Flyers defenseman Andrej Meszaros, who has been sidelined since Jan. 24 with a separated shoulder, appears to be finally close to being ready to play. There is a chance he could be in the lineup tomorrow night when the Flyers play the Rangers. More will be known after practice today.
Prior to suffering the shoulder injury, Meszaros was playing surprisingly well over his first games as he made a somewhat early return from a torn Archilles tendon.
Barring other injuries in the blueline, Meszaros may be paired with Erik Gustafasson on the Philadelphia blueline, joining the duos of Kimmo Timonen and Luke Schenn and Nicklas Grossmann and Braydon Coburn.
The Flyers practice today at the Skate Zone in Voorhees. Start time is 11 a.m. The team did not practice yesterday due to the annual Wives Carnival at the Wells Fargo Center.
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Flyers 2012 first round pick Scott Laughton, who opened the NHL season with the big club and played five games before returning to the OHL's Oshawa Generals, has played with sky-high confidence ever since returning to the Ontario League. Last night, he racked up three assists in Oshawa's 4-2 win over Kingston. For the OHL season, the shutdown defensive center has posted 54 points (22 goals, 32 assists) in 46 games, to go along with a plus-22 rating.
Laughton's teammate, defenseman Colin Suellentrop, still has yet to be signed to an entry level contract by the Flyers. A fourth round pick in 2011, Suellentrop's rights will expire if he is not signed by June 1. Typically when the Flyers intend to sign a player, they don't wait this long. Rather, the deal usually gets done within a year of the player being drafted. For that reason, I don't think Suellentrop is in the Flyers' organizational plans.
Nick Cousins is still serving a four-game suspension for a checking from behind incident. He is eligible to return to the lineup on March 7. The controversial center has dropped to a tie for second in the league scoring race with 98 points (26 goals, 72 assists in 58 games). Apart from his still unresolved criminal case, Cousins is going to have to continue to remake his game on the ice to be better suited to the NHL. He must continue to improve defensively, and continue to work on his skating. Those areas are more important to his on-ice future than the points he's posted in the OHL.
Recently signed to a Flyers entry-level contract, goaltender Anthony Stolarz has thrived since leaving UN-O to join the OHL's London Knights. Although he is still likely four or five years away from being ready to push for an NHL job, the accelerated pace and additional playing time in London have been good Stolarz.
Peterborough Petes' forward Derek Mathers is widely regarded as the toughest fighter in the OHL. Last night against Sault Ste. Marie, he had a fight and an instigator penalty. With a partial crackdown on fighting this season, Mathers has had to pick his spots for fighting a little more carefully. He has 125 penalty minutes this season in 63 games, down from 177 in 62 games a year ago.
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