Photo Credit: Zack Hill
Bobby Brink answered the Flyers top brass and Rocky Thompson in a big way last week after registering an assist on Wade Allison’s goal, “He has some momentum going right now,” Flyers assistant coach Rocky Thompson said at his pre-game presser to the media. “It will be a little bit tiring. He played a lot of minutes last night (Friday), so it will be good for us to identify how he can do in those situations being a smaller player. He was battling hard, he was strong on pucks. We expect him to be able to do that tonight.”
Well, impress he did as he registered a beautiful assist on a backhand pass to set up Wade Allison for his first pre-season goal. Brink finished the pre-season with two goals and one assist. For his efforts, he has logged over 17 minutes of ice time in his past two pre-season games played, as well.
That was then and this is now. Brink could very well make the opening night roster, especially after the orange and black waived Wade Allison. Flyers’ Head Coach John Tortorella said yesterday, “We don’t have a superstar offensive player, some teams have a couple, some teams have one. We don’t, we still have to manufacture goals, but we still have some good offensive people here,” Tortorella said. This comment right here could solidify Brink’s status of winning a spot for opening night.
Brink was a second round selection in 2019. He played for Team USA in the 2020 and 2021 World Junior Championships. Brink won a gold medal with teammate Cam York in 2021.
“I’m honored to join a classy, historic, organization. Flyers fans are so passionate, how can a person not be excited. It was a day I will remember for the rest of my life. My friends and family were very happy.” – Bobby Brink told Jamey Baskow in February of 2022
He made his NHL Debut with the Flyers on April 12, 2022 against the Washington Capitals. Unfortunately, he suffered a significant injury that kept him out of half the season in 2022-23. Brink started off on a hot streak, but things started to settle down after the seventh or eighth game. He had a problem with consistency last season, and that was to be expected given the nature of his serious injury that he was coming back from. When healthy, Brink is a dynamic forward that can put the puck in the net, or set up a nice play for the eventual goal. He arguably has top 6 talent at the NHL level, Brink just needs to be consistent.
Consistency, consistency. Brink is having a great preseason for the orange and black, even so much so, he is being given an extra look because of his success. As mentioned above from assistant head coach Rocky Thompson, the Flyers top brass is giving him every position to win a spot on opening night, but they are placing him in tough situations, much like the ones he will face if he did make the team outright.
The difference of Brink’s game in the pre-season as opposed to last season is finishing, and his skating has improved. He is getting to the dirty areas to pot goals or make plays, and he is creating plays off turnovers that he forces from the opposition. Brink has been that good to force his opponents to make mistake after mistake.
Check out our Flyers Nitty Gritty Store
Cool Matvei Michkov merchandise
“He was good on the power play, which we have kind of known that,” Thompson said following the game last week. “I thought he was good consistently. He played well. He was backchecking hard, and those were things we were looking for.”
On paper, there is a key positional battle with Brink aged 22 and Tyson Foerster aged 21. However, what if the team kept both young prospects? It’s quite possible that both can make the opening night lineup, but at least one of the two definitely will. This 5’8, 169 pound forward in Brink is really making a strong case in completing in his ultimate goal before camp began with making the Flyers opening night lineup.
