Photo Credit: Western Michigan Athletics
Right now, if you keep up with the team’s prospects at all, you have heard about the type of year the Flyers’ 2020 6th round pick Connor McClennon has had- Scoring 32 points in just 21 games played (GP) so far this season for the Winnipeg Ice of the Western Hockey League (WHL). You have seen what the Flyers’ 2020 5th round pick Elliot Desnoyers is capable of in training camp this year, which he has only been showcasing in the Quebec Major Hockey Junior League (QMJHL) this season for the Halifax Mooseheads. There, he has been able to put up 30 points in 17 games played. And then there’s the undrafted prospect Jon-Randall Avon, who you at least heard about attending the Flyers’ training camp this past fall on an amateur try out and came away with a three-year entry level contract. Avon has since gone back to the Ontario Hockey League’s (OHL’s) Peterborough Petes and has managed to post 21 points in 16 GP.
But we are not here to talk about the well-known prospects within the Flyers’ system. We’re here to shed light on some of the lesser known players within the team’s system who may be just as important to the future of the team’s success. In saying that, the first player who comes to this writer’s mind is right-hand shot defenseman Ronnie Attard whom the Flyers selected back in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Ronnie, who is now 22-years-old, stands at 6’4 and weighs in at 209 pounds. He was selected by the Flyers after leading the Tri-City Storm of the United States Hockey League (USHL) on quite the impressive run in a season where he scored 30 goals (G) and 34 assists (A) for a total of 64 points (P) in 48 games played. So, if you did the math, that was a defenseman that scored at a rate of 1.33 points per game (PPG). More impressive still was the fact that not only did Attard score, but he was actually pretty good at playing defense as well (a trait that is getting harder and harder to find in young, offensively minded defenseman), achieving an unheard of plus/minus rating of +46 on the season- stats that would earn him being named not only the USHL’s Defenseman of the Year that season but the USHL’s Player of the Year honor as well!
Since being drafted, Ronnie left the ‘Hockey Hotbed of Nebraska” (where the Storm are located) and has returned to his home state of Michigan. There, he has played the last three seasons for the Western Michigan Broncos (where both the Flyers’ former player/announcer Keith Jones and Wade Allison both attended). Once playing for the Broncos, Attard continued to show that he is the type of defenseman that isn’t scared to stand the opposition up at the blue line for it’s seems he does not even know the meaning of retreat. Ronnie enjoys the physical part of the game: He takes pride in wearing down his opponent by finishing each and every checking opportunity that comes his way. No matter if it is along the boards or out in the center of the ice, opponents know that when Ronnie is on the ice they better keep their heads up. But like I said- Attard is not a one dimensional player; rather, he is a complete player. This season in the NCAA Ronnie has scored 4 goals and 8 assists for 12 points in 12 games played while maintaining a +11 average on the year.
So, I ask you: who wouldn’t want a hard-hitting, right-hand-shot defenseman who can score at a point-per-game pace? With Ellis seeming to be injury prone, and an aging Justin Braun now reaching his final years of playing, the Flyers need more right-hand blue liners in the system. Currently, there is only one signed and that is Wyatte Wylie who has failed to achieve even a fraction of the production he had while playing for the Everett Silvertips of the WHL. Therefore, the team would be wise to sign this player who not only can score goals but is willing to block shots, throw checks, and clear the front of the net. To me, it’s no-brainer.
Next up is another right-hand shot defender. Like stated previously, this is still a serious need within the team’s system. Right now, the Flyers are forcing left-hand shot defender Nick Seeler to play his opposite side because there is simply no one else that plays the right side ready to call up. Enter in 22-year-old Jack (A.KA. John) St. Ivany from Manhattan Beach, CA. St. Ivany was taken by the Flyers back in the fourth round of the 2018 draft. To this point he has probably taken a little longer to develop than the team would hope but their patience with him may just be paying off. Making the switch last year from Yale University to now playing at Boston College has proved to be a wise one for Jack where, after getting used to his new team’s system during the shortened campaign last season, he has been able to come out this season and somehow put it all together. In just 14 GP for the Eagles this year Jack has managed to net 2 G and 11 A for 13 P, all while being able to sustain a +11 plus/minus average. Like Attard, St. Ivany possesses a big frame. Standing at 6’3 and 201 pounds Jack is not easily pushed around like he once was in Flyers’ rookie camps of old.
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Playing in the East where St. Ivany has had to face much tougher opponents night in and night out has readied Jack for the possibility of turning pro. He has already helped his team win games this year against Northeastern, Denver, Vermont, and Maine and, with the likes of Notre Dame, Boston University, Providence, and UMASS all still to come, St. Ivany should be able to make a smooth transition to the American Hockey League next year if signed by the Flyers this off season.
The next may be a name Flyers’ fans may remember seeing that he was drafted in the second round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft but for some reason some have forgotten about him. That player is none other than Bobby Brink, the now 20-year-old undersized winger who hails from Minnesota and has been playing for the past three years for the University of Denver Pioneers. During each Pioneers season he has managed to play in the World Junior Championships (WJC) for Team USA. The latest being last season where Brink seemed to stand out of the crowd despite him only being 5’9, achieving an impressive 2 goals and 4 assists for 6 points in 7 games played, with fellow Flyers’ prospect Cameron York serving as his captain. Following that success Bobby has brought what he has learned from wining Gold last year at the WJC for Team USA back to Denver where he has been able to score 5 goals and 11 assists for 16 points this season in just 12 games played. With a 1.33 point-per-game average in the NCAA, it has become quite clear that Brink may not have much more to prove at the collegiate level.
Brink has proved all his doubters wrong (including this writer). He is a sneaky goal scorer who has been able to improve his skating since being drafted and now uses it to better slip in behind the opposition’s defense. But while he can score, he excels more at the art of passing seeing that he is a heads-up, unselfish player who can visualize the best play for the situation before it happens. Therefore, next season he could provide more depth to the Phantoms’ right side since the signing of Linus Sandin and longtime Flyers’ prospect Maxim Sushko just haven’t seemed to work out.
Lastly, a guy who might not be ready to be inked just yet but who the Flyers’ General Manager Chuck Fletcher better be working on drafting a contract for is forward Owen McLaughlin of the USHL’s Sioux City Musketeers who Chuck drafted this past summer with his seventh-round pick. McLaughlin is simply a point producer: this season alone he has 8 G and 11 A for 19 P and is a plus 7. Owen is set to attend Penn State University next year where, if Flyers fans want a show, they should plan to travel to State College, PA next season to see him suit up for the Nittany Lions.
All of these Flyers’ prospects are both underrated and undervalued. Right-Handed shot defensemen Attard and St. Ivany would bring balance to the inundated Phantoms’ blue line (which is full of left-handed shot defenders) next season. Bobby Brink (and eventually Owen McLaughlin) could help to further transform Lehigh Valley’s struggling offense by joining a bunch of already signed prospects like Jon-Randall Avon, Elliot Desnoyers, and Samu Tuomaala as early as next year in an effort to replace wingers Matthew Strome, Isaac Ratcliffe, Maksim Sushko, and center German Rubtsov- all of whom have failed to thrive and have expiring contracts at this season’s end.
