Through three NHL preseason games, several Philadelphia Flyers roster battles look far from being decided any time soon.
In losses to the Montreal Canadiens and Washington Capitals, the Flyers very much looked like an uninspired team out of gas and out of ideas. Not unusual, given the nature of training camp, but concerning.
The best the Flyers have looked through three preseason games was, incidentally, in their first game against the New York Islanders, when Nikita Grebenkin, Trevor Zegras, and Matvei Michkov stole the show in a 3-2 shootout win.
A glass-half-full way of looking at things is that the Flyers also look like a team undoing three years of John Tortorella, clearly still learning Rick Tocchet’s new systems.
For many young players, including Michkov, Tortorella’s systems were all they ever had and are having to learn a new set of NHL systems all over again. Rome wasn’t built in a day.
But, overall, you’d like to see a group of young guys rise to the occasion and steal a roster spot when they see an opportunity. That hasn’t happened yet.
Winger Alex Bump, for example, was one player I praised after the loss to the Canadiens. He started the game (strangely) paired with Nick Deslauriers and Jett Luchanko, and eventually started making plays after moving up to the top line with Sean Couturier and Bobby Brink.
So far, Bump’s game has been just that: flashes at times, but nothing sustained yet. For a solid 6-foot, 200-pound guy, he gets knocked over quite a bit, too.
If I had to call it today, Nikita Grebenkin makes the NHL roster with ease, if for no reason other than his ability to (apparently) play with different types of players in addition to his size and aggression.
The other forward spot is up for grabs.
It’s between Bump, Jett Luchanko, Rodrigo Abols, and maybe Denver Barkey, but the edge has to go to Abols at this time. The experienced Latvian can play center and wing and has put in some good shifts in the preseason.
If Bump makes the roster and Deslauriers is the only extra forward, the Flyers would be without a reserve forward who can play the middle, and that’s something they need to consider when constructing the roster.
On defense, Emil Andrae looked good in the first game against the Islanders and hasn’t played since.
Noah Juulsen has been making it a point to play with physicality, but he got lucky with the Kashawn Aitcheson hit in the first game and was penalized for a very similar hit against Ilya Protas on Thursday.
Flyers Make 10 More Roster Cuts, Including A Surprise
The Philadelphia Flyers have announced 10 further cuts to their training camp roster ahead of Thursday night’s preseason game against the Washington Capitals, but some names were more surprising than others.
Helge Grans has been just okay so far and was bad against the Capitals on Thursday, but as Tocchet remarked after the game, everyone was bad and probably tired, too. That led to the Flyers having the day off on Friday.
Tocchet prefers to have a lefty and righty on each defense pairing, but right now, the only two horses making serious claims for a roster spot are Andrae and Gilbert. I see a world where both make it and Egor Zamula is the odd man out and subsequently cut.
For all his size and physical tools, Zamula is still a very slow skater and plays slow, and it’s hard to predict what Tocchet’s patience level will be for that compared to the other options in the cupboard.
Fortunately, the Flyers have four more preseason games, including Saturday’s preseason home opener against Boston, before they open their regular season on the road against the back-to-back Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, who are now without captain Sasha Barkov, on Oct. 9.
There’s plenty of time for the youngsters (and some vets) to turn the page on a slow start to the preseason, but, so far, impressive moments have been far and few between.
