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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. Yesterday, 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.
Zamula has shown enough to earn this deal, and the hope is he battles for a permanent spot out of camp. 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.”
“The younger guys are being put in many more positions to see what they can do. I thought Z – I’m not sure how his assists come about – but just watching his game, I thought he had some really good puck poise,” Tortorella said of Zamula following a Florida Panthers game earlier in the season.
Tortorella wants 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 was much smoother in that regard in this recall. He did show poise, and made some nice clean zone exits in his 14 game stint. Honestly, Zamula did a good job and he could be part of the solution moving forward for the Flyers, as his game has grown over the course of the year.
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“There’s gonna be competition. 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 is expected to make a full recovery for training camp this September. Zamula has been training with Cam York, Tyson Foerster, and Joel Farabee all Summer in Voorhees, NJ. Even do much so, he should be fully recovered from his shoulder injury at this point.
John Tortorella and his staff are laying building blocks for a successful foundation, and that starts with playing hard and wanting to win, even though the Flyers already knew their fate of missing the playoffs for the third straight season. Both he and Danny Briere are committed to the youth, and do not want any vets blocking them from growing. Things never seen brighter for a Zamula with earning a spot with the big club out right out of camp, especially when Flyers’ GM Danny Briere said that the defense is not etched in stone for next season, to me this meant that the Flyers were given opportunities to the young guys to earn spots.
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.” – Danny Briere said at his season ending presser
“There are some veteran guys that I’m hoping kids take their spot,” Tortorella said at his season ending presser. “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 been tough for Flyers fans for the past few seasons, but there might be a silver lining. The time of vets clogging up spots from the youth are a thing of the past. Now it’s time to give each young player a shot. This includes Zamula, and the hope is that with Zamula wins a spot out of camp with the golden opportunity that has been presented for him and other youth. The Flyers want this to happen. Fortunately, there is plenty of time to heal and recuperate before training camp commences in September. Let’s hope this trend does not continue in terms of offseason injuries.
