Cut down day is never easy. It doesn’t matter when it is, and cut down day being in the dead smack of the Summer wasn’t the most ideal situation. However, these were the cards the NHL and other leagues were dealt with. The Flyers had to trim their training camp roster from 34 down to 31.
At the start of camp most had Morgan Frost as the top black ace, well guess what folks, to no one’s surprise he made the cut. Next shoo-in was Mark Friedman, and he made it too. The bash brothers Connor Bunnaman and Carsen Twarynski were told at least a month before Phase 3 opened to be ready. Bunnaman’s hard work paid off in a big way, but the Flyers went with the experienced Andy Andreoff over Twarynski. Twarynski said in the middle of the week, “I just want to be on that plane to Toronto.” Of course, Alex Lyon was going, but one question mark remained, and that was would the Flyers bring Goaltending prospect Kirill Ustimenko with them? Well, guess what he made it too.
The only surprises in my opinion were a roster spot for Oskar Lindblom, and ten defencemen. This is a surprise to me because I did not have Lindblom traveling with the team to Toronto at some point before training camp began, nor did I think the Flyers would take 10 Dmen to Toronto. Great news yes, but I am shocked in a good way. Here is a list of the final playoff roster below:
17 Forwards: Couturier, Giroux, Voracek, JVR, Hayes, Konecny, Farabee, Grant, Pitlick, Raffl, Thompson, NAK, Lindblom, Frost, Bunnaman, Andreoff, Laughton
10 Defencemen: Provy, Niskanen, Sanheim, Myers, Hagg, Braun, Ghost, Friedman, Zamula, Welinski
4 Goalies: Hart, Elliott, Lyon, Ustimenko
Don’t forget Flyers fans, the Flyers exhibition game against the Pittsburgh Penguins is Tuesday at 4pm EST. The Cup contenders and Claude Giroux (Who has had a great camp) begin their quest for Lord Stanley’s Cup officially on August 11 (Start of the actual playoffs, following the Round Robin). This is the best team Giroux has had as a member of the Flyers organization.
