‘It’s all big camp’: For Flyers prospects on the cusp, the real evaluation starts Thursday

A critical, future-determining training camp was less than a week away, but for a few Flyers hoping to make the NHL team, there was a set of exhibition games — competitive scrimmages seems more apt — over the weekend in Allentown, where the Flyers prospects lost to the Rangers prospects twice, 4-2 and 3-1.

Hoping to get a little insight into the human element of it all, Flyers assistant general manager Brent Flahr said he had a conversation with special adviser Patrick Sharp about the mindset of a young player taking the ice for a prospect showcase of sorts.

“He said the first one he played in, he was all excited, but the second and third ones are really hard to play in because your focus is more on the main camp,” Flahr said Monday at the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees.

And that’s where the organization wants the players’ focus to be.

» READ MORE: Five observations from the Flyers’ first rookie game against the Rangers

That’s not to say this past weekend’s games were entirely meaningless, but a hat trick from any of Tyson Foerster, Elliot Desnoyers, or Bobby Brink — the three forwards in rookie camp with legitimate chances to break through to the big club — would have done little to move them up the organizational depth chart.

“Those guys, in particular, I think there’s another level,” Flahr said of the forward trio that didn’t blow the doors off against the Rangers.

Those three and the rest of the prospects looking to make an impression will try to hit that level Thursday, when the Flyers officially open training camp and then on Monday in New Jersey, where the Flyers face the Devils in the first of six NHL preseason games.

Foerster, Desnoyers, and Brink are just three of the prospects hoping to make the big club out of camp. There are others with realistic chances, too, especially on a team that has committed to rebuilding. Some reporters and evaluators, Flahr said, might have players penciled in at Lehigh Valley, but he acknowledged there are a few players in Voorhees “coming to make the team.”

“[Flyers coach John Tortorella] wants people to compete — if someone gets beat out and has to go on waivers, so be it,” Flahr said. “That’s just the reality. The mindset for a young player is there is an opportunity here to get better and obviously they’ll get an opportunity.

“Obviously with [Sean Couturier] and [Cam] Atkinson back healthy, there are a couple spots solidified, but as far as the bottom of our lineup there’s a couple spots to be fought for.”

» READ MORE: Flyers hopeful Tyson Foerster already showing NHL ‘swagger’ at rookie camp

Adam Ginning, a 23-year-old defenseman who is hoping to make the team, said it was good to have a game under his belt — he played in one of the two rookie games over the weekend — before regular camp starts.

Regarding the two-week grind of rookie camp and training camp, Ginning, who played in one NHL game last season, said he was feeling “a little bit of pressure, of course, but mostly it’s going to be fun to see how it goes.”

Ginning was paired with 2023 first-rounder Oliver Bonk in his lone game. Phantoms coach Ian Laperrière told reporters that Ginning was “a man among boys” in Friday’s exhibition.

High praise, of course, but as Flahr explained Monday, it meant very little.

“It’s all big camp, to be honest with you, for the guys that are on the cusp,” Flahr said. “Me personally, I kind of gravitate toward watching the guys that it’s their first time over here and the recently drafted players to see how they can hang in there in those games and see their thought process.”

» READ MORE: Inside Flyers star Sean Couturier’s 21-month journey to get back on the ice

So, with Flahr’s method of evaluation as a metric, look no further on the prospect list than Zayde Wisdom, a 21-year-old winger who had a strong showing in his two games over the weekend.

Wisdom scored the team’s only goal on Saturday and was all over the place Friday night. He even dropped the gloves and fought a much bigger opponent.

Wisdom’s rookie camp comes after what was a tough 2022-23 season, which saw him play some games at the ECHL level.

“Last year, he was spinning his tires there, lost his confidence and got away from the type of game he needed to play,” Flahr said. “We want him to score and whatnot, but the biggest part of his game, for him to be effective and earn a spot in the lineup, is his physical play and being involved and being a pain in the [butt] to play against. You saw that this weekend.

“I haven’t talked to Torts yet, but I assume he’s earned himself an exhibition game.”

The Flyers had a sense of top pick Matvei Michkov’s frustration at not playing in games with SKA St. Petersburg via director of player development Riley Armstrong, who used a translation app to communicate with the prospect, and fellow Russian Flyers prospect Egor Zamula, who spoke to Michkov regularly.

The Flyers, it seems, were happy then to see Michkov, 18, loaned last week to HC Sochi for the remainder of the season.

“He had a goal to be the top scorer in the league and he was sitting there,” Flahr said. “Obviously he was frustrated. ... He just wants to play and personally that’s all I care about. He’s a young kid. He needs to play games. He’s very driven, very focused. At least he’s going to play lots of minutes and get opportunities.”

In three games thus far with Sochi, Michkov has three assists. He previously was a healthy scratch for three of parent club SKA St. Peterburg’s first four games.