Photo Credit: Jerome Morin/USA Today Sports
The Philadelphia Flyers have added yet another tough guy to their locker room. On Sunday, following the rookie series with the New York Rangers, the team brought in forward Antoine Roussel on a player try out contract with an invite to training camp.
Roussel, 32, has played ten years in the NHL with Dallas, Vancouver, and Arizona. In 607 career games, he has posted 197 points on 85 goals and 112 assists. In those 607 games, he has piled up 1,063 penalty minutes.
Roussel’s addition comes as a bit of a surprise as the Flyers’ brought in Nic Deslauriers over the summer on a four-year deal (with a no-movement clause), and re-signed RFA Zack MacEwen.Â
The odds Roussel ends up making the Flyers’ opening night roster are slim and perhaps he was brought in to be a locker room guy during camp and the preseason games. This move is reminiscent of when the Flyers brought in Chris Stewart on a PTO during the summer of 2019. Stewart is now a player development coach in the Flyers’ organization.
In 2021-22, Roussel played 53 games with the Coyotes, totaling eight points on four goals and four assists. He also amassed 59 penalty minutes and finished the year as a -16.
In 36 career playoff games, Roussell has nine points and 89 penalty minutes.
Artem Anisimov
Anisimov has had his fair share of injuries throughout his career, but now this invite to Flyers Camp has become more clearer. With the news to Sean Couturier yesterday, Anisimov being invited to Flyers Training Camp now makes sense. He attended the Colorado Avalanche’s Training Camp last season but didn’t receive an NHL contract. He then decided to play in the KHL, where he registered 19 points in 27 games for Yaroslavl Lokomotiv.
Check out our Flyers Nitty Gritty Store
He also has experience while playing for John Tortorella. Anisimov played under Tortorella in 2009 to 2011, so there is familiarity with the current Flyers Head Coach.
Although, Anisimov has been added to the camp roster, most likely due to the Couturier injury. If he did win a job out of camp it would be most likely for depth purposes, it’s time to see what the kids got.
