Photo Credit: NHL.com
Egor Zamula had a brief 14 game stint with the big club this last season. Zamula finished his last recall with four assists and was a plus/minus of 0. He looked confident and made some plays that lead to quick zone exits. Zamula has defensive awareness, which is a good thing to have on the big stage, but he could get bigger and stronger in the same process. Flyers’ General Manager Danny Briere wasted no time with re-signing Zamula to a one-year prove it deal worth $775,000, which is the league minimum, early in the offseason.
Zamula has shown enough to earn this deal, and he got bigger and stronger in the offseason plus his confidence is much better just go around. This is something that Flyers Head Coach John Tortorella and Danny Briere have preached time and time again throughout the course of the season, “We’re not looking out to go sign a big-time free agent with lots of term on a contract at the moment,” Briere said at his season ending presser. “We want to give our young players the opportunity to develop, and we want to see what we have before kind of blocking some of the young guys.”
It’s become increasingly clear that Zamula is an asset, or he may have possibly been sent down to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. He is no longer waivers exempt, and now it’s in Zamula’s hands to show that he belongs. He is doing that as Zamula has played very well early in the season accumulating one goal and one assist, and is a plus 3. Zamula is no longer seems skittish when he is pressured, and he’s making the right plays more often than not. It hasn’t been perfect, but he has been very good in the same token.
Tortorella wanted Zamula to make the play more quickly. If he sees it, then make it without hesitating. This has been a work in progress on this part, but he has been much smoother in that regard. He has shown poise, and makes some nice clean zone exits. Honestly, Zamula did a good job and he could be part of the solution moving forward for the Flyers, as his game has grown in the early going of the season. Even with how good he has been, Tortorella is hesitant to label him as an everyday sixth defenseman. He hinted at it not being fair to the other youth like Emil Andrae, for instance. Tortorella says there will be struggles for everyone, Zamula included.
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“There are some veteran guys that I’m hoping kids take their spot. As I just got through with Danny, as we looked at some of the guys, I think we’re gonna have healthy competition in all spots. I think you’ll look at our forward position, I think some kids have progressed nicely there as far as our youth. I think the next spot is defense. I’d like to see some youth come into there and push some people because there’s no locks. Not judged on the overall play of all those players are back there, there’s no locks there. I’m hoping some kids come in here. Certainly not going to be given – I’m certainly not going to disrespect the veteran guys and want to get them out of there. Everybody’s going to have to earn their spot. I think it’s another year and you’re still trying to go through the process. I’m anxious to see what camp looks like next year with some of the guys that’s played down in Lehigh that were interested in.” – Flyers Head Coach John Tortorella said at his season ending presser
Egor Zamula underwent successful surgery on his left shoulder on April 10. The surgery was performed at Penn Medicine. He missed the remainder of the 2023 AHL playoffs and made a full recovery. Zamula was training with Cam York, Tyson Foerster, and Joel Farabee all Summer in Voorhees, NJ. He just wanted to prove to the Flyers top brass and everyone around him that he was serious about being a mean stay in the NHL.
John Tortorella and his staff are laying building blocks for a successful foundation, and that starts with playing hard and wanting to win. Enter a player, fresh blood, like Zamula that continues and tries to impress every game. He’s on a point per game pace to start the season when he plays, as he was scratched in game two for Emil Andrae.
“There are some veteran guys that I’m hoping kids take their spot,” Tortorella said. “As I just got through with Danny, as we looked at some of the guys, I think we’re gonna have healthy competition in all spots. I think you’ll look at our forward position, I think some kids have progressed nicely there as far as our youth. I think the next spot is defense. I’d like to see some youth come into there and push some people because there’s no locks. Not judged on the overall play of all those players are back there, there’s no locks there. I’m hoping some kids come in here. Certainly not going to be given, I’m certainly not going to disrespect the veteran guys and want to get them out of there. Everybody’s going to have to earn their spot.”
It’s time to let the gloves off on some of the youth. Hopefully, in the coming weeks Zamula will continue to impress enough to push a vet like Nick Seeler to the bench. These coming weeks are going to be very interesting for the big club, and they will have many questions to answer as time wears on throughout the season. However, at this rate Zamula is impressing enough to be considered an NHL mainstay.
