PROSPECT UPDATES: SEPTEMBER 24, 2017
1) OHL: Flyers 2017 first-round pick Morgan Frost individually dazzled with his speed, stickhandling and playmaking ability but his Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds fell on home ice, 7-4, to the Oshawa Generals on Saturday night. Frost finished with a pair of assists (one power play, one even strength) but easily could have had a four-point or five-point game with a little more puck luck. He had three shots on goal, and was even (-1,+1) in plus-minus. The Hounds host the London Knights on Sunday.
2) OHL: Kitchener Rangers captain Connor Bunnaman assisted on the game's first goal for a short-lived lead in the first period, but Kitchener went on to score unanswered goals in the second and third periods for a 3-1 win over the host Sarnia Sting. Fellow Flyers prospect Anthony Salinitri (two shots on goal, minus two, one minor penalty) finished without a point after a stronger performance against Guelph on Friday night. Bunnaman was plus-three in this game, with five shots on goal and a minor penalty. The only downside was a 4-for-13 night in the faceoff circle.
3) OHL: Matthew Strome was held off the scoresheet in the Hamilton Bulldogs' 4-1 home loss to the Niagara IceDogs on Saturday. Strome was minus-one with three shots on goal.
4) OHL: Maksim Sushko did not record a point during the hockey game and was unsuccessful on a shootout attempt as the Owen Sound Attack dropped a 4-3 final via skills competition to the visiting Flint Firebirds on Saturday. Sushko was minus-two with two shots on goal.
5) OHL: The Guelph Storm, featuring Flyers 2017 second-round pick Isaac Ratcliffe, are in action on Sunday. The team is on the road to play the Windsor Spitfires in a 2 p.m. EDT game.
6) QMJHL: Due to paperwork/clearance issues, Flyers 2016 first-round pick German Rubtsov was unavailable to play on Saturday for the Chicoutimi Sagueneens. His side dropped a home-ice 2-1 overtime decision to the Rimouski Oceanic.
7) QMJHL: Flyers 2016 second-round pick Pascal Laberge and the Victoriaville Tigres are on the road on Sunday to face the Shawinigan Cataractes at 4 p.m. EDT. Laberge was held off the scoresheet in the regular season opener pn Thursday. Former Flyers tryout Ivan Kosorenkov scored the game-tying goal in the eventual OT win and was named first star of the game.
8) WHL: The Everett Silvertips, who struggled defensively throughout the preseason, were on the wrong end of a 7-4 score against the visiting Portland Winterhawks in regular season action on Saturday night. Flyers goalie prospect Carter Hart was en route to rejoining his team after being reassigned by the Flyers, and was not available to play. The Hawks scored six goals in the second period to break the game open. Islanders 2016 first-round pick Kieffer Bellows, who has left Boston University after one season, led the way offensively for Portland with two goals and an assist.
9) SHL: Flyers defense prospect David Bernhardt skated 15:46 of ice time -- but moved up in the rotation over the latter stages of the game -- as his Djurgårdens IF Stockholm team dropped a 2-1 shootout decision to host Luleå HF on Saturday. The offensive-minded defenseman had one shot on goal in the game.
10) SHL: Coming off his first goal and assist in the Swedish Hockey League, David Kase did not record a point on Saturday but had three shots on goal as Mora IK got blanked, 3-0, by host Karlskrona HK.
11) SHL: Flyers defense prospect Linus Högberg continued to play sparingly (11:06 TOI) as his Växjö Lakers skated to a 2-1 home win over Örebro HK on Saturday.
12) SHL: Goalie prospect Felix Sandström has been in backup duty for two of his teams first three games, including Saturday. His Brynäs IF Gävle team got trounced, 5-1, by the Malmö Redhawks to fall to 0-2-1 on the season to date. Last season, Brynäs lost in overtime in Game 7 of the SHL Finals against HV71 Jönköping.
13) SuperElit South (Swedish J20 league): Olle Lycksell was kept off the scoresheet both Saturday and Sunday, but his Linköping J20 team won both games (1-0, 3-2) over the weekend. Lycksell, playing third-line center, has four points (0G, 4A) in five games to date. Three of the points came in a single game, however. He's been held pointless in three of the five games.
14) MHL (Russian J20 League): Flyers goaltending prospect Kirill Ustimenko bounced back from a rough outing in his last start to stop 25 of 27 shots in a 3-2 win on Saturday for his MHK Dynamo St. Petersburg team.
15) USHL: Noah Cates has yet to appear in a regular season game for the Omaha Lancers. During the preseason, the University of Minnesota-Duluth (fall of 2018) recruit had one goal in three games.
16) USHL: Goaltender Matej Tomek came in to relieve starting goalie Jared Moe midway through Saturday's game as the Waterloo Black Hawks fell, 5-2, to the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders on Saturday. Tomek stopped 18 of 19 shots. Thus far, he has stopped 46 of 47 shots across three regular season outings to date.
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QUICK HITS: SEPTEMBER 23, 2017
1) The Flyers will hold another 10:30 a.m. practice at the Skate Zone in Voorhees on Sunday in preparation for a home-and-home set with the New York Rangers on Monday (Madison Square Garden) and Tuesday (Wells Fargo Center). Monday's morning skate will be in Voorhees.
2) On Saturday, the Flyers did special teams work at practice
for the first time in this year's training camp. Most notably, Valtteri Filppula was stationed in the first-unit spot formerly occupied by ex-Flyer forward Brayden Schenn the last few seasons. Along with having a new power play coach (Kris Knoblauch) and various players vying for second-unit roles, it will likely take some time until things click.
3) Saturday's 5-on-5 and power play units were as follows:
8 Claude Giroux – 14 Sean Couturier – 93 Jakub Voracek
40 Jordan Weal – 64 Nolan Patrick – 17 Wayne Simmonds
11 Travis Konecny – 51 Valtteri Filppula – 15 Jori Lehterä
12 Michael Raffl – 21 Scott Laughton – 24 Matt Read
54 Oskar Lindblom/ 58 Taylor Leier – 74 Mike Vecchione – 22 Dale Weise
9 Ivan Provorov – 48 Robert Hägg
50 Sam Morin – 47 Andrew MacDonald
23 Brandon Manning – 53 Shayne Gostisbehere
57 Travis Sanheim – 3 Radko Gudas
37 Brian Elliott/ 30 Michal Neuvirth/ 49 Alex Lyon in goal
Power play unit 1: Claude Giroux, Valterri Filppula, Wayne Simmonds, Jakub Voracek, Shayne Gostisbehere.
Power play unit 2: Sean Couturier, Jordan Weal, Nolan Patrick, Travis Konecny, Ivan Provorov.
4) It was not clear if Lindblom, who had been playing in the top six and on the power play for all or most of the first four games (plus the Rookie Game), was moved down in the lineup to the "blue jersey unit" (often the "fifth" line) and off the projected power play unit simply because he may not be in Monday's lineup.
It is also possible that it was done to see how Lindblom handles a bit of adversity; not all that different from Travis Sanheim's one-practice assignment to Group 2 (junior and AHL-bound players) unit. The Swedish rookie's energy level seemed to drop just a bit in Thursday's game in Boston and he was less involved than in previous games (although he and Patrick both continued to
play well without the puck).
5) After a couple of rather uneven performances early in camp, Sanheim has had an outstanding week. He was very strong in all three zones in both the Allentown split-squad game on Wednesday and the game in Boston the next night. This is a good case in point of why it is ill-advised to judge players based on a couple good or bad nights early in a preseason. The same goes for the likes of Lindblom, Patrick and the rest.
With that said, Robert Hägg has looked poised and steady on a daily basis (both practice and game situations) thus far and Sam Morin has also had many more good than bad shifts to date.
6) Charlie O'Connor of The Athletic remarked at today's practice -- and I wholeheartedly agree -- that a convincing case could be made for all three among Sanheim, Morin and Hägg being the "best" of the rookie hopeful defensemen at camp thus far. They each bring something different to the table.
7) The Flyers made seven roster cuts on Saturday: After clearing waivers, defensemen Mark Alt, T.J. Brennan and Will O'Neill as well as forwards Corban Knight, Greg Carey and Phil Varone were assigned to the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms. After Saturday's practice, goalie Alex Lyon (who is still waiver exempt this season) was also assigned to the Phantoms.
8) The Flyers announced on Saturday that two likely Phantoms-bound players, forwards Cole Bardreau and Colin McDonald, were injured. Bardreau is out for four weeks with an upper-body injury while McDonald is out indefinitely (with a timetable to be established soon) with a lower-body injury. Bardreau reportedly skated at the Phantoms' practice in Allentown on Saturday. However, both players are still officially on the Flyers' training camp roster.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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