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Quick Hits: Hayes Line, Farabee, Frost, Camp Day 3 Plan |
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Quick Hits: September 15, 2019
1) Flyers head coach Alain Vigneault indicated at the end of practice on Saturday that the groupings and line combinations would change on Sunday in preparation for the preseason opener on Monday against the New York Islanders.
On Sunday, the Group A players (the ones that will be on the ice starting at 10 a.m.) will be mostly comprised of Monday's game night roster. Group B (the ones on the ice at 1 p.m.) will be the group that will be on Tuesday. There may be a couple tweaks made on Monday, but as of late yesterday afternoon, the plan was to make the game rosters for the first two exhibition games from Sunday's groups. As per usual the 8:30 a.m. group is the Rookie Camp group minus the top prospects competing for NHL spots early in camp.
GROUP A
10-10:45 am (Flyers Ice)
11-11:45 am (Phantoms Ice)
FORWARDS (12)
13 - Kevin Hayes C
23 - Oskar Lindblom RW
24 - Mikhail Vorobyev C
25 - James van Riemsdyk LW
44 - Chris Stewart RW
48 - Morgan Frost C
49 - Joel Farabee RW
50 - German Rubtsov C
51 - Kyle Criscuolo RW
64 - Maksim Sushko RW
76 - Isaac Ratcliffe LW
93 - Jakub Voracek RW
DEFENSEMEN (8)
3 - Andy Welinski
5 - Philippe Myers
20 - Chris Bigras
53 - Shayne Gostisbehere
54 - Egor Zamula
55 - Samuel Morin
61 - Justin Braun
63 - Mason Millman
GOALTENDERS (2)
34 - Alex Lyon
37 - Brian Elliott
GROUP B
1-1:45 am (Flyers Ice)
2-2:45 am (Phantoms Ice)
FORWARDS (12)
10 - Andy Andreoff RW
12 - Michael Raffl RW
14 - Sean Couturier C
21 - Scott Laughton C
28 - Claude Giroux LW
29 - Kurtis Gabriel RW
46 - Cal O’Reilly C
62 - Nicolas Aube-Kubel RW
72 - David Kase C
78 - Matthew Strome LW
81 - Carsen Twarynski LW
82 - Connor Bunnaman C
DEFENSEMEN (8)
6 - Travis Sanheim
8 - Robert Hagg
9 - Ivan Provorov
15 - Matt Niskanen
26 - Tyler Wotherspoon
39 - Nate Prosser
43 - TJ Brennan
59 - Mark Friedman
GOALTENDERS (3)
32 - Felix Sandstrom
35 - J-F Berube
79 - Carter Hart
2) Vigneault gave a synopsis of the Day 1 and Day 2 steps that have been taken -- via video meetings followed by on-ice work -- toward installing the team's new systems, and provided a mini-preview of what to expect in Sunday's drills.
"We've looked at different things. We looked at our D zone coverage and our NZ forecheck. [On Saturday], we touched a little bit on our OZ forecheck. We've touched on all three zones without the puck. [On Sunday], we're going to touch a little bit more on play with the puck," Vigneault said.
3) The big standouts on Saturday's first session was the line trio of James van Riemsdyk, Kevin Hayes and Oskar Lindblom. They had a solid day together on Friday as well, but were dominant on Saturday in 5-on-5 drills. The defense pairing of Travis Sanheim and Philippe Myers had their hands full trying to contain them on the forecheck. At the end of the day, not surprisingly, Vigneault singled out that line as one that jumped out at him during the Saturday mid-morning group.
"I've really liked that line. I've liked the way Kevin Hayes has worked and led his two linemates, both with and without the puck. We wanted to get a look at Oskar on the right side. We're probably going to try him there during exhibitions," Vigneault said.
4) A fascinating scene unfolded in the Group A session on Saturday afternoon. Throughout the five-on-five drills, Vigneault gave the top forward prospects in camp the opportunity to go head-to-head with the best veteran forwards on the team. The line of 20-year-old Isaac Ratcliffe, 20-year-old Morgan Frost and veteran Jakub Voracek went up directly against Claude Giroux, Sean Couturier, and 19-year-old Joel Farabee.
Farabee more than held his own on this day. He soared through the drills, including riding Robert Hägg right off the puck along the wall on the forecheck. Later that same rep, Farabee took a tape-to-tape pass from Giroux in the slot and tucked the puck just wide. Frost held his own in some early reps, but then Couturier turned things up a half-notch and dominated rep after rep on both sides of the puck. Ratcliffe got schooled repeatedly by Giroux. On one particularly notable rep, Ratcliffe skated through the neutral zone with the puck and had his pocket picked cleanly by the Flyers captain.
With a half grin, Vigneault admitted after practice that he had put kids in the deep end of the pool by design.
Said Vigneault, "I mentioned it to Lappy when we were standing at the net, 'Those two kids are learning the NHL pace there.'"
5) Frost was a little bit downbeat after practice. He knew the competition bar had been set as high as it could get -- no matter how long he plays pro, he'll never face matchups that get all that much tougher than going up against a bigger, stronger, much more experienced Selke candidate who is also an NHL 30-goal scorer.
"It was a little overwhelming, to be honest, to play against guys that caliber. I felt like I was just watching, chasing the puck all day. I'll try to learn from them, and do better the next time," Frost said.
Couturier showed some good leadership after practice. He publicly put out some soothing words of encouragement for Frost, and reflected back on his own first NHL camp when Peter Laviolette put him out against NHL stars Giroux and Danny Briere and then had him go head-to-head with other teams' veterans in road exhibition games.
"It can intimidating. You can be impressed and kind of shy almost to play. But you've gotta just play, be yourself. Push to make plays, be the player you are," Couturier said. "[Frost] was a high pick and he had a lot of success in junior. I think he's ready for the next level. He's got to go out, just play and show it."
There was nothing to be ashamed of. Frost competed -- as did Ratcliffe -- and fared significantly better in Days 1 and 2 than he did at the same juncture of camp last year. They've seen where they'll need to get to in order to become the top-six caliber NHL players that the organization believes they can develop into. They will still get preseason game action to show if they can translate their Rookie Camp and Rookie Game dominance into high-level performances at the preseason NHL intensity level and pace (i.e., things crank up higher in the regular season).
Sometime in the not-too-distant future, when Frost is racking up the assists as a pro and Ratcliffe is scoring goals and winning the lion's share of battles, they can look back at how Couturier and Giroux respectively had their way with them on Day 2 of their first bonafide NHL Camp opportunity. Theyll realize how far they've advanced since they were at the starting line as pros. It's a rite of passage, and there will still be preseason games for the kids to play this September to make a strong impression.
By the way, further adding to difficulty level that Frost and Ratcliffe faced on Day 2, they did some two-on-two reps with Ivan Provorov and Matt Niskanen defending against them during a portion of the session. Just a wee bit tougher than anything they saw in the OHL.
7) The story is a little different right now for Farabee, although he is a year younger than Frost or Ratcliffe. So far, the 19-year-old is conjuring images of Justin Williams in his first NHL camp at the same age; hitting the ground running immediately, not just holding his own but excelling in drills and looking very much like a player who could be immediately NHL ready.
Couturier said of Farabee, "He's been great. Fun to play with. Smart player, good skills. I like the way he thinks the game. He knows what play to make, even before getting the puck. That's good for a young player to adapt like that, especially at this speed."
The one question with Farabee is sustainability at this age. Is he ready to do what he's done so far for the duration of camp? Can he do it not just early in the regular season but continue to do it over an 82-game slate without "hitting the wall" by midseason?
The temptation right now is to express confidence that Farabee, with his seemingly exceptional maturity, can handle the challenge. However, it is best to just let things play out and see how he handles it. That said, he has made a very strong impression so far.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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