Flyers Return For Summer Camp, Ready For Fast-Paced Battle For The Cup
The last game the Philadelphia Flyers played was against the Boston Bruins on March 10th. A 2-0 defeat at the Wells Fargo Center that ended a 9-game winning streak. Then, the following day, due to Covid-19, the season was halted.
Today, 94 long days later, the Flyers reconvened in Voorhees to start their 12-day mini “summer-camp” before heading to Toronto for the resumption of the 2020 season. Ahead of them lies a fast-paced battle to name the Stanley Cup winner.
Before the Flyers season was halted, they were marked as the hottest team in the NHL. Going into the halt on a 19-6-2 stretch that ascended the Flyers from wild-card hopefuls to Metro division & Stanley Cup contenders.
However, after a 6-month hiatus, the NHL landscape is going to look a lot different. Captain Claude Giroux understands, but believes “it’s our job to get on the same page; everyone’s starting from zero. It’s about which team gets together (up to speed) first.”
With the speedy resumption, the team who regains their chemistry the quickest will have the upper hand. Many teams will have to renew or make that chemistry up with the return of players who wouldn’t have been available if the season concluded as normal.
“We’re excited to get to the bubble and hopefully do some damage” defensemen Shayne Gostisbehere said. Gostisbehere, who is expected to be the 7th defensemen for the Flyers, has been dealing with a knee injury over the Covid halt. His injury that required minor surgery, similar to the one Gostisbehere had done in January.
Gostisbehere’s injury was an unexpected announcement on day one of camp. But, was not the biggest news on the injury front.
Nolan Patrick, who has missed the whole season due to a migraine disorder, was left off the Flyers Phrase3 roster. Signaling an end to his season.
GM Chuck Fletcher provided that “our medical team, Nolan, me, everybody agreed this is the prudent approach for a young man who’s going to be a big part of our future.” A future that Asst GM Brent Flahr provided a view of last week in an interview with myself.
This decision was hard to make. But, like Fletcher & Flahr have noted, it was made for Nolan’s long term health and success. With Patrick now officially out, Fletcher’s trade deadline acquisitions look even more valuable.
The acquisitions of Derek Grant & Nate Thompson at the deadline were made as an insurance policy. Both players were brought in incase Patrick could not return. But, also to sure up the Flyers bottom 6. Something that both Grant & Thompson did in the 7-games after the deadline before the halt.
With this season’s race for the cup being so different, the Flyers will need a deep team. They will not only need scoring from all four lines, but the ability to roll all four lines consistently on a nightly basis. Like the mix the Flyers had before the halt.
Head coach Alain Vigneault noted “I intend on using more than 20 guys for those (round-robin) games. I’m going to look at different players in different situations.” A similar strategy that Vigneault has used multiple times already this season.
For the first day, here is how the Flyers lined up…
Giroux-Couturier-Voracek
Farabee-Hayes-Konecny
JVR-Laughton-Aube Kubel
Raffl-Grant-Pitlick
Provorov-Niskanen
Hagg-Braun
Sanheim-Myers
In all, this is a new experience for not only fans, but the players. Some have linked this style back to travel hockey tournaments.
But, forward Travis Konecny, one who is known to stir the pot on the ice, believes it may be a good option to back-off that a little. “It’s going to be a different environment. The hockey world is so small…It’ll be different being around them all the time. I’m going to stay away from the chirps as much as possible and leave that to Laughts.”
Flyers resume play in Toronto on August 2nd against the same team they last played the Boston Bruins.