Another practice, and woolah day 3 of training camp is in the books, just like that. Alain Vigneault divided the team into the Flyers, and the black aces for the most part once again for the last day. Tomorrow the lines will change, mainly to showcase some of the rookies to gain valuable experience just in case. Vigneault is purposely doing this to see who’s ready, “I intend on using more than 20 guys for those (round-robin) games. I’m going to look at different players in different situations,” Vigneault said yesterday. With that being said, Vigneault has made it clear as day who the forward group will most likely be, and the last camp battles will be for the black aces.
The Flyers will be forced to trim their roster from 34 to 31 by the time they travel to the hub city. Currently they have 18 forwards, to include 12 defencemen, and 4 Goaltenders. Yes, teams have unlimited Goaltenders, but teams might have to cross that barrier when the case arises.
This year’s playoff group is a lot different than the 2017-18 playoff team because first there are three first timers for the playoffs in Joel Farabee, Carter Hart, and Philippe Myers. Second there is no 4th line weigh-down anymore with a Michael Raffl, Derek Grant, and Tyler Pitlick fourth line at the moment. This is simply the best fourth line constructed in some time for the orange and black. The roster is littered with depth after depth, really at every position. This gives them an advantage over other teams in the playoffs. With that being said here are pictures and quotes from day 3 of training camp.
Before we start the diaries section, I just want to mention that Claude Giroux looks more determined than ever. His shot was powerful, and for the most part really accurate today. Carter Hart did not have his best showing today, but again it’s day three and these type of days will happen for obvious reasons. Morgan Frost was fast, and accurate with his shot. Frost had another impressive day, and can really roof shots. Kirill Ustimenko continues to shine, and Alex Lyon did pretty well today, as well.
Training Camp Diaries Day 3
Justin Braun Presser:
“He came in with a system. It took a while for guys to get used to that but I think everyone bought in. You saw at the end of the year how we were humming along and the points we were collecting. He set the standard of what he expects every night,” Braun says in reference to Vigneault.
“He can be a game-changer. He can do it all, he’s in phenomenal shape. A young guy who’s already figured out how to be great,” Braun on Ivan Provorov.
“He brings it every day, he’s so quick. It’s nice to have a guy like that back there when you screw up,” Braun on Carter Hart.
“The group here is great. One of the tightest groups I’ve ever been around. It’s a lot of fun on and off the ice and we hold each other accountable.”
James Van Riemsdyk Presser:
“Yeah, the biggest thing with him as far as any coach I’ve played for at any level is that he lets other people do their jobs. Obviously for this, we are coming back and want to be in a position where we are peaking at the right time so he is leaning on the sports science staff as for how long we practice, how hard we practice, when to push a little harder and when to pull back and give us some time to recover. Because of all that, he uses all the tools kind of available to him. He’s been really smart about all that stuff. I think as players we have a ton of confidence in what he wants us to do. It’ll help us be prepared and be ready to play as we go through this process and get to Toronto and start playing games.”
“We’ll still have to talk about that a little bit more. It’s one of those things where you just see where the world is at that point. Certainly as I’ve mentioned before, playing hockey and chasing the Stanley Cup is a huge dream of mine. I really would want to be able to share that with my family so that would be pretty important to me if we get to that point to be able to have them there. We’ll look at the state of things and again if things look good I think there’s no reason why I wouldn’t have them come and be a part of it at that point.”
“I’m sure as a coach coming to a new team, it’s always nice to have at least someone who could, I don’t know if vouch for is the right word, but kind of have that relationship with and they know what to expect. It makes that transition a little easier. Certainly we all come in and try to develop our own relationships with the different coaches, but it definitely doesn’t hurt to have a guy who’s really familiar with and has a good relationship with him and can help us make that process a little more seamless as far as players getting to know him and that stuff. I think that’s been a good thing for us as players and probably for him as a coach as well, just someone who you are really familiar with and know very well and able to make that transition hopefully a little more seamless than it might be otherwise.”
“Who would I want to have as my roommate? Wow, you could take this so many different angles with this. I would say if I had to have one roommate, I’d go with Carter Hart for that. I think it’d be pretty entertaining. It’s funny to hear some of stuff that’s going on his brain. I’d pick him for the guy that I would definitely want to room with. For someone I wouldn’t want to room with, I don’t know. I don’t even know how I could answer that one. We have a pretty tight team. I don’t even know if there isn’t anyone I really wouldn’t want to room with. I’m pretty adaptable where I could have a good experience with any of the guys. I don’t even know how to answer that part of it.”
Alain Vigneault:
“This time in Philly it’s very special, I’m extremely proud of our team. They want to put in the work. They are looking forward to the challenge. I like the spirit and I like the mood.”- AV on being nominated for his 5th Jack Adams Award
Kevin Hayes:
“It’s still fun here every day, I make sure of that.”
“If it wasn’t for him losing his hair, you wouldn’t have known he had cancer.”- Hayes on Oskar Lindblom
