Projecting the Flyers’ opening-night roster after the latest round of cuts

And then there were 34.

The Flyers whittled down their training camp roster on Wednesday, cutting 10 players including top defensive prospect Cam York. Now, the Flyers are one step closer to finalizing their roster ahead of the season opener on Oct. 13 against the New Jersey Devils. But coach John Tortorella still has a number of decisions to make.

“It’s going to be very fluid with our players because there are no locks in probably half the team here, as far as I’m concerned,” Tortorella said.

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The Flyers played their final game of the preseason on Tuesday and have until 5 p.m. Monday to submit their 23-man roster to the league.

Who will take the ice in Orange and Black come next Thursday? Here’s a guess at what the Flyers’ lineup might look like when they face off against their division rivals.

General manager Chuck Fletcher said at the start of training camp that it’s time to see what the organization has among the 25-and-under “kids” who have been largely unproven at the NHL level. Those players include Wade Allison, Tanner Laczynski, Morgan Frost, and Owen Tippett. The former three have had their development hindered by long-term injuries, while the latter, who was acquired from the Florida Panthers in the Claude Giroux trade, has struggled to stick at the NHL level.

Injuries have certainly created opportunities for some of the kids — Sean Couturier and Joel Farabee aren’t expected to be ready for the start of the season. But in reality, a handful of roster spots were up for grabs before Couturier and Farabee went down. Now, six 25-and-under players could be among the Flyers’ forward group on opening night.

Frost and Tippett are essentially locks. Neither had an overwhelmingly great preseason, but each demonstrated flashes of offensive potential and forechecking capabilities that the Flyers will want to maximize this season. Noah Cates arguably had the most eye-catching preseason performance by showing his smarts with and without the puck on a nightly basis. He should also make the opening-night roster.

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The further down the lineup, the bigger the question marks. Laczynski and Jackson Cates are top contenders for the fourth-line center role. In theory, the Flyers could keep both. Laczynski fits the bill with a hard-checking game, and Fletcher is pressed to figure out what he has in the team’s sixth-round pick in 2016. But the elder Cates, 25, has arguably had the better camp and could remain on the roster as an extra forward.

Even beyond Couturier and Farabee, some of the veterans expected to be ready for the opener have been dealing with bumps and bruises. Cam Atkinson missed all six preseason games and has been labeled “day to day” with an upper-body injury since Sept. 25. Travis Konecny played one preseason game against the Buffalo Sabres on Sept. 27, missed a couple of shifts after he crashed into the boards, and didn’t suit up for the rest of the exhibition season.

The Flyers’ top four defensemen — Ivan Provorov, Tony DeAngelo, Travis Sanheim, and Rasmus Ristolainen — have been solidified since the draft in July, when Fletcher acquired DeAngelo from the Carolina Hurricanes as a replacement for the injured Ryan Ellis.

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The most pressing question that the Flyers attempted to solve throughout camp was whether the 21-year-old York was ready to become a full-time NHL player. If he was prepared to take the jump, he would have started the season on the left side of the Flyers’ third pairing, with 35-year-old Justin Braun on the right. The Flyers came to a conclusion (for now) on Wednesday, sending their 2019 first-round pick to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms for continued development.

Now, with York out of the picture to start the season, four other healthy defensemen remain on the roster — Nick Seeler, Kevin Connauton, Ronnie Attard, and Egor Zamula. If York needs seasoning in the AHL before he gets cooking at the next level, then Attard and Zamula need the equivalent of 24-hour marinating with the Phantoms. That’s not to say they’ve had poor preseasons, but they’re even more raw than York. Seeler and Connauton will contend for the open spot in the lineup, and Seeler has the edge with the tenacity he displayed in the preseason. Connauton will likely stay on as the seventh defenseman.

When Ivan Fedotov signed an entry-level contract in May and the Flyers did not sign a bona fide NHL backup throughout the offseason, it seemed as if they were going to roll with Fedotov and starter Carter Hart as their goalie tandem. But Fedotov, the KHL’s 2021-22 goaltender of the year, was drafted into the Russian army in July, preventing him from coming to North America and playing in the NHL.

The Flyers entered training camp with two goalies realistically contending for the backup role — 25-year-old Felix Sandström and 33-year-old AHL journeyman Troy Grosenick. The inexperienced Samuel Ersson, 22, remained on the periphery, as he played just five games last season with the Phantoms because of a groin injury.

Sandström seemed like the front-runner for the gig in the preseason, posting a 1.34 goals-against average and a .941 save percentage in roughly 90 minutes of ice time across three games. But Sandström exited the Oct. 1 game against the Boston Bruins prematurely with a lower-body injury and has been skating with the rehab group.

With Sandström sidelined, Ersson stole the show from Grosenick. He allowed an average of just 1.47 goals and finished with a .947 save percentage in about 122 minutes of ice time over four games. Based on preseason performance alone, Ersson should win the backup role ... for now.

If Sandström isn’t healthy enough to start the season, then the Flyers could go with young Ersson. Once Sandström is healthy enough to return, he ought to assume the role, while Ersson could return to the Phantoms to receive regular playing time.

Meanwhile, Hart has been day to day with a lower-body injury since Sept. 25 and did not see any exhibition action. The Flyers still expect Hart to be ready for the season opener.