41 players will take part in Flyers’ training camp, including two wingers from the 2020 draft
The Flyers released their training camp roster Saturday. The six-day camp starts Monday.
The on-ice portion of the Flyers’ abbreviated training camp begins Monday, and they will have 41 players competing for jobs at their Voorhees practice facility.
The camp will run for just six days and is not open to fans because of COVID-19 restrictions.
The Flyers made only a few offseason moves, so their lines seem pretty well set unless some prospects impress coaches during the short camp.
There will be some interesting battles on defense, however, because of Matt Niskanen’s retirement.
On Jan. 10, the Flyers will head across the river and break in the Wells Fargo Center ice for the final day of camp. Teams can have a maximum of 23 players on their opening-night rosters, along with four to six players on its taxi squad.
Like all NHL teams, the Flyers will not play any exhibition games, so most of the camp will feature lots of scrimmaging.
The Flyers’ camp roster includes two players from their 2020 draft class: right wingers Tyson Foerster (first round) and Zayde Wisdom (fourth round). Puck-moving defenseman Emil Andrae, a second-round selection in 2020, is playing for Sweden in the World Junior Championship.
Among the players who won’t be at camp: forwards David Kase, German Rubtsov, Maksim Sushko, and defenseman Linus Hogberg. The four prospects are on loan to teams in Europe.
In addition, two highly regarded prospects, goalie Kirill Ustimenko and left winger Issac Ratcliffe, are sidelined by injuries. Ustimenko will miss four to five months after undergoing surgery on his left hip, and Ratcliffe suffered a fractured rib while training and will miss at least four weeks.
The Flyers will open the pandemic-delayed, 56-game season Jan. 13 against visiting Pittsburgh; they begin the season with a four-game homestand – two against the Penguins and two against the Buffalo Sabres.
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The Flyers had the Eastern Conference’s fourth-best record (41-21-7) last season. They beat Montreal in the opening playoff round before losing to the New York Islanders, four games to three, in the conference semifinals. They will compete in the newly formed eight-team East Division, one in which the top four teams will earn playoff berths.
Here is the camp roster:
FORWARDS (22) Wade Allison (RW), Andy Andreoff (C/LW), Nicolas Aube-Kubel (RW), Connor Bunnaman (C), Sean Couturier (C), Joel Farabee (LW/RW), Tyson Foerster(RW), Morgan Frost (C), Claude Giroux (C), Kevin Hayes (C), Travis Konecny (RW), Tanner Laczynski(C), Scott Laughton (C), Oskar Lindblom (LW), Samuel Morin (LW), Nolan Patrick (C), Michael Raffl(LW), Linus Sandin (RW), Carsen Twarynski (LW), James van Riemsdyk (LW), Jakub Voracek (RW), Zayde Wisdom (RW/LW).
DEFENSE (14) Chris Bigras, Justin Braun, Mark Friedman, Shayne Gostisbehere, Erik Gustafsson, Robert Hagg, Phil Myers, Derrick Pouliot, Nate Prosser, Ivan Provorov, Travis Sanheim, Tyler Wotherspoon, Wyatte Wylie, Egor Zamula.
GOALTENDERS (5) Brian Elliott, Carter Hart, Alex Lyon, Felix Sandstrom, Roddy Ross.