The Flyers’ training camp roster is certainly a robust one, and while we’ve just spent some time working our way through the most crowded section of the roster at the forward position, we’re back now to dive into the defense group, which is robust in its own right and primed to feature some equally exciting battles.
Editor’s Note: This was written and published before the Flyers added 11 more players to the training camp roster. The team hates us.
The locks
With the projected lineup looking healthy to start camp (a stark difference from where we were at this time last year), there isn’t a whole lot up in the air about who can and will make the lineup out of camp, as we’re already sitting with six pretty bonafide NHL regulars on the camp roster. These are:
Simon Benoit, Jamie Drysdale, Travis Sanheim, Rasmus Ristolainen, Nick Seeler, and Cam York.
Exactly how much playing time any one of these players
The lineup hopefuls
That said, there’s still a door cracked for one or maybe even two of the younger prospects to come in hot and force their way onto the roster, potentially pushing someone like newcomer Benoit into more of a platoon role.
Oliver Bonk: Though Bonk is still relatively inexperienced with the professional game — having played less than his full rookie season, as he was sidelined with injury to start it — he’s been on a rapid rise in favor over this last year, having already earned himself not just his NHL debut, but also his NHL playoffs debut in a make-or-break situation. There’s a lot that Bonk’s been doing right since turning pro, and it’s clear that members of the coaching staff and management group are big fans of his game and big believers in his upside. Whether he can come in so strongly to main camp as to force a difficult conversation about his readiness to jump to the NHL on a full-time basis, we’ll see, but regardless, the sense remains that he’s not too far away from that happening.
Helge Grans: On the flip side, this last year has seen Grans sink into a bit of a downward slide in favor of the management group. He brings the experience that one would imagine would be valuable for a team looking for, at the very least, a short-term fill-in, but he’s had just too many moments over the last year where he had a spot to lose in front of him, and he just let his play slip and let it get away from him (as was the case, most notably, back in last year’s training camp). He’s turned things around and really impressed before, and while there’s no real reason to believe he can’t do it again, the chances are looking more and more like a long shot.
David Jiricek: We were hesitant to place Jiricek up in that lock category, as we do still expect that the Flyers will want him to ultimately earn his spot in the lineup, his experience at the North American pro levels as well as his new need to clear waivers if they want to assign him to the AHL, the logistics make him closer to a lock than anyone else in this group. Still, this is a big moment in front of him, and even though the spot on the NHL roster looks quite manageably within reach for him, we’ve seen players play themselves out of those opportunities before, so it’s up to Jiricek to really bear down and prove that he deserves to stick around.
Hunter McDonald: Speaking of limited looks gotten at the end of last season, McDonald made his official NHL debut in that final game of the season as well, and has been putting up good work over this past season to rebuild his standing in the organization after what was at times a really challenging rookie season for him. He has a bit more age and a bit more experience with him, and brings a physical game that’s sure to buy him some fans around here, and could well be another player who could force a longer look if things shake out well for him.
Ty Murchison: Last season was certainly a high-event one for Murchison, as he kicked off his rookie season quite well and carved out a pretty significant role for himself with the Phantoms and getting his stock rising so quickly as to earn an NHL recall for his debut as early as December, but all of that positivity ultimately came to a screeching halt when he took a season-ending injury in early January. Still, Murchison is healthy now and still has his fans, and also made a big impression captaining the Saturday squad for the rookie series, giving him some momentum and making him another one who could potentially force a longer look in this shortened preseason.
AHL and junior-bound
Some of those hopefuls will eventually find themselves down with the Phantoms to start the season, and they’ll be joining an interesting mix of young players to fill out that lineup.
Cam Dineen: One of the offseason’s new free agent additions, Dineen brings a bit more veteran presence to this young Phantoms defense group, but he also does come in with a bit of NHL experience (38 games) in the back pocket. That’s a nice bit of organizational depth added, but still, he’s much more established as an AHL piece at this point in his career, so we expect to see him heading down to join the Phantoms for their camp before too long.
Jackson Edward: Brought in at last season’s trade deadline and sticking around for the final year of his contract, Edward is another physical defender who’s expected to help fill in the defense group down with the AHL squad. Given the fact that he wasn’t even able to step into the role of an every game regular at the end of last season with the Phantoms, it’s hard to imagine him ultimately getting too long of a look in NHL camp, but we’ll see what he can do before he eventually heads back down to join the Phantoms.
Spencer Gill: Despite some of the injury troubles he dealt with over these last couple of seasons, Gill is still a player with a lot of upside, and someone who the organization still has a good deal of optimism about. It will be interesting to see what he’s able to do in this camp against some potentially tougher competition, but ultimately for him this season is going to be about getting going with the Phantoms, adjusting to the professional game, and getting his development back on track after all of the time missed up to this point.
Andrew Perrott: Rounding out the group of Phantoms depth players added in the offseason, Perrott joins the organization after spending the last season on a contract with Rockford. He’s on an AHL deal here as well, so there’s no real expectation for him to make some noise towards NHL contention, and he comes in as another piece set to be used more to help fill out these camp groups. Still, we’ll get our first impressions of him soon regardless.
Maksim Sokolovskii: And finally, though there’s not realistic expectations of Sokolovskii making a push for an NHL job in this camp — between his age and the rawness of his game — as the newest first round pick in this mix, he’s still one of the buzzier names hanging around for this camp. He made a big impression in the Rookie Series, and even if his game wasn’t perfect, it’s beginning to come into greater focus just why the organization is so intrigued by and optimistic about him. We’ll see how he’s able to carry that momentum into this main camp, but the ultimate expectation is that after his stint, however long it may be, he’ll head back to London of the OHL to continue working on his game there.
