Photo Credit: Samantha Wismer
With both the National Hockey League (NHL) and the American Hockey League (AHL) just now set to commence, there are plenty of other leagues- both in North America and around the world- where some of the Flyers’ top prospects have already been able to get off to amazing starts of their own.
For example (and perhaps one of the Flyers’ best goaltending prospects in their system) Ivan Fedotov, who was drafted back in 2015 in the 7th round (and has still yet to be signed). So far, he has played in 10 regular season games for CSKA Moskva of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). In those 10 games this behemoth of a goaltender (who at just 24-years-old stands at 6’8 and 203 pounds) has been absolutely a wall in-net again this season. Picking up where he left off last year, Ivan has a record of 7-3 on the year so far with one of those wins being by way of a shutout. Now in his 6th season in the KHL, Fedotov once again finds himself among the league’s leaders in statistics with the 4th best save percentage in the league where he holds a .945 and the 5th best goals-against-average where he has only allowed a minuscule 1.59 goals a game thus far. While the Flyers already have three young goaltenders playing for either their AHL or East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) affiliates, it is this goaltender’s opinion that it would be most beneficial for Philadelphia’s general manager Chuck Fletcher to buy this talented young goaltender a 1st class ticket on the next plane smoking headed to the city of Brotherly Love after his current contract expires, so that he can be waiting for Fedotov in the terminal with a contract in hand for him to sign. Ivan is that good and the team needs to make room for him to come over sooner rather than later!
The next prospect worth mentioning is Connor McClennon. This diminutive 19-year-old prospect stands at just 5’8 and was taken by the team during the 6th round of the 2020 NHL entry draft. But don’t let his size (or lack thereof) fool you: Although still unsigned, Connor impressed the Flyers’ brass this year in both their rookie camp and development camp alike. In saying that, McClennon has seemed to take the knowledge he gained during his short stint working with the Flyers’ coaching staff this summer and managed to apply it to his game rather quickly. In just 4 games played (GP) for the Winnipeg Ice of the Western Hockey League (WHL) this year, McClennon has already managed to post an impressive four goals and three assists for a total of seven points. That’s an astounding 1.75 points-per-game (PPG) pace on the season thus far. To add to that, Connor has managed to maintain a plus 6 rating through the first four games, as well. A feat that, if maintained throughout the season, will no doubt get him noticed by the Flyers’ bench boss Alain Vigneault, who we all know holds defensively responsible players in high regard. McClennon is just the type of player the Flyers would like to add soon seeing that he is a shoot-first player who not only possesses an amazing wrist shot but is becoming known as quite the finisher as well. If Connor keeps up this pace it should come as to no surprise that Chuck would be likely to sign him to an entry level contract of his own, much like he has done for his fellow 2020 draft class members: Tyson Foerster, Zayde Wisdom, and Elliot Desnoyers already.
Continuing down this list of Flyers’ prospects who are off to a great start, we now turn to yet another pick made by the great Chuck Fletcher, this time in the form of 21-year-old Bryce Brodzinski. A late-round acquisition, Bryce was taken in the 7th round of the 2019 draft. Since being drafted, this Minnesota native has been proving Chuck’s evaluation of talent from this hockey hotbed (that he knows so well from his time with the Wild) to be still up to snuff. With this Minnesotan now playing right wing for (who else?) the University of Minnesota’s Golden Gophers, he now has been using his 6’0 216-pound frame to help him score three goals and one assist for four points in just two games played this season. That of course averages out to an incredible 2.00 PPG! Surely, Brodzinski would be hard pressed to keep this kind of point production up all season, but he is well on his way to a achieving a new personal best after posting just 14 points last season.
Staying in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), we now will turn our attention to the team’s 2019 2nd round pick Bobby Brink, yet another Minnesota native prospect who Chuck has brought into the Flyers’ ranks. But his place of birth is not the only thing that Brink has in common with some of the players mentioned in this article: Brink, like both Brodzinski and McClennon mentioned before him, plays the right wing and (like Connor) he too is vertically challenged. Standing at just 5’9, Bobby’s game is all about deception. Using his size to his advantage, Brink seems to find ways to disappear while out on the ice only to reappear in an optimal scoring area. Predominately a playmaker, Bobby has shown that he possesses great vision while out on the ice, which he has shown this season while playing for the University of Denver where he has already totaled two goals and two assists for four points in just two games played. Yes, another player with a 2.00 point per game pace this season. More importantly though, Brink has seemed to return to the defensively-responsible player Fletcher thought he was when he drafted him, seeing that he maintains a +5 average on the season as opposed to the -4 he ended the Pioneers’ season with last year. Still unsigned, Bobby needs to have a good season if he wants to turn pro in the future. While exhibiting a great deal of skill, there have been times when he also has left a lot to be desired. Consistency is what Brink will need to showcase this season since the players who display they can continue to produce by leaving permeant indentations on the desktop of the score keeper (where the goal column overlays) are the ones teams are looking to sign first.
How about a virtually unknown prospect: 18-year-old center Jon-Randall Avon, who hails from Canada and was signed by Fletcher to a three-year entry-level-contract after a receiving a recent camp invite- after not even playing a single game last year seeing that his Peterborough Petes of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) were shut down due to COVID! Kudos for Chuck or his right-hand man, assistant GM Brent Flahr, are in order because nobody else extended an invitation. They must have seen something in this young man’s game they liked during the 2019-2020 season where he scored just four goals and seven assists for 11 points in 56 GP that year because it certainly left a lot to be desired. However, Avon is off to quite the start this season where in three games played thus far, he has already totaled two goals and three assists for five points. But while his 1.66 point per game average may seem sublime, his -5 rating on the year could prove to be a point of concern.
Lastly, this is a player who has not even played a regular season game yet. Being that as it may, he made this list of impressive Flyers’ hopefuls because of his recent play in the Phantoms preseason games. His name is Samu Tuomaala, Philadelphia’s 2021 2nd round pick. This 18-year-old native of Oulu, Finland recently signed a three-year-entry-level contract of his own because the team was left in awe by his monumental ability to completely blow by the competition when he has the puck on his stick. As made evident by his coast-to-coast goal that he scored in a game back on 10-9-21 against the Phantoms most loathed rivals the Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins (see below), Tuomaala’s game- like no other Flyers’ prospect in recent memory- is focused on speed and pure goal scoring but, like Flyers’ great Jaromir Jagr, he is also well versed in the art of puck protection as well. With these kinds of talents at his disposal, it is easy to see why Tuomaala was able to make such a quick transition to the North American style of game and why his scoring one goal and two assists for three points in just four games played this preseason should be looked at as not only a great start to the season but the beginning of what is a phenomenal career to come.
The Flyers’ organization seems to be in good hands with Chuck Fletcher now at the helm and, with the extreme depth throughout the team’s ever-growing pipeline, it should be that way for some time to come. These players mentioned in this article are but a few of the ones who fans will hopefully get the luxury of watching play at the Wells Fargo Center in the not-so-distant future. The best suggestion this writer could make is just to keep your eyes open for they are coming!
