Quick Hits: August 24, 2022
1) In recent days, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms have signed or re-signed multiple veteran players to AHL contracts. The signings are as follows:
* Most recently, the Phantoms signed 23-year-old center
Jordy Bellerive. A player who can be spotted in the middle six but is primarily more of third/fourth line player, Bellerive brings a physically aggressive, agitating style with which the Phantoms became rather familiar over the course of his three-plus seasons with divisional rival Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. He kills penalties, takes key defensive zone faceoffs and can also chip in some timely offense although scoring is not his primary role at the AHL level.
As with countless players who came before him, Bellerive had to make a transition from being a big scorer in junior hockey to a role player as a pro. As a member of the WHL's Lethbridge Hurricanes, he posted 46 goals and 92 points (plus 25 points in 16 playoff games) as an 18-year-old, followed by 83 points in 68 games over his final junior campaign. As a pro in the AHL, the undrafted center has had to find other ways to contribute.
He's not devoid of offensive ability at the AHL level. Bellerive has twice been a double-digit goal scorer in the AHL including 10 goals and 18 points in 29 games for W-B/S in the pandemic shortened 2020-21 season. He's particularly shown a knack for potting game-winners if the game moves to 3-on-3 sudden death. Overall, however, Bellerive focuses on being an aggresive forechecker who creates turnovers, a hustling presence on the penalty kill and without the puck at 5-on-5 and someone who gets under opponents' skin. He's collected 202 penalty minutes in 157 career AHL games.
Bellerive is not tall (5-foot-11) but is deceptively strong on his skates and goes into battle willingly. Laperriere was enthusiastic about the idea of adding the player to the Phantoms' roster and Brent Flahr (who functions as the Phantoms' de facto general manager in addition to being the Flyers assistant GM to Chuck Fletcher) got the player signed.
"“When I talked to [Jordy] this summer I said, ‘If you know anything about me, I like players like you,'” Laperriere said to the Phantoms' official website. “I’m not going to expect him to score 30 goals. I want him to play hard, kill penalties, take big faceoffs, and be that ‘in your face’ kind of hockey [player]. That’s the game he plays.”
* Veteran minor league goalie
Pat Nagle, who split last season between the Phantoms (22 GP, 10-6-6, 2.74 GAA, .904 SV%. two shutouts) and the ECHL's Reading Royals (17 GP, 11-3-3, 2.41 GAA, .925 SV%, one shutout, seven playoff games), has been re-signed to an AHL deal for 2022-23. He was also with Team USA as a backup goalie during the 2022 Olympics in Beijing but did not dress for any games.
Nagle moved up from the Royals to the Phantoms when the AHL club was besieged with goalie injuries. His pre-Olympic play was especially good. He was less effective after his return but still stepped up in a few games.
For this coming season, he may be third on the Lehigh Valley depth chart behind Troy Grosenick/Felix Sandström (with one in the NHL backing up Carter Hart with the Flyers and the other as the Phantoms 1A starter) and prospect Samuel Ersson (now healthy after an injury-ruined rookie year). Nagle will turn 35 on Sept. 24. He is No. 3 on the ECHL's all-time goalie wins list and has also shown himself capable of strong play in the AHL during stints with the Grand Rapids Griffins and the Phantoms.
* Versatile forward
Ryan Fitzgerald will return to Allentown for the 2022-23 season. Kevin Hayes' cousin (and New Jersey Devils' general manager Tom Fitzgerald's son) joined Lehigh Valley on an AHL deal in 2020-21. He was one of the Phantoms' most effective, high-energy players during the pandemic shortened season, posting 12 goals and 21 points in 28 games for a club that had an 18-7-7 record.
Fitzgerald parlayed his successful year into a two-way NHL contract with the Flyers for the 2021-22 season. Unfortunately, he was shut down before the season when it was learned that he had torn labrums in both hips and needed dual surgeries (similar to what prospect Tanner Laczynski experienced, although his hip issues were on one side then the other). Fitzerald was limited to just four games for Lehigh Valley the entire season. He did not record a point.
With the 2021-22 season having been a washout for him, Fitzgerald understood that he was not going to be offered another NHL contract by Philadelphia. On Aug. 16, he signed an AHL-only deal with Lehigh Valley. Hopefully the Boston College alum can return to the form he showed in 2020-21, because he was a very effective player for the Phantoms that year. Previously, he'd played well for the AHL's Providence Bruins, including a career-high 21 goals in 65 games played in 2017-18. He could be plugged in just about anywhere in the lineup and could either center or play wing.
Fitzgerald will turn 28 on Oct. 19. He's small (5-foot-9) but competitive. As long as his hip issues are over and he's back close to 100 percent, the Phantoms can use his speed and skill. He's a good AHL player, although he never got a crack at the NHL with Boston and the dual hip surgeries last year ruined any chance of seeing NHL time with the Flyers in a year where Max Willman, Hayden Hodgson and Gerry Mayhew all had games in the NHL amid a brutal season for the parent club.
Over the course of his four seasons at BC, Fitzgerald played with the likes of current Flyer Patrick Brown, new Columbus star Johhny Gaudreau, new Florida Panthers forward Colin White, New Jersey Devils winger Miles Wood, Buffalo Sabres forward Alex Tuch, and new Nashville Predators forward Zach Sanford. He also played with his own brother, Buffalo Sabres/Rochester Americans defenseman Casey Fitzgerald. No matter where Ryan played in the BC lineup, he fit in well. His collegiate high was 24 goals and 47 points in 42 games during his junior year.
* 28-year-old depth winger
Alex Kile will be returning for 2021-22. He dressed in 27 games for the Phantoms last year after signing with the depleted team at mid season after he'd had success with Danny Briere's Maine Mariners in the ECHL. He'd always been a scorer in the ECHL after his collegiate career at Michigan (where he'd become the Wolverines' captain) but had been a roster bubble guy in the AHL.
Ian Laperriere quickly took a shine to Kile last year, giving him an opportunity to play on the power play and to dress regularly in bottom-six role at 5-on-5. Just two days after signing with the Phantoms, Kile scored his first goal. Overall, Kile had seven points (4g, 3a) in 21 games for the Phantoms after racking up 18 points (9g, 9a) in 11 games for Maine.
At least on paper, the Phantoms should have better depth in 2022-23 than they did a season ago when (for various reasons including large-scale injury attrition at both the NHL and AHL evels of the Flyers' organization) the roster quality got paper thin in a hurry. Nonetheless, Kile was a player that Laperriere specifically wanted back for this coming season and the player chose a Lehigh Valley return over other AHL offers. The player's hustle, willingness to embrace defensive responsibilities in tough minutes, and versatility to also be deployed as a secondary power play option won "Lappy" over.
The Flyers/Phantoms organization had also some interest in AHL veteran scoring standout Sam Anas -- a player originally signed by Chuck Fletcher and Brent Flahr for the Minnesota Wild's AHL affiliate in Iowa, where he launched what has been a successful career at the AHL level -- but the player ultimately opted to sign with the rival Hershey Bears.
* Another former collegiate standout (Minnesota State Mankato) who found some success at the ECHL level and eventually parlayed it into an AHL opportunity with Lehigh Valley,
Charlie Gerard , has been re-signed for 2022-23. The 26-year-old started last season in the ECHL with Reading but ultimately dressed in 55 games for the Phantoms (6g, 6a)
Laperriere moved Gerard all around the lineup, sometimes within the same game. Gerard played right wing on Cal O'Reilly's line and also was used in bottom six role at center. The hope for 2022-23 is that Gerard is primarily a supporting cast player for bottom-six deployment but could be moved up again in the event of injury or with a game where he's outplaying others in the lineup.
"“I talked to him this summer. He’s a guy who knows I like him and I respect him. I respect where he’s coming from and he’s just a pleasure to coach. He never has any push-back. You tell him something and he will do it to his best and he believes in the structure," Laperriere said to the Phantoms' official website.
* Depth defenseman
Garrett McFadden, who split last season between Reading in the ECHL (28 regular season games, 11 Kelly Cup playoff games) and the Phantoms in the AHL (four games played, but nearly one month on the AHL roster), will be back for 2022-23. He'll likely be in a similar role where he sees time with both the ECHL and AHL farm teams.
The player, who turned 25 this past Sunday, was an offensive-minded OHL defenseman and team captain for the Guelph Storm, where he was a teammate of Isaac Ratcliffe for two seasons. Subsequently, he went back to school and attended Acadia University in Nova Scotia, where he was also a key player on their hockey team for three seasons. He became a full-time pro athlete this season with the Royals and Phantoms.
At the pro levels, unlike the CHL or Canadian collegiate hockey, McFadden is more of a no-frills defenseman rather than being regularly counted on to be a point producer. He makes a decent first pass for the minor league level and can support the play up ice with his good mobility but primarily focuses on being a responsible defender. He is on the smaller side but understands how to play within a system and what he can and can't do at various levels of play. His AHL game, for example, is rather simple and straightforward whereas he'll jump up more against ECHL-caliber opposition.
McFadden has always been a very well-liked and respected player off the ice. In back-to-back seasons, he won the OHL's humanitarian player of the year award (Dan Snyder Memorial Award) for his tireless work on behalf of youth mental health educational awareness, access to treatment and social acceptance without stigmatization.
2) The Flyers vs. Rangers Rookie Game series will be held at the PPL Center in Allentown on Friday Sept. 16 (7:05 p.m. EDT) and Saturday Sept. 17 (5:05 p.m. EDT). The likes of 2020 first-round pick Tyson Foerster, Elliot Desnoyers, incoming Phantoms rookie Olle Lycksell and goalie prospect Samuel Ersson will participate.
Due to NCAA eligibility rules, NCAA-affiliated Flyers prospects who were at the team's development camp this summer -- such as 2022 first-round pick Cutter Gauthier and 2022 third-rounder Devin Kaplan -- will not be available to play. Likewise, Team Sweden WJC captain Emil Andrae (HV71 Jönköping, SHL) and 2021 second-round pick Samu Tuomaala (who started last season with the Phantoms but is playing in Finland's Liiga in 2022-23) have obligations to their European pro teams that preclude them from taking part in camp in September.
For ticket information,
click here.
3) Flyers Alumni: The Alumni have made the 14th adaptive bicycle donation via their "Every Child Deserves a Bike" program for special needs youngsters in the Delaware Valley. The most recent recipient is
nine-year-old Kelson Williams of Barrington, New Jersey.
Kelson, who was born after just 24 weeks of gestation, spent five months in neonatal intensive care after his premature birth before he was able to come home with his family. At age two, he was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy, Spastic Diplegia and Dystonia, which affects the use of legs, balance and ability to walk. He is a very determined and enthusiast child.
Kelson took to his fully customized adaptive bike immediately, gleefully exclaiming, "I'm doing it! I'm doing it!" as he quickly mastered pedaling the device. He was delighted, as was his entire family.
This has been the case with every recipient. The adaptive bikes are life-changing for the kids, assisting the development of their motor skills, and also allowing for much more independent mobility. Because the devices are so expensive (costing anywhere from about $4,000 to $7,000 to build, depending on the specifications and the child's needs), they'd otherwise be cost-prohibitive for most families. Through "Every Child Deserves a Bike", the bicycles are gifted by the Flyers Alumni at no cost to the families.
The program is funded entirely by the Flyers Alumni Association's fundraising efforts, specifically via
donations by Flyers fans and sponsors as well as revenues from Alumni events such as the recent Fantasy Camp, the annual Golf Invitational and the upcoming Friday Night Fights, and the Walk/Run at Washington's Crossing. These are also the means by which the Alumni raise money for the 12 Days of Christmas giving campaign during the holiday season and other donations made over the course of the year. Recently, the Flyers Alumni reached $1 million in donations to Snider Hockey.
Brad Marsh and the Alumni work side-by-side with
Help Hope Live to identify potential recipients for the adaptive bicycles. Help Hope Live works directly with the children and families and also raises funds on behalf each child. Thus, Flyers fans can increase the impact by donating to the Every Child Deserves a Bike program (where funds go toward the overhead of ordering, customzing and donating the adaptive bikes) and to Help Hope Live's campaigns to raise money for the child's ongoing treatments and caretaking expenses that the families would otherwise have to manage alone.
4) If you’re in Atlantic City today, stop by Boardwalk Hall. A contingent of Flyers Warriors players will be on hand. They have information on their program as well as raffle tickets for sale. Raffle tickets are $20 apiece or $50 for three. The drawing will be held on Oct. 4.
The prizes, donated by the Flyers, are as follows:
Grand prize: Pair of lower-level Flyers season tickets for the 2022-23 season including parking.
2nd prize: Autographed Sean Couturier jersey.
3rd prize: Autographed Scott Laughton jersey.
4th prize: Four lower-level tickets to an individual 2022-23 regular season game (date TBD).
5th prize: Flyers Warriors gift package.
In other Flyers Warriors news, they have now grown to four full rosters worth of players. Last year, the Warriors swept all three USA Hockey sanctioned Warrior Classic tier championships (including the Tier 1 tournament) in which they competed at the 2021 national tournament. This year, the Flyers Warriors will have entries in four separate tiers.
The 2022 USA Hockey Warrior Classic will take place October 28-30 in Troy, MI. All games will be played at the Troy Sports Center.
5) Today in Flyers History: August 24, 1982
Forty years ago today, on Aug. 24, 1982, the late Bob Dailey announced his retirement as an active player at age 29 due to a severe ankle injury suffered the previous season. Nicknamed the "Count", the defenseman had been a two-time NHL All-Star Game selection and a stellar performer during the 1980 Stanley Cup playoffs during his Flyers years.
For those who are too young to remember the Count, he was often plagued by injuries (knee, shoulder, then the career-ending ankle injury. When healthy, he was a burly 6-foot-5 beast of the blueline with a 100-MPH righthanded slapshot (in the wooden stick era) and an occasional mean streak to go along with it.
On Nov. 1, 1981, Dailey sustained a gruesome injury that ended his career. In a 6-2 loss in Buffalo, Dailey raced the Sabres' Tony McKegney for an icing touch up. Dailey never made it. Bumped from behind by McKegney, Dailey’s skate got caught in a rut in the ice and he fell backwards into the boards, shattering both his tibia and fibula. His ankle was busted on both sides. The tibia and fibula bones were broken into over a hundred small pieces.
Dailey was placed on a stretcher and rushed to a local hospital. That same night, Pelle Lindbergh -- who was making his NHL debut -- also ended up at the hospital as a result of severe dehydration. The Swedish goalie was released the next morning. Dailey was there for several more days.
Doctors immediately told Dailey that his hockey career was over and would be lucky just to walk again. He didn't want to believe it, but he announced his retirement on Aug. 24, 1982.
Four years later, Dailey briefly attempted to make a comeback with the Flyers, rehabbing under the direction of Pat Croce and then playing in a few AHL games for the Hershey Bears. Unfortunately, he simply couldn't keep up with the play anymore. After five games, he retired again; this time for good.
6) Throughout their team history, even apart from Dailey, the Flyers have seemingly been cursed to lose many of their best defensemen to serious injuries or health issues. First, the late Barry Ashbee had to retire due to a severe eye injury suffered in the 1974 Stanley Cup semifinals.
Five-time NHL All-Star Jimmy Watson had to retire shortly before his 30th birthday after undergoing spinal fusion surgery the previous year. Watson attempted to play one season after the surgery, but was no longer the same player. Previously, he dealt with a serious eye injury of his own, suffering permanent retinal damage after an inadvertent high stick by Jerry Butler of the St. Louis Blues caught him in the eye during the 1976-77 season.
Next came the loss of Dailey. Until the Flyers acquired Pronger, they hadn't had a defenseman with the same combination of attributes as the Count. They still haven't had a right-handed D-man quite like him in the last 30 years. If the offer sheet to Shea Weber had not been matched by the Nashville Predators, the two-time Norris runner up would have been the first righthanded-shooting D to bring the same combination of top-rate offense and physical defense that Dailey brought when healthy.
Whenever we recall Mark Howe's Hall of Fame career, we think of his brilliance in finishing as a three-time Norris Trophy first runner-up three times in his first six seasons with the club. But the last four years of Howe's career were marred by a chronic back problem that forced him out of the lineup for very long stretches of each season. From 1988-89 until 1991-92, Howe never played in more than 52 games. In fact, he never played in more than 60 games again in a season, despite playing in the NHL until 1995.
Seven-time Ashbee Trophy winner Eric Desjardins had to remake his game following an 80 percent torn anterior cruciate ligament suffered in a March 1999 game against the Detroit Red Wings. Somehow, Desjardins actually tried to play through the tear -- getting inexcusably booed for his troubles by the dimmest segment of the fanbase, which couldn't grasp why his once-formidable mobility had been greatly reduced.
After the ACL tear, Desjardins learned to make adjustments to his game, successfully adopting a more methodical approach steeped in his high hockey IQ. Later, Desjardins sustained a foot fracture that took away another stride away from him. A wrist fracture and concussion issues forced him out of the lineup frequently by the time he was 33 years old, and he dressed in just a combined 93 games in his final two seasons before retiring.
As Desjardins began to age and the injuries piled up, Kim Johnsson became the Flyers' best defenseman. A two-time Ashbee Trophy winner, Johnsson had the best season of his career in 2003-04. After recording 13 goals and 42 points during the regular season, he had a stellar first round playoff series against New Jersey.
Unfortunately, in the third period of the clinching game against the Devils, Johnsson went down to block a shot and took a Jamie Langenbrunner slapshot off his right hand. The force of the shot created a long y-shaped crack that ran down the fourth metacarpal bone, where the hand meets the wrist. Incredibly, Johnsson finished the game. The next day, he was diagnosed with a broken wrist.
Intiially, it was feared that Johnsson would miss the rest of the playoffs. Instead, he returned after missing three games of the Flyers-Toronto series and played the rest of the playoffs with the aid of pain-killing injections and a special plastic scaffold and protective rubber tubing insert in his right glove. He basically played one-handed.
As one would expect, Johnsson was not nearly as effective for the remainder of the playoffs after the injury. After racking up six points in the New Jersey series, he had just two points -- one of which was the lone Philadelphia goal in the Flyers' 2-1 loss to Tampa Bay in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final and a minus-four rating over the remainder of the playoffs.
The especially fickle nature of the Philadelphia sports fandom was rather clear during that postseason. I remember driving to Maryland for a family function that overlapped with an off-day of the Flyers-Tampa series. The Flyers had just lost Game 3 the previous night by a 4-1 score. I made the mistake of turning on a call-in sports radio show hosted by someone without an iota of hockey knowledge. He and several callers ripped heavily into Johnsson, mostly because he was a minus-two in the last game and had flubbed a couple shots when he was in scoring range.
No one brought up the fact that Johnsson was playing one-handed. The host made no reference to the fact that Johnsson he had played over 29 minutes in the game due to the rash of other injuries (Desjardins and Marcus Ragnarsson among them) that had decimated the blueline. No one noted that he'd been the team's best defenseman all year and played a key role in even getting the team to the Conference Final. In fact, some of these same folks were likely among those panicking over the hand fracture when it was revealed that he'd miss time in the Toronto series.
Nope. Somehow Kim Johnsson was now "killing us out there", "playing scared" and was a "total disaster" of a defenseman who "ought to be scratched for the rest of the playoffs". My favorite caller of them all was the brainiac who called in and suggested the Flyers dress enforcer winger Todd Fedoruk as a defenseman and start him in place of Johnsson. "At least Fridge won't get pushed around out there."
Now, I liked (and still like) Fedoruk as an honorable sort of tough guy and a great guy off the ice. However, Fridge would be the first one to tell you that it's a good thing that talk radio callers do not make the lineups in a playoff series. Fridge would not have been a viable blueline replacement for the reigning Barry Ashbee Trophy winner.
Johnsson only spent one more season as a Flyer after his outstanding 2003-04 campaign. Following the lockout-related cancelation of the 2004-05 season, Johnsson struggled with concussion problems for much of the 2005-06. He departed for Minnesota as unrestricted free agent that summer.
Johnsson remained in Minnesota until the 2009-10 season, when he was traded to Chicago. He played well in eight games with the Blackhawks but then suffered a serious concussion that forced him to miss the rest of the season and the playoffs. The Blackhawks did not request that the 34-year-old defensemen's name be placed on the Stanley Cup -- it was a team option because he played so few regular season games and no playoff matches that year. Unfortunately, his career was done.
At least the right thing was done by Kimmo Timonen. A blood clot issue curtailed the latter part of his stellar career but he was able to finish it by hoisting the Stanley Cup as a member of the Blackhawks after being unable to rejoin the Flyers lineup earlier in the 2014-15 season.
Lastly, I'd be remiss in not mentioning that the abrupt end of Chris Pronger's career had nothing to do with advancing age or wear-and-tear on his body. It was due to a freak eye injury and ocular concussion with severe post-concussion symptoms. Before being forced to step aside. Pronger had still been an elite player during his two-plus seasons with the Flyers.
Again, age had nothing to do with it. Had Pronger suffered the same injury at age 28 rather than 38 -- or even back when he was a 18-year-old rookie with the Hartford Whalers -- it would have career ending. The post-concussion effects were devastating and his depth perception was off to the point where he was putting himself in danger in attempting to play.
7) Aug. 24 Flyers Alumni birthdays: Norm Barnes (1953), Don "Smokey" McLeod August 24, 1946 – March 11, 2015).
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