end up expanding a little earlier than they normally would."
2) If and when the Flyers reconvene for training camp with an expanded roster of Black Aces, which players would be part of the plan?
For certain, the team will need to carry a third goaltender in case of injury to either Carter Hart or Brian Elliott. So that would mean Alex Lyon, who won an important home game against Colorado on Feb. 1 while Hart was on IR, would be one of the returning players.
With Phil Myers now fully recovered from the fractured kneecap he suffered shortly before the league pause, the Flyers are back to seven healthy defensemen. Presuming that Vigneault and Mike Yeo's depth chart reverts to how it was in the weeks before Myers' injury, Robert Hägg is the No. 6 and Shayne Gostisbehere is the seventh D. When there have been injuries on the blueline, Mark Friedman has been the first callup from the Phantoms.
As such, Friedman would a virtual lock to return to an expanded Flyers roster to complete the season. If additional defensemen are added in the event of larger-scale attrition to the defense corps, possibilities include Andy Welinski and/or Nate Prosser.
Among forwards, the Flyers saw James van Riemsdyk and Nate Thompson go down to injury in March. Both players are now ready to play. Connor Bunnaman, called up in place of Thompson, was slated to be in the starting lineup for the March 12 game in Tampa Bay that was postponed on the first day of the NHL pause. JVR and Thompson are now healthy and would be available for camp and games.
Bunnaman, however, would probably stick around on an expanded roster. Meanwhile, even if rookie center Morgan Frost would probably not get into any Stanley Cup playoff games this late spring/summer barring multiple injuries to veterans, he would still be a good player to have around for a pre-resumption camp and for practices.
Assuming that Lyon, Friedman and Bunnaman are locks to be added, the roster is at 26 players. Adding in Frost makes it 27. If there were, in fact, a 30-man roster limit, that would leave three spots worth of flexibility.
Candidates for additional spots at forward include the likes of Mikhail Vorobyev, David Kase, German Rubtsov and Carsen Twarynski. Veteran Chris Stewart, who dressed in 16 NHL games with the Flyers and six AHL games for Lehigh Valley, could also return.
A big x-factor in all of this is the status of center Nolan Patrick. The most recent report from general manager Chuck Fletcher is that Patrick -- who missed all of training camp and the entire pre-pause regular season due to the effects of chronic migraine syndrome -- was still not ready to play. However, the organization has also reported that Patrick has continued to make progress. Whether or not he could participate in a training camp and games is still unknown.
Given the need to err on the side of caution, I tend to think that Patrick will not be available if there is a re-start to complete the season. If he is, however, it would be a huge bonus.
Meanwhile, there was very hopeful recent news that Oskar Lindblom would shortly undergo his final round of chemotherapy treatments for Ewing Sarcoma. A return to playing hockey is still not feasibly on the horizon, as there is still a long and treacherous road ahead. All the focus still needs to be on Lindblom being cancer-free and living a healthy life. A return to playing hockey would be a wonderful outcome over the long haul, but it's not something that is a possibility right now.
3) The Flyers player profile series on the team's official website continues today with an in-depth look at Nate Thompson.
4) May 12 in memoriam: Flyers assistant coach Barry Ashbee, a stalwart defenseman and team leader on the 1973-74 team that won the first of back-to-back Stanley Cup championships, passed away on May 12, 1977 after a bout with leukemia. He was 37 years old.
For more on Ashbee's life and legacy, click here for an in-depth biography.
5) May 12 Flyers Alum birthday: Dmitry Afanasenkov (1980).
6) Today in Flyers History: May 12, 1974
On May 12, 1974, the Philadelphia Flyers took a two games to one lead in the Stanley Cup Finals against the Boston Bruins with a 4-1 win at the Spectrum.
After yielding a goal to John Bucyk barely a minute into the first period, Bernie Parent blanked Boston the rest of the way on the next 24 shots. First period goals by Tom Bladon (power play) and fourth-line center Terry Crisp gave Philly a 2-1 by the first intermission.
After a scoreless middle frame, Orest Kindrachuk and Ross Lonsberry provided some third-period insurance. Flyers leading playoff scorer Rick MacLeish assisted on Philly's first and fourth goals.
7) Flyers Alumni Youtube: Several new videos have been added to the library we're building. One of the features is a series of 50-second tribute videos to notable Flyers Alumni. Here is one celebrating Kimmo Timonen's recent selection to the IIHF Hall of Fame's induction class of 2020. Fellow Flyers Alum Mark Streit is also an inductee this year.
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