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The Philadelphia Flyers are roughly midway through training camp. The team has three games remaining on its pregame schedule. Opening night is on October 9 on the road against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers. On Saturday, the Philadelphia suffered a 4-3 home loss at the hands of the Boston Bruins.
Meanwhile, there are still jobs up for grabs both at forward and defense. Goaltenders Samuel Ersson and Dan Vladar are set as the NHL tandem. However, playing time distribution remains to be seen. Ersson went the distance on Saturday against Boston. Vladar, an ex-Bruin, figures to get the start on Monday at TD Garden. He, too, could play all three periods.
Tocc Speak
Head Coach Rick Tocchet has used the word “OK” to describe how a host of players have performed in camp so far. However, there’s a sliding scale to what falls into the “OK category”.
For example, Ersson’s overall performance on Saturday neither excelled nor set off alarm bells. He’d only played 20 minutes in the preseason. Saturday was his first full game. He gave up a goal with 0.6 second left in the first period. Alex Bump flubbed an unchallenged puck behind the net. Johnny Beecher claimed it, stepped out in front and stuffed the puck inside the post to tie the game at 1-1. It was hard to blame Ersson on the play and stuffed it inside the post. Even so, there was a buzzer beating scoring chance on the near side that ended up in the net.
Conversely, Tocchet has also described some supbar overall performances as “OK”, too. However, he did say that no one in the competition for blue line jobs has stepped up sufficiently so far to grab hold of the race. There’s been “actual just OK” play from some: Emil Andrae, Adam Ginning. Dennis Gilbert and Egor Zamula come to mind. Unfortunately, there has also been “poor play described as just OK” as well: Noah Juulsen and Helge Grans fit that description. There has NOT been a consistently good camp from any of the bubble candidates so far.
Flyers camp to date: The good
- Cam York has had a strong day-in and day-out camp. Most of the attention in the Bruins game went to Travis Sanheim (the pairing is reunited, at least for now) because Sanheim scored a goal and made a good initial play on a later goal sequence. Meanwhile, York quietly had a strong all-around performance on Saturday. He’s brought a high level to his play on a daily basis. That’s a promising sign.
- Trevor Zegras and Matvei Michkov are starting to develop some offensive chemistry with one another.
- Nikita Grebenkin has gotten to the net so far and been strong on the boards.
- Tyson Foerster is healthy. He’ll get into a preseason game or two. His incumbent line with Noah Cates and Bobby Brink looked consistently solid amid an otherwise uneven practice from Saturday’s non-game group.
Flyers camp: The bad
- Philly’s overall performance on Saturday was an upgrade from the previous two games. The outcome could have swung either way. However, it was disappointing for a facsimile “A” roster to lose in regulation to the “B” group the Bruins sent to Philly.
- The Flyers struck for two power play goals on Saturday and deserve time to work things out fully. Conversely, there are facets that still look too much like the issues of recent seasons. The Flyers have had a couple of recent “crunch time power plays” including a lengthy 5-on-3 that generated insufficient pressure. Players still get too stationary at time without getting pucks into dangerous areas. It’s still preseason, but some improved execution (goal or not) would be quite welcomed.
- Alex Bump and Jett Luchanko are The pressing at this point. Getting a goal would do Bump a world of good. Meanwhile, Luchanko is playing too safe and seems anxious to rid of the puck rather than protecting it or making a play.
- Zegras makes good things happen up ice. But he’s turnover-prone in dangerous areas of the ice.
- Tocchet said of Grebenkin: He’s “sticky” around the net and boards but is prone to neutral zone turnovers. The Russian player does not go to the right spots at times in the defensive zone, either. However, he’s eager to learn.
Philly’s camp: The Ugly
- The first period in Montreal and the entire game in Hershey were as ugly as it gets. Even by preseason standards, those were horrid from the Philadelphia standpoint. As Tocchet said, brutal logistics and roster disparities aside, the Flyers needed to battle through the adversity better. Good teams can win when tired. A preseason loss is no big deal, but the Flyers got outplayed by wide margins even when the scoreboard looked close.
- The end-of-first period snafu on Saturday was a fluke. Nevertheless, it sure looked ugly.
- Sooner or later, third-pair and NHL depth options need to solidify their spots. The depth chart picture still looks muddy midway through training camp. Right now, it’s a tough decision for the wrong reason: no one clearly deserves the sixth or seventh defenseman spots.
- I’m not sure why Adam Ginning jumped into the neutral zone to receive a breakout pass from Michov or why Jamie Drysdale ended up on the wrong side of the puck, too. Meanwhile, the Boston defense intercepted Michkov’s pass and generated a (very) outnumbered transition goal on their counterattack. That whole sequence was a head scratcher.
