Marc Staal will mentor the Flyers’ young defensemen, sometimes as more of a coach

Flyers coach John Tortorella had a clear message for Marc Staal, the 36-year-old defenseman the Flyers signed as a free agent.

“As I stated to him, he’s not going to get in the way of the kids, of us developing the kids,” Tortorella said on the first day of Flyers training camp this week.

Staal, Tortorella said, is “going to be a mentor,” an “extension of the coaching staff with some of the youth.”

Gone from the blue line are veterans Ivan Provorov, Tony DeAngelo, and Justin Braun.

“Let’s face it, guys. ... It’s a very young back end,” Tortorella said.

Yes, there’s a youth movement of sorts happening with the Flyers, who have publicly committed to rebuilding and developing for the future. And Tortorella was using that as a jumping off point as training camp got underway, talking about how Staal’s presence will aid in the development of some of the young Flyers defensemen.

» READ MORE: Tyson Foerster looks to be in a good spot as Flyers show forward lines for the first time at training camp

“We’re going to have some horror shows in certain games with our young back end, but we’re going to work with them,” Tortorella said. “We’re going to live through some of the mistakes and see what we have there.”

But lost in some of the rebuilding jargon along the way is the reality that the Flyers have the potential to be fairly ordinary when it comes to the age of their defensive corps.

There are some nights, and one of them is pretty likely to be opening night in Columbus on Oct. 12, when the Flyers will run out a defense of Staal, Travis Sanheim (27), Cam York (22), Rasmus Ristolainen (28), Nick Seeler (30), and Sean Walker (28). The average age of that unit is 28.5 years old. Using CapFriendly’s projected depth charts, which updates daily as teams go through their training camps, there are 16 teams with a younger projected defensive unit than the Flyers’, and 15 with an older group.

Youth and rebuilding in this department don’t go hand-in-hand, either. Of the 12 teams at the top of FanDuel’s Stanley Cup odds board, eight of them have younger defensive groups than Philadelphia, including Stanley Cup favorite Colorado (27.8 years old).

New Jersey, projected to win the Metropolitan Division, has an average age on the blue line of 25.8, one of four teams in the division with a younger defensive corps than the Flyers — a group that includes the Blue Jackets (26.7), Islanders (26.7), and Rangers (25.8).

It’s beyond the Flyers’ current projected top six where youth could come into play.

» READ MORE: Sean Couturier passes first ‘test,’ up next is playing games, and he wants to play a lot

There’s no doubt the Flyers are anticipating some of their younger players to make a strong push for a roster spot out of this training camp.

On the blue line, that means players who have made their NHL debuts like Ronnie Attard (24), Egor Zamula (23), Victor Mete (25), and Adam Ginning (23). But then there are younger prospects like Emil Andrae and Helge Grans, two 21-year-old Swedes who look promising.

Tortorella was open Thursday when talking about where Staal fits in, and how, despite playing an 82-game regular season with the Panthers last season and going to the Stanley Cup Final, he might find himself as a healthy scratch often.

“He’s going to be just as important in those nights and those days leading up the games that he’s maybe not playing in,” Tortorella said.

Given how Tortorella wants to use Staal, as a sort of player-coach combo, it begs the question of whether the Flyers might decide to start the season with eight defensemen on the 23-man roster. Typically, a team carries its 20 dressed players (12 forwards, six defensemen, two goaltenders) and scratches two forwards and a defensemen. But it seems like a real possibility the Flyers could opt to carry two extra defensemen and one extra forward.

It’s early, of course, but Tortorella didn’t shoot down the idea Friday.

“I don’t know,” he said. “A lot shakes out with what happens with the forwards, too. I haven’t really gotten there, but it’s a good question because I just don’t know what’s going to happen on that back end.”

It’s possible the exercise becomes a moot point. There could be injuries, and it’s possible a veteran defenseman like Walker, who was a salary-cap dump in the Provorov trade to Los Angeles, has a rough camp and finds himself as a roster casualty because one of the younger players made that the reality.

But these are the decisions facing a Flyers team that needs to maximize development and building for the future, especially at the edges of the roster.

» READ MORE: Flyers ‘not tanking,’ says Danny Brière, but how will the rebuild impact roster decisions?

York was 6 years old when Staal debuted with the Rangers in 2007. Sixteen years later, they’re in the same locker room together, and playing on the same ice in Voorhees during camp.

“He’s been through it all,” York said. “I remember watching him as a kid, so it’s kind of weird having him on my team now. He’s a great guy off the ice and you can just tell he’s been in the league awhile and just knows what to do at all times.”

Staal’s presence has an impact on younger veterans, too, like Sanheim, 27, who is starting the first season of a massive eight-year, $50 million extension. Expect Sanheim to be a big beneficiary of Staal’s being here as the Flyers look to maximize their investment.

“He’s been around,” Sanheim said. “He’s had Torts, so you can kind of lean on him on that front. Just his experience — he went to the Stanley Cup Final last season, and all that playoff experience that he’s gotten. Going to lean on him a lot and his knowledge and what he can bring to this team.”

Staal and Sanheim were partnered as the Flyers lined up for scrimmages for the first time Friday and Saturday. It’s likely the Flyers want Staal to help unlock Sanheim’s offensive ability. Last season with the Panthers, Staal was partnered with Brandon Montour, an offensive-minded defenseman who had his best season of offensive production in his nine-year NHL career — 16 goals and 57 assists, his 73 points fifth among all NHL defensemen.

“He was so dynamic and joined the rush every chance he could and loved to handle the puck,” Staal said of Montour. “My role in playing with guys like that is to be as predictable as possible, talk as much as possible and just make it easy on them to go and do their thing.”

Staal said right now is a “feeling out period,” and his veteran presence will show a bit more as the weeks go on.

“Once you get into camp and games and real games and throughout the course of the season is when those types of things just come about — whether they’re [answering] questions or leading by example,” Staal said.

The Flyers want all of that in bunches, no matter if it comes while wearing the team’s uniform during a game or not.