Quick Hits: June 27, 2020
1) Although he is still technically under Flyers contract due to extended season under the return-to-play plan, impending restricted free Mikhail Vorobyev has
reportedly signed a three-year contract to play for Salavat Yulaev Ufa of the Kontinenal Hockey League. The deal will pay roughly $576,000 per season; lower than the NHL minimum salary but significantly higher than the AHL half of a two-way NHL contract.
When the 2020 offseason eventually rolls around, the Flyers could still retain Vorobyev's NHL rights by tendering him a qualifying offer. That is pretty much standard practice with RFA-aged European players who opt to play in the KHL or other Euro leagues. Unlike the other Russian prospects under Flyers contract -- German Rubtsov and Egor Zamula -- Vorobyev elected not to return to North America for Phase 2 of the NHL's return-to-play plan.
Vorobyev has had several short stints in the NHL each of the last two seasons, totaling 35 games. He has struggled at the NHL level, but emerged as an above-average American Hockey League player. The 23-year-old was an overall bright spot for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms this year in a very disappointing season for the Flyers' top farm team.
It is worth noting that Phantoms head coach Scott Gordon has typically been a defender of Vorobyev's work ethic and dedication. This season in particular, he called Vorobyev one his most reliable players.
Elsewhere, going back to his rookie year with Lehigh Valley and even back to his time with the Russian junior national team, there were some who privately questioned Vorobyev's consistency and his overall competitiveness level.
Vorobyev had an excellent NHL training camp for the Flyers in Sept. 2018 and earned an opening-night roster spot in the bottom six of the lineup. He had a good NHL debut but struggled thereafter. Former Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol, who was rarely one to throw a player under the bus to the media, went public with his concerns in late October; one day before Vorobyev was sent down to the Phantoms.
"He's a young guy that has been out of the lineup. It can be hard to come in and be really sharp and make some of the plays that we need to have made. Yet, you can always bring energy, you can always bring intensity and you can always bring effort, and that's what's expected," Hakstol said.
This season, Vorobyev appeared in 20 games for the Flyers, chipping in three points. He had some good shifts and one particularly strong all-around game immediately after his first recall of the 2019-20 campaign, but his play dropped off quickly at the NHL level.
"Misha played well in his first game. The others were a little bit more on the average side. He's still a young player with upside, but he's not quite there at this moment yet," Flyers head coach Alain Vigneault said after Vorobyev was returned to the Phantoms and briefly replaced in the Flyers lineup by Rubtsov.
While with the Phantoms this season, Vorobyev posted 28 points in 45 games and generally played a strong two-way game.
2) Robert Hägg has been back from Sweden for several weeks, living at his in-season apartment in Philadelphia. He said that he followed all of the NHL's self-quarantine guidelines, although he did skate in Sweden due to the availability of ice rinks (Sweden did not have shelter-in-place orders). On Friday, he told Flyers senior director of communications Zack Hill that he hopes that the "bubble" atmosphere of the hub city format will help to keep everyone healthy and also to re-strengthen the bonds within the team.
3) Today in Flyers History: June 27, 2015
The Flyers traded the final year of the contract of Chris Pronger along with veteran defenseman Nick Grossmann to Arizona Coyotes for forward Sam Gagner. The deal enabled the Coyotes to get to the cap floor in a budget neutral way (Pronger's real-dollar salary for that season was offset by the Flyers retaining the equivalent on Grossmann's deal) and provided cap relief for the Flyers.
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