Quick Hits: June 24, 2019
1) On Monday morning, the Flyers will release the full schedule and camp roster for the 2019 Development Camp that will take in Voorhees and Stone Harbor (Trial on the Isle) from Tuesday through Saturday. Once released by the Flyers, I will post it here. All of the Flyers' 2019 draftees, with the exception of Egor Serdyuk (who was also unable to attend the NHL Draft due to visa issues), are expected to be on hand along with the likes of Morgan Frost, Joel Farabee and Isaac Ratcliffe.
2) The annual post-Draft "Under the Microscope" feature that I write for the Flyers site -- looking at the strengths, areas of needed development and reasoning behind each pick that Philadelphia makes in the NHL Draft -- was posted yesterday on the Flyers site, shortly before I left Vancouver. For more,
click here.
3) One of the many events during Draft weekend in Vancouver was the annual NHL Coaches' symposium. New Flyers head coach Alain Vigneault attended, He later spoke with the media during the second day of the Draft. Vigneault confirmed that he had been involved in the courting of Kevin Hayes, including a direct appeal to Hayes himself, after the Flyers acquired the player's negotiating rights from Winnipeg. Vigneault also talked up the acquisitions of Matt Niskanen and Justin Braun, saying that they will have a positive influence on the defense corps as a whole and that they fit in well with the vision for the blueline that he and new assistant coach Mike Yeo have for the defense corps.
4) Today marks the start of the "free agent courting season" in which teams can directly approach other teams' impending unrestricted free agents ahead of the official July 1 start of signing availabilty. Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher said that would be in contact with the agents for several free agents and would also continue to explore trade possibilities. He said that some patience may be in order.
5) In regard to the Travis Sanheim negotiations, the Flyers are cautiously optimistic that something will get done sooner than later for the impending restricted free agent; perhaps even as soon as this week. That was not set in stone, however, as of Saturday.
6) Today in Flyers history: The 1993 NHL Expansion Draft took place on June 24. Florida Panthers inaugural general manager Bob Clarke, who had briefly returned to the Flyers organization the previous year as senior vice president, selected the late Andrei Lomakin and defenseman Gord Hynes from the Flyers in the Expansion Draft.
7) Flyers Community Development director and Flyers Alumni Association president Brad Marsh provided a quick little Twitter update on the new Philadelphia Flyers Warrior Hockey team that was officially launched on the week of the Stadium Series back in February.
As someone who works regularly with Brad in his Alumni Association president capacity, I can say first-hand that he is genuinely honored and excited to work the Warrior Hockey guys in the nascent stages of the team. When I was in Vancouver, I spoke by phone with Brad regarding the Alumni Golf fundraising event later this week, and he said that he was looking forward to checking in on the Warriors every bit as much as he's excited to catch up with the more than 50 Alumni that will be in Wilmington for the golfing event.
8) During the final week of the 2018-19 regular season, the Flyers sent me to Dallas and St. Louis to keep a daily road trip blog. On my flight to Dallas, I sat next to a gentleman who was doppelganger for former Flyers and Stars head coach Ken Hitchcock. Leaving Vancouver yesterday for Dallas, former Flyers/Phantoms player and current Stars head coach Jim Montgomery was on my flight. Perhaps the next time I have an inbound flight to Dallas, I will see a Lindy Ruff lookalike who turns out to be the actual Martin Mull. I always thought that Ruff and the actor/comedian had a striking facial resemblance.
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