Date Published: 10-12-2022
Photo Courtesy of Philadelphia Flyers PR/Joe Siville
The Philadelphia Flyers released their opening night roster yesterday. Based on the health of Cam Atkinson and if he is ready to play this will likely be the forward lineup for the home opener below. As the Flyers take on the Devils Thursday evening.
Laughton-Hayes-Konecny
Farabee-Cates-Atkinson
JVR-Frost-Tippett
Deslauriers-Laczynski-Allison
Hodgson
It’s likely the above will be the opening night lineup however, it all hinges on Atkinson’s health. If he cannot play in the first game of the season Hodgson will draw into the lineup and play right wing on the 4th line. While Tippett will move to 2nd line RW and Allison will move to 3rd line RW. This would leave the forward lines looking something like this for opening night of the Flyers season:
Laughton-Hayes-Konecny
Farabee-Cates-Tippett
JVR-Frost-Allison
Deslauriers-Laczynski-Hodgson
day to day injury: Cam Atkinson
When looking at the forward group despite the Flyers missing Sean Couturier the lines are about as balanced as they can be. This contributes to my thoughts that this team does not necessarily have a bonafide top line especially with Couturier out of the lineup. It appears to me that whichever of the top 3 lines are playing better and rolling on any given night may be the one that receives top ice time and usage for that particular game. A lot of the time on ice could be managed in that way while certain players are attempting to establish themselves as the season begins.
Once Couturier makes his return I assume the Flyers will stray from the best playing line, gets the most ice time model. To return to a more traditional format. Where the top line takes the majority of the key on ice matchups depending on the situations within the game and other factors.
Listed below would be the opening night Defense and Goalie lineup:
Provorov-DeAngelo
Sanheim-Ristolainen
Zamula-Braun
Seeler-Attard
Hart
Ersson
The defense listed above is quite an interesting one based on what the projected defense was thought to be before Training Camp began. Most notably Cam York’s name is missing as he was assigned to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms last week. What is surprising is the fact that Zamula and Attard have both appeared to make the opening night roster.
It will certainly be a situation to keep tabs on to see when either gets into game action. Along with how the defense pairings ultimately unfold. Strangely enough the Flyers have 8 defenseman on the roster so there could be a possible injury somewhere we aren’t aware of. Another thought is that the Flyers may want to rotate their bottom pairing through the start of the year and then base what exactly that bottom pairing will consist of on regular season performance. That would fall in line with John Tortorella’s mindset and how he’s handled player deployment so far.
Considering Zamula and Attard are both younger players you’d have to assume the Flyers are going to play them if they are indeed up with the big club for a longer period of time. If that was not the case they would be better served in Lehigh Valley getting consistent playing time at the AHL level. Instead of not playing at all or being in and out of the lineup.
Overall, the above roster is not one that has too many surprises or unexpected additions. Although, there are some interesting facets to keep an eye on. With the season kicking off Thursday it should be interesting to see how some of the younger players in the lineup and first time NHLers perform. Not to mention, if they can cement their spots as NHL regulars throughout the season.
Gettin Gritty Wit It
On this week’s episode of the Gettin Gritty Wit It podcast we welcomed Chris Maher to the show. It was great to have Chris on for some Flyers talk and going into depth about the Flyers final roster.
Here are some of the topics we touched on below:
-Final Roster and roster cuts
-Couturier skating
-Farabee cleared for contact
-Our expectations
-NHL 23 talk
Thanks for listening and for the continued support. Have a great week everyone!
