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UPDATE 11 AM
The Flyers practice scheduled for today has been canceled under advisement of the NHL, per the team. The team is slated to resume tomorrow.
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Quick Hits: February 15, 2021
1) The Philadelphia Flyers will hold an 11:30 a.m. practice today at the Skate Zone in Voorhees, the team confirmed on Sunday evening. The club presently has seven players in the NHL's COVID-19 protocol and each of the last four games have been postponed.
On Sunday, Travis Sanheim exited the protocol exactly one week after he was a late scratch from a game in Washington and his name was added to the leaguewide list shortly thereafter. The short duration of his stay in the protocol suggests that, at least in his case, it was not a positive test that was the cause.
Unfortunately, just as Sanheim exited the protocol, Travis Konecny's name was added to it. So the Flyers' list remains at the same total number of players. The Flyers' next scheduled game is a clash with the New York Rangers on Thursday night at the Wells Fargo Center. At present, due to the protocol, the Flyers are missing five starting forwards (Claude Giroux, Jakub Voracek, Travis Konecny, Oskar Lindblom, and Scott Laughton) plus defenseman Justin Braun. Morgan Frost, on IR due to shoulder dislocation repair surgery, is the other player on the list.
2) Phantoms Update: All three games the Lehigh Valley Phantoms have played this season have gone to overtime. On Sunday, the Phantoms (2-0-1) earned a 5-4 OT road win over the Hershey Bears; Lehigh Valley's second win in Hershey of the young season.
Playing on a line centered by David Kase, 18-year-old Phantoms rookie Zayde Wisdom scored his first and second professional hockey goals and then assisted on Kase's game-winning goal at the 2:07 mark of overtime. Both Wisdom and Kase (1g, 2a) finished with three-point afternoons. Left wing Matthew Strome and defenseman Logan Day scored the other two Phantoms' goals.
Here's Zayde Wisdom's 2nd goal of the game, tying it up late in the 3rd period. pic.twitter.com/QtyRShlgU2
Rookie defenseman Linus Högberg earned a secondary assist on Kase's overtime tally, picking up his first point in the AHL, while fellow rookie defenseman Mason Millman made his AHL debut. Rookie defenseman Wyatte Wylie was credited with six shots on goal for Lehigh Valley.
Zane McIntyre was the busier of the two goalies on the ice. He stopped 32 of 36 shots to earn his second win in three starts. Ilya Samsonov stopped 24 of 29 Phantoms' shots.
3) NCAA (Big Ten): Michigan and Wisconsin split their weekend back-to-back set as the Badgers captured a 3-2 road win on Sunday. Flyers 2019 first round pick Cam York did not have his "A" game going overall in this match. However, he picked up a late-game assist on a Brendan Brisson goal at 6-on-5 that cut the Michigan deficit to one goal. From the left point, York teed up a cross-ice one-timer that found its way past goalie Cameron Rowe. York has 14 points (3g, 11a) in 16 games this season.
4) Feb. 15 Alumni birthday, Jaromir Jagr
The legendary Jaromir Jagr celebrates his 49th birthday today. He's only a part-time player nowadays, but he still suits up for the Kladno Knights (Rytri Kladno); his hometown team in the Czech Republic, which he also owns. He's appeared in 13 games this season, recording one goal and three assists.
Jagr is now three-plus seasons removed from the end of his second stint in the NHL. But even if he never had a second go-around in the NHL following a three-year absence, his future place in the Hockey Hall of Fame would have been secure. However, it was during his second stint in the NHL – which began with one full season as a Flyer during the 2011-12 campaign – that Jagr cemented his status as one of the sport’s most beloved figures.
The player ranks fourth on the NHL's all-time games played list (1,733), third in goals (766), fifth in assists (1.155) and second in total points (1,921). Additionally, Jagr dressed in 208 games in the Stanley Cup playoffs (78g, 123a, 201pts).
Jagr won the Stanley Cup with Pittsburgh in 1990-91 and 1991-92. Internationally, he represented Czech Republic in 154 major tournament games (142 at the senior level, 12 during his junior hockey years). An Olympian in 1998 (gold medal), 2002, 2006 (bronze medal), 2010 and 2014, Jagr collected gold medals at the 2005 and 2010 IIHF World Championships.
Jagr won the Hart Trophy as the National Hockey League’s most valuable player in 1998-99, the Lester Pearson (now Ted Lindsay) Award as the most valuable player in the NHL as voted by the league’s players in 1998-99, 1999-2000 and 2005-06, the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL’s top scorer of 1994-95, 1997-98, 1998-99, 1999-2000 and 2000-01. He was a 13-time selection the NHL All-Star Game, a seven-time NHL First-Team All-Star at right wing as well as a one-time Second-Team All-Star.
Jaromir Jagr Jr. was born in the former Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic) in the small industrial city of Kladno on Feb. 15, 1972. He was drafted fifth overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round of the 1990 NHL Draft. His prolific and accolade-filled NHL and international career, best known for his glory years with the Penguins and a resurgence with the New York Rangers before spending three seasons in the NHL, brought him to Philadelphia as a free agent in the summer of 2011.
Although Jagr only spent one year as a Flyer, he made a memorable and lasting impact on teammates and the club as a whole. He has called it his most enjoyable season in the NHL despite nagging groin injuries that slowed him down at times. Jagr, who later won the National Hockey League’s Masterton Trophy as a member of the Florida Panthers in 2015-16, was nominated for the award as a member of the Flyers in 2011-12.
As a Flyer, Jagr produced 19 goals and 54 points in 73 games during the 2011-12 regular season. In the playoffs, he chipped in eight points (one goal, seven assists) in 11 games including seven points in six games during Philadelphia’s first-round upset of the Penguins.
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