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

As the longest-tenured member of what will be a young, rebuilding Flyers team, 30-year-old Sean Couturier will be, on most occasions, a leading voice and a sounding board for advice.

But ahead of Thursday morning, the first day of Flyers training camp in Voorhees, Couturier needed a little bit of help. He missed all of last season while recovering from multiple back surgeries and didn’t take part last year in coach John Tortorella’s famous first-day sprinting session in the coach’s first season in Philadelphia.

“I didn’t really know what to expect,” Couturier said after the first of three Flyers training camp groups finished what was essentially a 30-minute sprint with a few breathers. “I’m not gonna lie, I was pretty nervous about it.”

Longtime teammate Scott Laughton didn’t have much advice for him. “Just move your arms and your legs,” Laughton said. Couturier, like the rest of the Flyers on camp’s opening day, got through it, some in better shape than others.

“I actually watched him out there,” Laughton said. “He looked great. That whole group was flying.”

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“This is hard on the body,” Couturier said of the skating session. “It’s tough mentally. And I thought it went pretty well.”

Couturier said afterward that the skate was Test No. 1 in what will be a series of tests for him during this training camp. The pretest was Wednesday, when Couturier passed all his physicals.

Next up on the list is a scrimmage, which will take place Friday morning. After that, it’s an exhibition game, the first of which comes Monday in New Jersey vs. the Devils. The Flyers haven’t announced a roster for that game, the first of six preseason games. But it sounds like Couturier wants to be part of the group.

The center said he told management that he wanted to play in as many preseason games as they’d let him, “to get back into it and get a feel.” He hasn’t played in an NHL game since Dec. 18, 2021.

Tortorella was predictably short when asked if he had a plan for Couturier’s preseason game number – “I don’t,” the coach said.

Couturier isn’t alone in this experience, of course. Veteran winger Cam Atkinson also missed all of last season. Thursday’s skate wasn’t new to him, since Atkinson was with Tortorella in Columbus. Atkinson, who had a herniated disc in his C6 and C7 vertebrae, said he thought he’d play in no more than four preseason games and expressed a desire to get the first one out of the way Monday in New Jersey.

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Asked about balancing the workload for Couturier and Atkinson, Tortorella said he was “not going to overthink it.”

“They’ve put in a lot of work prior to us just starting here today,” he said.

There’s a mental component to all of it, too. When Couturier gets hit and feels any amount of pain — a normal occurrence throughout the course of a hockey season — how will he react?

“That’s going to be the big thing to get over with, just play that first game and get hit, get crushed on the boards and see how it feels,” Couturier said. “Everyone is confident that things are going to be OK, doctors, trainers. I’m not too worried, but obviously to feel it and go through it, that will probably feel better and clear my mind.”

Tortorella said he was anxious to get to see how Couturier “goes about his business” in game situations — on the bench, in between periods — and in between games, having only really seen him play from afar and without knowing him much in a player-coach sense.

“I’m excited for him,” Tortorella said. “He’s been miserable not playing and I’m really happy that he’s put in all the work that he has done and now it’s coming together for him getting ready for an NHL season.”

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As is usual for a first day at a Tortorella training camp, there were no pucks on the ice for any of the three groups of Flyers skaters — not counting goalies, who worked out separately — Thursday morning. Pucks will hit the ice Friday morning, and there will be multiple intrasquad scrimmages. ... Thursday marked the opening of training camp months after the Flyers very publicly admitted it would be a season of rebuilding and developing for the future. “It’s a land of opportunity here,” Tortorella said. “When you’re a team that has very publicly stated that we’re starting over and trying to get this right, there is opportunity.” ... Goalie Carter Hart did not have much to say Thursday about the ongoing investigations into an alleged 2018 sexual assault involving members of Canada’s World Juniors hockey team, which Hart played on. “I can’t talk about it. All I know is the investigation is ongoing and that’s all I really know,” he said. Hart said he didn’t feel any cloud of uncertainty hanging over his head as he prepares for the season.