Monday’s Flyers lineup offers some clues to how the team might look for the season opener

Flyers coach John Tortorella has used the phrase “in the conversation” a handful of times during training camp to describe a player who is involved in a roster battle to make the team.

With the regular season 10 days away from starting, it was easy to pick out who is still “in the conversation” by looking at who was playing in Monday night’s penultimate preseason game vs. Boston.

It was a roster full of NHL players, along with a few players whom Tortorella and the Flyers will be making final decisions on this week.

Winger Bobby Brink, 22, was back in the lineup, his third game in three nights for the Flyers as the diminutive 2019 second-rounder makes a hard push to make the club. So was Tyson Foerster, the 21-year-old who had three goals and four assists in eight games at the end of last season, and Wade Allison, who played 60 games with the Flyers last year (nine goals, six assists).

Both wingers on the Flyers’ new-look fourth line that has been one of the few constants so far at training camp was given the night off, seemingly so the Flyers could take another look at the wingers fighting for a job on the 23-man roster.

It was a bit telling that Foerster was slated to skate with Noah Cates and Scott Laughton, the line he started training camp with when the Flyers first started scrimmaging.

While Brink has a goal and two assists — plus a shootout winner — in three preseason games, Foerster has tallied just one point. That’s not all the Flyers are evaluating, of course. Still, Foerster hasn’t had the strongest of camps, which came on the heels of a so-so rookie camp the week before.

“I don’t think it’s been as bad, because you’re always looking at numbers, everybody looks at numbers,” Tortorella said of Foerster. “If I thought he was on the wrong side of preparing and arrogance it would be a concern. I think he’s just adding pressure to himself. I think that’s what’s happened to him a little bit offensively. That’s something he’s just going to work through. Where it all falls, I don’t know.

“I don’t want to make a snap judgment because there’s been a struggle for a few days within a training camp.”

» READ MORE: Who makes the 23-man roster? Here’s our projection as Flyers camp hits final week

Tortorella said Brink is “in the conversation” because of how he has played.

“He hasn’t been safe,” Tortorella said. “He’s tried to make plays. Made some mistakes along the way, but goes right back and tries to make another play. Really good on the power play. You can see he thinks the next play. This is what he is. This is why he was drafted.”

As far as defensemen go, veterans Marc Staal, Nick Seeler, and Sean Walker were not in the lineup Monday while the Flyers got another look at Ronnie Attard, Adam Ginning, and Egor Zamula.

Attard, who has showed at times that he’s not afraid of joining the rush and jumping into the offense, had “a little bit of struggle in his game” Saturday night vs. New Jersey, Tortorella said.

He was slated to be paired with Ginning, a duo that served as the top pairing in Lehigh Valley last year. Tortorella said he liked the way Zamula played in Saturday night’s game.

Where the roster battle at goalie stands was pretty obvious, but it became clearer Monday morning when Tortorella said Sam Ersson was going to play the full game.

Among the three players vying to be Carter Hart’s backup, Ersson, 23, has been the best of the bunch.

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

Brink’s emergence into “the conversation” comes with another element. Do the Flyers really need another short forward? Their top nine forwards include Cam Atkinson (5-foot-8), Travis Konecny (5-10), and Morgan Frost (5-11), and a few of those listed heights appear to be generous. Brink, like Atkinson, is listed at 5-8.

Foerster, meanwhile, is 6-2.

“The game has changed a little bit, that part of it,” Tortorella said when asked his thoughts on size.

He pointed at the big back end of the Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights, whose three defensive pairings each included a player who was 6-3 or taller and no player smaller than 6-1.

“Everybody is looking for size, because when you do get to the real stuff, the playoffs, it’s really needed,” Tortorella said. “But speed and quickness is still a huge part of the game now.”

The Flyers announced more training camp cuts Monday. Defenseman Victor Mete, who had a chance at making the NHL roster, was placed on waivers along with Adam Brooks, Rhett Gardner, Cooper Marody, and Louie Belpedio.

Additionally, the team loaned Olle Lycksell to Lehigh Valley and released Matt Brown and Brendan Furry from their tryout contracts. Those two are expected to report to the Phantoms. Rookie defenseman Matteo Mann was also loaned back to his junior team the Saint John Sea Dogs of the QMJHL.

Monday’s roster moves left the training camp roster at 31 players. The Flyers wrap up the preseason with another home game Thursday night vs. the Islanders.