Photo by/from the Philadelphia Flyers @NHLFlyers on Twitter

The Flyers Alumni put on an awesome, high scoring affair on Monday night where Team Holmgren (black) defeated Team Tocchet (orange), 6-5. 

From the opening ceremonies, the player introductions, the players jerseys with the throwbacks and everything was so awesome. It was 2-2 after the first period, as Riley Cote opened the scoring for Team Orange. Upshall & Lupul would get the next two off a surge of zone time from Team Black, making it 2-1, Simon Gagne would net Orange’s 2nd goal on a pass from Danny Briere.

The 2nd was back and forth for a good bit, until Upshall potted his 2nd of the game. Around 20-30 seconds later, he got a hat-trick to make it 4-2. Brad Marsh would score to make it 4-3 on a nice pass by Riley Cote behind the net. Bill Meltzer told me Marsh had only scored 23 goals in 1,068 NHL games, and was really trying to get one tonight, and he did just that. Two identical tap-ins from Fedoruk & Eric Lindros would give Team Black a 6-3 advantage late in the 2nd.

Team Orange came out strong with two goals from Simon Gagne and Donald Brashear to make it 6-5. They kept pressing and Robert Esche made some great saves, including a point blank shot from Danny Briere in the high slot. Late in the period (6 mins) Team Orange put in Bill Duffy, Flyers Warriors goaltender in for the rest of the 3rd. Bill is a United States Air Force Veteran and President of the Philadelphia Warriors. He made a few good saves, one on Joffrey Lupul & Scottie Upshall, and was also the 1st star of the game. Danny Briere almost tied it late on a penalty shot, did a similar move to his 2010 goal on Lundqvist to send the Flyers to the playoffs but lost the puck. 

It was a great event tonight, lots of good things came out of this game and everyone played amazing. Props to Mike Knuble for battling through that eye injury he took when a puck came up and hit his face, saying that getting cut is “very annoying when you’re 49 years old”. 

Also if you were wondering,  Scott Hartnell did indeed go down.

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I did a game review on my channel if you want to check that out, too. 

Link: https://youtu.be/pFz3WwxYl8I 

Photo Credit: NHL.com

It was a tough loss last night for the Flyers, as they fell to 2-1-1 on the season and the opening homestand of the year. Florida is a very good team, they possess the puck well and the Flyers hung with them without having Defenseman Ryan Ellis for this one. A couple bounces went the Panthers way, lots of penalties were called and that definitely took the offensive flow out of the game. The Flyers PK went 6/7, it had a good night, but when you don’t have offensive players out there because of penalties, it’s tough to score.

The home-stand showed a lot of good things for the Flyers, they scored 18 goals in 4 games. The PP & PK have had some great moments, we saw a few good goals from the Top unit, a shorthanded goal by Cam Atkinson, and lots more. The last two games (BOS & FLA), I personally haven’t really liked the Flyers starts to those games. Even against Seattle it took a little to get into the game after Hart made a few big saves, then the Flyers settled down and put up 3 in the first. I think going into the road trip here you have to have good starts, maintain puck possession and cash in on early chances. Follow that up with discipline and better breakouts out of their zone, which has been an issue at times, but Hart has been there to back them up. One thing seems to be the Flyers bread and butter so far, is scoring on high quality chances when they get them. Keep doing that, It’s helping… a LOT.

Oh, and another thing… You don’t wanna take penalties against the Oilers on Wednesday (not just Edmonton, but you get my point), the Oilers have the #1 PP at 47.1%, and the Flyers are 4th at 36.4%. Which isn’t even that surprising given the talent the Oilers have, and same with the Flyers. The PP was clicked and both units have had some great moments so far. After the game, I asked Flyers Captain Claude Giroux on his thoughts on anything the Flyers want to carry over to this road trip. He mentioned if the Flyers keep that same intensity, compete level, and continue to play as a team, then good things will happen.

Rightfully so, Giroux was frustrated after the game. Had mentioned early that the homestand would have been great if they won that game, (3-0-1, 7 out of possible 8 points), but now it’s just an “Okay” homestand. Which is completely understandable, that game was 100% winnable for the Flyers and a few things went south on them. They’ll look to bounce back in Western Canada starting on Wednesday in Edmonton. 

Was a fun night in the Press Box!

Photo by Christopher Maher

Elliot Desnoyers got his chance to show Flyers fans what he can bring to the table, and he did not fail to impress. Monday night against the Boston Bruins, Desnoyers centered a line with veteran James van-Reimsdyk & young forward Nicolas Aube-Kubel. Desnoyers, 19, was signed to a three-year entry level deal back on May 5th, five days before the Flyers last regular season game of the 2020-21 season. 

Desnoyers didn’t participate in Developmemt Camp. He was battling a hip injury that he had surgery for over the summer. He did participate in Rookie Camp though and Flyers main camp, and definently impressed. He is a very skilled player that doesn’t back down for being a smaller center.

Desnoyers recently practiced with the Flyers on Friday (10/1), and looked pretty good skating with the big club. He took part in drills and did some skills work with Coach Angelo Ricci. I talked with him after practice. “It was a really good pace. I felt awesome and it was great to learn from those guys.” he said after practice. He also mentioned he’s “Truly excited” for this season. Elliot said he was worried all summer with his injury and just being back to normal. “I’m feeling really good so I’m really happy about that”, he added. I asked if he knew where he was playing this year, he said he’s not sure where he’ll start. 

On the line with JVR & NAK,  Desnoyers played 13:09 in ATOI, registered one shot on goal and one hit. He had some good offensive plays, and a few scoring chances. In the later stages of the first period, Oskar Lindblom hit him in the slot for a one timer. It was a really good setup and Lindblom was so patient. Boston goalie Swayman made the save with his head, and it deflected out in the slot. 

Desnoyers is listed at 5’11-183 lbs, so you wouldn’t really expect him to fight, but he dropped the mitts with veteran Bruins defenseman John Moore, who’s 6’4-204 lbs. Clearly, not a close battle on the measurement side of things but Desnoyers stood his ground with Moore. After the game Head Coach Alain Vigneault spoke on the fight and said it was “French Canadian Blood in him” that made him go. Elliot also said that was his first fight ever, having never fought in Junior.

One last thing about Elliot, I asked him if there was anything he wanted to showcase this year. He responded, “I want to show people that I am someone who never give up and that willing to do anything to win”. Yeah, he definitely did that Monday night against the Bruins.

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Photo Credit: Andy Gorel

Carter Hart has a new mask for the 2021-22 season. Hart now has a “Ghostrider” theme, based on the popular character from Marvel Comics for the Flyers black alternate jerseys this year. I talked with Carter on Sunday at the Phila. Warriors – Nasty Knuckles exhibition game at Wells Fargo Center, and he told me he wanted to wear the new mask against the Islanders on Tuesday night, but he didn’t have it yet. Today, (9/29) Hart was spotted at practice with the mask by NBC Sports Philadelphia reporter/journalist Jordan Hall, who put up some pictures on his Twitter account, @JHallNBCS. 

Hart, who’s looking to have a bounce back year, played well last night in the 2 periods we saw him in. He’s going to be a big part of the team this year, and hopefully, for years to come. Hart’s mask was painted by Franny Drummond – @paintzoo on Twitter/Instagram. I had the privilege of going to his shop one day and got some footage of Carter’s mask being painted. Franny does an unbelievable job and puts so much effort into every mask. He told me it doesn’t matter if the kid is 9-years old or plays in the NHL, he does the mask the exact same way for everybody. Thanks to Franny for letting me come out and see his amazing work. 

Here’s a link to the footage:

 If you’re not familiar with the Philadelphia Warriors, an affiliate of the Flyers, they’re a hockey team made up of US military Veterans, split into 3 different tier levels. I spoke with Andrew Maenner, who’s a player and one of the social media gurus for the Warriors. I asked him what it takes to join the team. “Right now we’re in the process of building a website where there will be a link to join the team, but as of now the best way to join is to reach out to the team via their social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter). You’ll hear back from either me, or Ed McEvoy who’s one of the other social media reps.”

What do the Warriors need from you? Your DD214 (which is your release from active duty or reserves, whatever branch you served under), then your minimum of 10% VA rating of disability. The Warriors will send you their handbook, you read it over and sign it. You’ll be at your first practice in no time. 

Andrew has been a huge help with all of my coverage for the Warriors so far. “I played hockey my whole life”, he said. He left the Marine Corps on August 25th, 2019, and was at his first Warriors practice two weeks later. Incredible. I had the pleasure of attending several Warriors practices, and was impressed with what I saw.

First, practice is intense, including shooting drills for the goalies and a 1-on-1 center ice drill. Brad Marsh does a great job as head coach, and has a great hockey IQ. When I watched practice at Pennsauken Skate Zone, he was very verbal, along with having structure for each drill to make it feel like a game which is the end goal.

One of the drills that caught my eye was each player split up evenly in a line along the 4 sides of the two bluelines, one side would pass, the other would receive a puck at center ice and would have to scream, “Hey!” or “Puck!” or whatever they could think of to get that pass through, so they could go in on a goalie and take a shot. 

After a practice at the Wells Fargo Center, I spoke with Deborah Rhodes, who never played sports growing up. “Hockey really healed me, it made our family come back together. My son plays hockey, my girls play hockey, it’s great exercise. I get to meet new people, no one judges, and everyone learns at their own pace. And the Flyers provide that at a very minimal cost.”

“It’s like that camaraderie we had in the Military. We have here with our hockey team and the hockey family just embraces you.”

Deborah went on to say the Flyers have given her a new sense of self. “I’m not the best, I’ve gotten maybe a little bit better but every week it’s something to look forward to.” She also said over the last year she’s lost 120-lbs from diet, exercise, and playing the game.

“It’s been amazing”.

On Saturday September 25th, the Warriors had a press conference for the announcement of the 2021 USA Hockey ‘Warrior Classic’ that is taking place on November 5th-7th at Voorhees and Hollydale. Toyota, who is the official automotive partner of the tournament, presented the Warriors with a $35,000 check. 

Here’s a link to the full Press Conference:

Training Camp and Nasty Knuckles Scrimmage 

Training camp was a fun time for the Warriors. The 3-day event at Voorhees and Pennsauken was filled with lots of good things for the team. I have a full video here of highlights from both Camp & the game vs the Knuckles crew. 

Carter Hart has a new mask for the 2021-22 season. Hart now has a “Ghostrider” theme, based on the popular character from Marvel Comics for the Flyers black alternate jerseys this year. I talked with Carter on Sunday at the Phila. Warriors – Nasty Knuckles exhibition game at Wells Fargo Center, and he told me he wanted to wear the new mask against the Islanders on Tuesday night, but he didn’t have it yet. Today, (9/29) Hart was spotted at practice with the mask by NBC Sports Philadelphia reporter/journalist Jordan Hall, who put up some pictures on his Twitter account, @JHallNBCS. 

Hart, who’s looking to have a bounce back year, played well last night in the 2 periods we saw him in. He’s going to be a big part of the team this year, and hopefully, for years to come. Hart’s mask was painted by Franny Drummond – @paintzoo on Twitter/Instagram. I had the privilege of going to his shop one day and got some footage of Carter’s mask being painted. Franny does an unbelievable job and puts so much effort into every mask. He told me it doesn’t matter if the kid is 9-years old or plays in the NHL, he does the mask the exact same way for everybody. Thanks to Franny for letting me come out and see his amazing work. 

Here’s a link to the footage:

Photo: Philadelphia Flyers @NHLFlyers on Twitter

Today, the Philadelphia Flyers have announced that they have signed Forward Jon-Randall Avon to a three-year entry-level-contract. Avon, who was a camp invite to Development & Rookie Camp, previously played for Peterborough Petes in the Ontario Hockey League. Avon is 18-years-old, speedy, and has some decent size as he is listed at 5”11, 180 pounds. I was just talking to the legend himself, Jamey Baskow, and we were both hinting that it’s another center now added to the Flyers system, which screams depth.

I personally thought he was very good in camp. He showed skill, made some good plays on defense and was very visible in the Flyers second Rookie Game this past Sunday. It didn’t surprise me that he wasn’t cut and is now a part of the Flyers organization. Since he’s only 18, he will go back to Peterborough where he can get some games under his belt and mature some more, which is always good for a young kid. I think he will definitely have some confidence after this signing and will use that to his advantage on and off the ice.

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On a side note, here’s a Fun Fact for you: he’s one day older than me! He was born 7-4-2003, I was born on the 5th!

Photo by Yong Kim, Philadelphia Inquirer

Five players we think will have a bounce back for the Flyers:

Bounce back seasons are something that happens in sports all the time. You see it in many scenarios with players coming off on injuries, slumps, rough-patches, and much more.

Chris:

Carter Hart, Ivan Provorov, Travis Konecny, Travis Sanheim, Oskar Lindblom

Starting with Hart, well it’s pretty obvious. He didn’t have the best season (not his fault) and I think he’ll bounce back from that. The Flyers improved the Penalty Kill & Defense pairs over this busy off-season, and if they can get back to the rhythm they had in 2019-20, they’ll be golden. If the Defense was off one night, Hart was there for them and vice-versa. Provorov is a guy I look to have a huge spark. He’s such an absolute unit on and off the ice. Just a tank. He does so much defensively and I think he had the brunt of all the issues playing top-pair minutes along with Justin Braun who just can’t do that at this point in his career anymore (Not his fault at all). I think Provorov will get more Power Play time and I think putting him with Ryan Ellis will be very similar to the Matt Niskanen effect and hopefully turn the ship around.

Travis Konecny and Travis Sanheim are two guys who can 100% get back to the forms they were in back in 2019-20. Konecny, the Flyers only All-Star that year, had a breakout year with 61 points. As many remember he didn’t score in the playoffs, and then had a rough year this year. I 100% see a bounce back from Konecny, he’s too skilled and has a very good shot to not put up some goals this year. Sanheim can definitely learn from last year, and so will his partner Phil Myers who’s now in Nashville. Myers & Sanheim played some tough minutes last year too, with many on PK.

Sanheim set two career highs in minutes played (21:53) and shorthanded minutes per game (2:07), per Jordan Hall.

I think Sanheim being able to get a pay raise can help his confidence and turn it around for himself. He has a lot of talent and can definitely learn from last season. 

Oskar Lindblom is a guy who I look to come back to his normal self this year. He’s proven he can score, play great positional defense and have a very good defensive game as a winger with skilled hands and a  good shot. Lindblom played a lot of 4th line minutes last year, which he shouldn’t be playing. He’s not a 4th liner, that doesn’t help him or his game and really doesn’t get him back into his normal form by playing 6-9 minutes a night. Last year he had his career lowest ATOI (13:11) in 50 games played. Now, granted he was fully healthy and wasn’t sick in 2019-20 where he led the team in goals with 11 in December and had a ATOI of 17:37 while playing with Sean Couturier & Travis Konecny early on, but I digress. I wanna see Lindblom more on the PK and in the Top 9, but do I think his spot is guaranteed? No. No one has a guaranteed spot this year in the Top-9. The good problem the Flyers have, is a total log-jam at the wings. You have a few centers (Giroux, Laughton, Brassard, Frost) who can switch, on top of already having Couturier, Hayes, & Thompson, so it’ll be a battle at Main Camp to see who cracks the opening night roster.

Aaron: 

Carter Hart, Ivan Provorov, Oskar Lindblom, Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Travis Konecny.

Carter Hart is the most obvious choice in this category for just about everyone I’d say. We’ve seen what he’s capable of and we know he has too much talent to not perform better, along with what will almost certainly be better defense in front of him.

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Ivan Provorov throughout his 5 year career in the NHL has had some back and forth seasons, I think we’ll see him bounce back once again. Ryan Ellis has something to do with that but I also believe that Provorov is better than what he showed last year. At times I think Provorov actually wasn’t too bad but I still think he’ll improve a lot from what we saw in the 2021 season. To me the thing that Provorov needs to work on the most is his skating and agility which feels weird to say because we’ve seen it be such a strength of his but he just looked slower and sluggish last year and I’m not expecting to see that this coming season. I think his aggressiveness and defensive play making ability can see an improvement as well.

Oskar Lindblom had a rough go of it last year and that was completely expected. We have no idea how tough it was for him to play that season and now to this point should be a lot like his normal self. I expected to see Lindblom used in a lot more situations, not playing fourth line minutes and having a bigger role on the PK like he did in the 2019-20 season. From what we saw in his 2019-20 season I just think he’s too smart of a player to not come back from this and can be a key part to this Flyers team, especially if we see him used with Couturier at times again.

I think Nicolas Aube-Kubel still has potential to be a fourth line piece on this for the next few years. Aube-Kubel is a restricted free agent at the end of this season and is going to want to prove that he was better than he showed last year. His forechecking game was impeccable in the 2019-20 season. In a contract year where he’ll be looking to get some kind of a raise with his style of play where it’s more effort based than skill I can see him being a real burden on other teams’ defenseman. Aube-Kubel also showed some decent scoring promise in the 2019-20 season and with hopefully a more stable bottom 6 we’ll see that return for him.

Travis Konecny was only able to pot 11 goals last season which obviously wasn’t what any of us expected from him. I’ve personally never been as high on Konecny as others but even for me I was surprised to see the way he was playing out there. We never saw that burst in his game that we’re used to seeing and like a lot of the players on this team last year looked slow and sluggish. I’m hoping with what was hopefully a fuller, better offseason and no COVID breakout we can see Konecny’s speed become an important part of his game again, as a lot of the players said that effect per them last year. After that I think we just have to hope he gets in better situations to shoot more and get some goals. We’ve seen him score at a 30 goal pace before and I think he still has that potential in him.

After being able to go and see Flyers Development Camp in person with the 3-on-3 tournament, obviously lots of players caught my eye. Now, there is only so much you can gauge with only being able to view half the ice, however, in the 3-on-3 tournament players like Isaac Ratcliffe can take two strides and he’s at the net. Also, a sniper in Tyson Foerster did not disappoint. 

Foerster scored five goals (Two were game winners), to which some were really good shots. He also set himself up for lots of good scoring chances. His shot is just so explosive and if he can set himself up for a chance or someone finds him, there’s a pretty good chance that the puck goes in the back of the net. I really like Foerster’s overall game. He’s a lot stronger and bigger than people realize, plus he uses this to his advantage.

Morgan Frost looked good as well, he got better as the games went on and made some flashy plays that went unnoticed if not watched over again. In my highlight series, I highlighted a few plays that Frost set up. 

Here’s a link if you haven’t seen it already:

Isaac Ratcliffe made a nice impression fortunately. He had a hat-trick and a few really nice offensive plays that were refreshing to see after the pas few years. Again, for him taking a few strides isn’t much in such a small area, but it was good to see his offensive game come back. If there’s any player I’m looking forward to in Lehigh Valley this year, it’s Ratcliffe. I think it’s time for his game to take the next step, and I would like to see him make his NHL debut this year. Rookie Camp is going to be fun to see these players again, and it’s a chance to compete for a Training Camp spot.

Samuel Ersson made some good saves, a few dandies. Those 3-on-3 games are tough on goalies to begin with, and with this year dealing with COVID and having less players as usual, only two goalies for a full tournament is even tougher. Ersson stopped 40 of 48 shots faced, and was dead tired by the end of it, but looked really solid.

Chuck Fletcher has revamped the Flyers, has had a remarkable offseason. I would have to give him a grade of an A+, and here is why:

From Ryan Ellis to now Joel Farabee getting an extension, it’s really nice to see how much he’s tackled since July 17th. He’s addressed everything he possibly could in just one off season. Fletcher is now attacking the 2022-23 offseason with Sean Couturier and Farabee recently extended, and both of whom would have been restricted free agents next off season. If the Flyers are playing well halfway through the year ‪then does Claude Giroux re-sign? We’ll see. I think Giroux remains a Flyer. Moreover, if they are playing well I think he re-signs by the Olympic Break or possibly sooner.

I personally don’t see any reason why Giroux wouldn’t re-sign. He’s a great player, and a good leader on the ice. Giroux hasn’t had much complimentary help besides Jakub Voracek, Wayne Simmonds, and Jaromir Jagr, but that’s a different article for a different day.

Giroux may still fetch an AAV of $5.5-6 million on his next deal, but Joe Pavelski got 3-years at $7 million back in the 2019 off-season with the Dallas Stars at the age of 35. In my opinion Giroux is better and younger, as Pavelski is now 37 and is a unrestricted free agent after the 2021-22 season. Looking ahead even further the Flyers have approximately $15.5 Million to sign Giroux, Derick Brassard, Nic Aube-Kubel, Nate Thompson, Morgan Frost, Rasmus Ristolainen, Justin Braun, Keith Yandle, Sam Morin, and Martin Jones. 

Obviously not all of these players will demand much, as five out of the ten players mentioned are on one-year deals. Morgan Frost’s contract won’t be much as he hadn’t played consistently enough in the NHL to start his young career. Giroux & Ristolainen will demand the most money out of these players. We’ll have to see if those players on one-year deals will re-sign or go in a different direction, but the season will give us answers to that question. I don’t think many come back, but this is all early season speculation.

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Now, looking into this season, this would be my ideal lineup for Opening Night:

Giroux – Couturier – Atkinson

Farabee – Hayes – Konecny

JvR – Brassard – Lindblom

Allison – Thompson – Laughton

Provorov – Ellis

Sanheim – Ristolainen

Yandle – Braun

Hart/Jones

I think both Cam York and Morgan Frost start the season with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. A lot of these lines are interchangeable, Konecny/Atkinson, JvR/Farabee, Allison/Lindblom, etc. There is a log jam at the wing position and this is a good issue for the Flyers to have. This adds more internal competition at Training Camp, which is a good thing to push the youth.

One thing is certain, the Flyers look a lot better on paper, hopefully that translates to the ice coming up here soon.