UPDATE: BATTLE ON HAMILTON ROSTERS
Here are the sides for the mixed roster scrimmage in Allentown:
TEAM ORANGE
Forwards
12 Michael Raffl
37 Jay Rosehill
42 Jason Akeson
46 Darroll Powe
49 Scott Laughton
52 Nick Cousins
58 Taylor Leier
61 Brett Hextall
64 Brandon Alderson
66 Andrew Johnston
76 Chris VandeVelde
77 Austin Fyten
Defense
15 Michael Del Zotto
22 Luke Schenn
48 Steven Delisle
50 Samuel Morin
53 Shayne Gostisbehere
60 Maxim Lamarche
Goalies
67 Connor Knapp
70 Martin Ouellette
TEAM WHITE
Forwards
10 Brayden Schenn
35 Andrew Gordon
36 Zac Rinaldo
41 Blair Jones
45 Zack Stortini
51 Petr Straka
57 Derek Mathers
65 Kevin Goumas
68 Matt Hatch
79 David Marshall
80 Sean Wiles
81 Marcel Noebels
Defense
38 Oliver Lauridsen
39 Mark Alt
43 Brandon Manning
54 Robert Hägg
59 Jesper Pettersson
82 Brett Flemming
Goalie
65 Anthony Stolarz
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BATTLE ON HAMILTON: FLYERS-PHANTOMS MIXED SCRIMMAGE
Coming off Thursday night's 4-0 home win over New Jersey and prior to a slate of three games in as many nights, members of the Philadelphia Flyers will be in Allentown, PA, tonight to help inaugurate the new PPL Center. Thirteen players who are still in the Flyers' NHL training camp will participate in a mixed-roster scrimmage with members of the American Hockey League's Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
Game time tonight is 5 p.m. EDT. The sold-out event has been dubbed "the Battle on Hamilton," as the PPL Center is located on Hamilton St. in Allentown. The new arena holds a capacity of 8,641 for hockey.
Flyers forwards participating in the scrimmage are Brayden Schenn, Michael Raffl, Zac Rinaldo, Jay Rosehill, Scott Laughton, Jason Akeson, Blair Jones, Zack Stortini and Chris VandeVelde. The defensemen making the trip are Luke Schenn, Michael Del Zotto, Shayne Gostisbehere and Samuel Morin. Additionally, Flyers head coach Craig Berube will be behind the bench.
Of the participating Flyers players, seven or eight are likely to open the regular season in the NHL: the Schenn brothers, Raffl, Rinaldo, 13th forward Rosehill, Akeson and Del Zotto. Among the other players, there may be one additional player who makes the opening night Flyers roster.
Rookies Laughton and Gostisbehere seem more likely to start the season with the Phantoms. Enforcer Stortini will almost certainly be assigned to the Phantoms. Jones and VandeVelde are still in the hunt for an NHL roster spot, but VandeVelde will probably end up with the Phantoms. Jones is in a battle with the injured Pierre-Edouard Bellemare for an opening night job with the Flyers. The 19-year-old Morin is not yet eligible for the AHL.
The Flyers players who are playing in Allentown will report to the arena with their teammates. Those who are not participating will practice at the Skate Zone in Voorhees, NJ. Practice time is 11 a.m. EDT.
Tonight's game will be broadcasted on the radio in the Lehigh Valley area on WSAN (1470 AM). The broadcast can be accessed live online on
iHeartRadio. It will also be streamed on the Flyers' official website.
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FLYERS INJURY UPDATES
Flyers captain Claude Giroux practiced in full with the team yesterday in Voorhees. After practice, he reported progress with the lower-body injury he sustained on the first day of camp. However, he did not want to set a timetable for his return. Craig Berube said it would left up to Giroux to decide if and when he felt ready to play in a preseason game.
Following yesterday's practice, Flyers general manager Ron Hextall provided updates on several injured Flyers players who have not practiced the last few days. The list is as follows:
* Pierre-Edouard Bellemare has a lower-body injury and is day-to-day. The injury was sustained in Monday's game in London, Ont., against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Berube said the player would not be available for Sunday's game in Newark against the New Jersey Devils.
* Sean Couturier has an upper-body injury and is day-to-day. The injury is said not to be anything serious.
* Ray Emery has a lower-body injury and is day-to-day. Goaltender Rob Zepp practiced in Emery's place again yesterday.
Additionally, center Ryan White will miss approximately five months dating from the time he tore a pectoral muscle and underwent surgery. White's timetable would allow a return in the second half of the regular season, either with the Flyers or Phantoms. He will start the season on injured reserve.
Phantoms defenseman Matt Konan is still on the Flyers' roster due to an undisclosed injury. Under the NHL's Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) rules, teams are not permitted to demote injured players.
Lastly, unsigned 2013 third-round pick Tyrell Goulbourne's name has not yet appeared on any roster cutdown list. He missed all of rookie camp due to an upper-body injury (suspected to be a concussion, but not confirmed) sustained during the Western Hockey League preseason. Over the summer, the Flyers offered the 20-year-old Goulbourne an AHL contract but the player declined in the hopes of earning an entry-level NHL contract out of training camp.
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FLYERS CUT ROSTER BY FIVE
The Flyers announced five roster cuts yesterday. Veteran forward Darroll Powe (AHL contract) and rookie Taylor Leier (entry-level NHL contract) have been assigned to the Phantoms. Non waiver-exempt young defensemen Brandon Manning and Oliver Lauridsen as well as veteran forward Andrew Gordon were placed on waivers for purposes of assignment to the Phantoms.
Excluding IR-bound players with major injuries -- such as Kimmo Timonen, Chris Pronger and White -- and injured prospects who will not make the NHL roster (Konan and Goulbourne), the training camp roster now stands at 29 players:
Forwards (17): Jason Akeson, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Sean Couturier, Claude Giroux, Blair Jones, Scott Laughton, Vincent Lecavalier, Michael Raffl, Matt Read, Zac Rinaldo, Jay Rosehill, Brayden Schenn, Wayne Simmonds, Zack Stortini, R.J. Umberger, Chris VandeVelde, Jakub Voracek.
Defensemen (9): Braydon Coburn, Michael Del Zotto, Shayne Gostisbehere, Nicklas Grossmann, Andrew MacDonald, Samuel Morin, Luke Schenn, Nick Schultz, Mark Streit.
Goaltenders (3): Ray Emery, Steve Mason, Rob Zepp.
The Flyers seem most likely to opt to carry 13 or 14 forwards and seven defensemen heading into the regular season. They would carry eight defensemen and 13 forwards only if Morin ends up getting a nine-game trial with the big club before the team makes a decision on whether to return him to his QMJHL team or burn a year on his entry-level contract.
None of the players the Flyers waived yesterday are likely to be claimed. Lauridsen, who is on a one-way contract this season, will be paid $650,000 this season even if he plays in the AHL.
If and when Goulbourne is reassigned to the WHL's Kelowna Rockets, the team will be over the CHL's allotted maximum of three overagers per team. As such, the team will be required to trade one of Goulbourne, Colton Heffley, Carter Rigby or defenseman Cole Martin to become compliant with the roster rule. Martin is expected to stay put, according to the Kelowna Daily Courier, so it will likely be one of the forwards who gets moved.
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PROSPECTS IN REGULAR SEASON ACTION
* WHL: With a newly signed NHL entry-level contract in hand, Flyers 2014 first-round pick Travis Sanheim made his return to the Calgary Hitmen last night along with 2014 sixth-round pick Radel Fazleev. Unfortunately, their first regular season game of 2014-15 did not go as the two Flyers prospects would have liked.
Calgary dropped a 4-2 decision to the Medicine Hat Tigers, largely on the strength of a three-goal outburst by the Tigers in the second period after Calgary took a 1-0 lead to the first intermission. Samheim (minus-two, one shot, roughing minor at the end of the second period) assisted on a late second period power play goal that trimmed Calgary's deficit to 3-2. The Hitmen were unable to re-tie the score in the third period and the Tigers added a late empty net goal.
Fazleev did not record a point in the game. He was minus-two with one shot on goal.
* SHL: Defending Swedish Hockey League champion Skellefteå AIK was too much for visiting Brynäs IF Gävle to handle yesterday, as SAIK cruised to a 4-1 win. Flyers 2014 fifth-round pick Oskar Lindblom did not get on the scoresheet but his line with Jonas Nodquist and Adam Brodecki accounted for the lone Brynäs goal in the game, as Brodecki scored a rebound goal to briefly tie the score at 1-1 early in the second period.
Lindblom, who had one shot on goal in the game, skated 14:28 of ice time and was plus-one on the night. Overall this season, he has one goal and zero assists in five games while averaging 13:14 of ice time. He played a season-high 15:30 in last Saturday's loss to Luleå HF. Brynäs currently sits in 11th place in the 12-team SHL.
* QMJHL: Flyers 2014 second-round pick Nicolas Aube-Kubel, who narrowly missed completing a Gordie Howe hat trick in Val-d'Or's last game, has two goals and one assist in two QMJHL regular season games to date. The Foreurs were idle last night and also have tonight off. The club returns to the ice tomorrow to host Gatineau.
* KHL: Flyers 2012 seventh-round pick Valeri Vasiliev was in the starting lineup for Avangard Omsk in a 8-1 blowout win over HC Sochi today. He skated 12:47 of ice time. Former Flyers defenseman Erik Gustafsson, who came into the game ranked in the league's top five in ice time, skated 20:06.
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QUICK HITS: SEPTEMBER 27
* Have you noticed the new ultra-bright arena lights at the Wells Fargo Center? There is a marked difference on the illumination at ice level. Flyers goaltender Steve Mason, who started Thursday's game against New Jersey, said after practice yesterday that he had problems seeing the puck at times in the first period. Mason changed masks and subsequently sanded his new mask to cut down some of the shine and glare. The goalie, who faced only eight shots and no tough scoring chances in his half game of work, said he adjusted as the game progressed.
* Jakub Voracek said that the main thing he wants to do for the remainder of the preseason is to maintain a pace and rhythm that will set himself up for a strong -- and consistent -- start to the season.
* The big laugh of the day after practice yesterday came when Voracek responded to a question about the first time he saw Jaromir Jagr play in person. He said it was during the 1994-95 NHL lockout when Jagr played for Kladno in the Czech Extraliga. Fellow Kladno native Voracek's parents took him to see the game.
Marveling at the fact that Jagr is still going strong in the NHL some 20 years later, Voracek quipped, "He was winning Art Ross Trophies, and I was still breastfeeding."
Overhearing from his locker stall next to Voracek's teammate Matt Read said, "Wait, you were still breastfeeding at 15?"
"No," said Voracek. "I was five. I was a baby."
Read and Claude Giroux grinned and just shook their heads.
* Berube said he has been impressed by the play of veteran Blair Jones in camp and likes the player's versatility as an all-situations player who can move around the lineup. Jones, who has been a scorer at the AHL level and mostly an energy line or defensive forward in his NHL stints, said repeatedly that he will gladly embrace any role the Flyers want him to play. Jones also understands the possibility that he could be an AHL-NHL swingman throughout the season.
* Flyers Alumni Defenseman: Frank Bathe, a tough-as-rawhide defensive defenseman of the late 1970s to early 1980s, turns 60 today. Center Daymond Langkow turns 38.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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