Flyers roster almost set, but one cut remains to ‘unconfuse’ things

A day after the Flyers made two cuts from their training camp roster, they began practice Wednesday morning in Voorhees with two more roster casualties, as defensemen Ronnie Attard and Adam Ginning weren’t on the ice, and coach John Tortorella later confirmed the duo was sent to Lehigh Valley.

Moves announced later in the day left the team with 15 forwards, eight defensemen, and three goalies in camp. The 23-man roster is due at 5 p.m. Monday, and the Flyers open their regular season next Thursday in Columbus.

But that 26-player roster actually is a bit smaller than it appears on paper.

Start with the goalies. Tortorella said after practice Wednesday that Sam Ersson had won the backup job and will open the season behind Carter Hart. That means the Flyers likely will place Felix Sandström on waivers some time in the next few days. At forward, J.R. Avon is on the roster as he rehabs from injury. Along with Attard and Ginning, winger Samu Tuomaala was optioned to the Phantoms. Forward Tanner Laczynski and goaltender Cal Petersen cleared waivers Wednesday and will report to Lehigh Valley.

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So, after a little first-grade subtraction, that leaves the Flyers with 14 forwards, eight defensemen, and two goaltenders ahead of their final preseason game Thursday night at the Wells Fargo Center against the New York Islanders. They have one final cut to make, assuming they keep the maximum 23 and don’t make a trade or claim someone off waivers.

Roster bubble players like Bobby Brink, Tyson Foerster, Wade Allison, Emil Andrae, and Egor Zamula remain with the team. That the Flyers are at the end of training camp and still not sure how it all will shake out come Monday is a positive development, Tortorella said.

“This is something that means maybe some of our guys are progressing and we have to start making decisions,” he said. “It’s kind of the second year of a process we’re going through. We have to make some decisions. But we haven’t yet.”

The decisions are interesting ones, too. Will the Flyers go the nontraditional route and keep eight defensemen? Will they keep Brink and Foerster and figure out a way to get them both in top-nine forward roles, since neither one appears to have much value as a fourth-liner? That would mean splitting up a fourth line the Flyers have really liked so far in training camp.

Among the defensemen, Andrae is the only one who could be sent down to the AHL without needing to clear waivers. But Tortorella has spoken highly of the 21-year-old Swede’s camp.

“He’s one of those guys who’s going to play a role with us along the way,” Tortorella said.

Zamula, Tortorella said, has played well but also has been inconsistent. Tortorella likes the way he sees the ice, but thinks the 23-year-old has been a little slow making the play when he sees it.

The overarching message from Tortorella on Wednesday, and since camp began, was that the organization wants the “kids,” as they’ve called them, to play. They are unlikely to keep Zamula, and Andrae especially, on the big club if they’re not going to see game action. That could mean another move is coming. They could try to get Sean Walker’s $2.65 million salary-cap hit through waivers. They could make a trade. Or they could keep eight defensemen and rotate players in, having acknowledged earlier in camp that veteran Marc Staal is unlikely to play every night, even after playing a full season with Florida — all the way through the Stanley Cup Final — last year.

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Back up front, it seems like the likeliest scenario is that Brink or Foerster is sent back to the AHL. Maybe that final spot, seemingly the right wing slot on the third line, is up for grabs Thursday night. Tortorella indicated it’s pretty unlikely that either of those players is an extra forward on the NHL team. The 5-foot-8 Brink has had the more productive camp, but Foerster has NHL size at 6-2 and was impressive when he debuted with the team last season (seven points in eight games).

The Flyers knew that part of this rebuild would mean young players pushing for the NHL roster. But they also added competition with some of their offseason acquisitions, like Staal and Walker on defense and Garnet Hathaway and Ryan Poehling up front.

“It kind of confuses you,” Tortorella said of the competition. “Confusion is good when you’re in a process. We’ve just got to unconfuse it sometime by Monday.”