The Philadelphia Flyers preseason has officially come to an end after a 4-3 overtime loss against the New York Islanders. With a little over a week before the regular season begins the roster will be finalized within the next couple of days. Going into the last preseason game instead of a dress rehearsal we were treated to most of the guys fighting to make the team.

Up front you had guys like Jackson and Noah Cates, Hayden Hodgson, Tanner Laczynski, and Zack MacEwen all getting one last chance to prove they belong on the team.

Then on the backend Ronnie Attard, Nick Seeler, Justin Braun, and Louie Belpedio were all fighting to see who is going to be the 6th and 7th defenseman as we head into the new year.

Now that the preseason is officially wrapped up and the Flyers finished with a record of 1-4-1 It’s time to see what I believe the opening night roster is going to look like…

Forwards:

Wade Allison, Cam Atkinson, Patrick Brown*, Jackson Cates, Noah Cates, Sean Couturier*, Nic Deslauriers, Joel Farabee*, Morgan Frost, Kevin Hayes, Travis Konecny, Tanner Laczynski, Scott Laughton, Owen Tippett, James Van Riemsdyk

Guys with the * mean they are injured but will still be on the roster. Out of the injured players up front Joel Farabee is the only one who could possibly suit up for game one. He has been working in practice in getting cleared for contact and seems to be progressing in the right direction.

I don’t really think there are any surprises based off the way camp and the preseason games have gone in my predictions. One name that might catch people by surprise if he isn’t on the roster is Zack MacEwen. The Flyers have quite a few guys that play a similar style as Zack and I think he was beaten out by a few of them. I still think we see him a bunch this season as he just fits the type of player that Torts loves.

Wade Allison belongs on this team and if he can stay healthy he is one of the younger guys that has a chance to make a real impact. The Cates brothers have both looked very strong during the preseason and they both deserve a shot to prove they are NHL players.

Owen Tippett who was acquired during the Giroux trade last season(miss you G) hasn’t been all that noticeable during the games he has been in. Not saying he won’t turn it on when the season starts but my expectations for him are not very high.

This year very well could be Morgan Frost last chance to prove himself. The start to his career has not been what most of us had hoped for but this preseason he has looked great. I am really hoping this is his breakout year and if the Flyers are going to be better than we think, he is one of the guys who is going to have to really step up.

Defense:

Justin Braun, Tony DeAngelo, Ryan Ellis*, Ivan Provorov, Rasmus Ristolainen, Travis Sanheim, Nick Seeler, Ronnie Attard

The top four guys were pretty much set in stone and yes I included Ryan Ellis even though we will probably never see him in a Flyers uniform again he will be listed to go on LTIR. DeAngelo, Provorov, Risto, and Sanheim were all locks from the start. When it comes to Cam York he was officially cut today. If you paid attention this shouldn’t be that much of a surprise, Torts and the staff made it clear what they wanted out of him and he didn’t earn his spot.

The 6th and 7th spot really at this point you can just throw in anyone of the guys still around to claim that final spot. Braun I think will start as the 6th man based off his experience. Nick Seeler is a guy we saw a lot of last year that is going to be in and out of the lineup. Really though if it isn’t Seeler I would like it to be Ronnie Attard as he brings more of a size advantage and I think would be a better fit than Seeler.

Egor Zamula could also be a guy that slides in as he has shown the ability to make an impact I’m just not sure we see him right away.

This defensive group is going to have to play much better than what we saw last year. If they can play a more structured game in front of Carter Hart or anyone else that will be in net, they could win more games than they are expected.

Goalies:

Carter Hart, Felix Sandstrom* Samuel Ersson

Carter Hart is the only hope the Flyers have of being a competitive team. If he can turn it on and just become an absolute brick wall then who knows maybe they compete for a wild card spot. It’s highly unlikely but anything can happen.

The backup role for Hart is very important and Chuck Fletcher failed to really address it this offseason along with many of the other things he just didn’t do or couldn’t because of the cap hell he has put us in. Now, it’ll be up to Felix Sandstrom who showed signs he can be good but wasn’t fully convincing. It’s also a possiblity that he gets beat out for the spot by Samuel Ersson who has looked really good this preseason so far.

I think we end up seeing both Sandstrom and Ersson especially because the status of Sandstrom is a little up in the air right now. When it comes to Ersson he has played very well and he may end up beating Sandstrom out for the backup goaltender.

The preseason is over and it went I think how we expect this season to go which is not great. Torts has 9 days to fully implement his system with the guys that will most likely be in the lineup opening night. Is it enough time to maybe see a different version of the team then we saw in the preseason? Possibly but I am fully preparing myself for it to be a very long season for the boys.

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-Walsh

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