The beginning of the NHL season involves all 32 teams jumping through different hoops as they get ready for actual games to be played and for their roster to be finalized. First, it’s rookie camp to look at a bunch of prospects before they eventually go back to playing for their respective teams and strive to get better. Then, actual camp starts. Some young players will be involved but the roster is largely decided except a couple of positional battles that you could consider.

Once the team starts to whittle down its roster, they have to eventually make the call and put some players on the waiver wire. It’s unavoidable to put at least a couple of players who have not made the NHL roster all the way out there and available for any of the 31 other teams to take for completely free.

While the vast majority of those players are simply AHL farmhands who might be decent for a couple games as an injury-caused call-up, there are a couple of gems always out there. And for some reason this year it feels like so many more young players who were previously thought of as some true key pieces for their team, are going to be out there on waivers. Whether it is just because almost every team is trying to actually win and have limited available positions, or they just don’t believe in the former prospect anymore, there are going to be quite a few.

Of course, all we can do is guess who will be out there before puck drop, since lots can happen during training camp and young players can work their way to full-time roles in just a week or so. But, there could be some good ones on waivers and the Philadelphia Flyers should be interested.

While the Flyers roster certainly looks full, if there’s an opportunity to add someone who is still young with lots of runway left and in a position of need, general manager Danny Briere would be smart to at least give a player a shot to play better than some of their veterans. If they end up stinking? Send them back on waivers — it’s worth the experiment.

All of this is assuming that teams higher on the waiver priority list — the Flyers should be somewhere around 21st on the list — don’t take these players before. Anyways, let’s get to some young players.

Ethan Del Mastro, LD

Ethan Del Mastro is an increasingly interesting option and despite having opportunities with the Chicago Blackhawks in all three seasons since he turned pro, the 23-year-old defenseman has not been able to establish himself as a full-time regular. It’s not great considering just how porous Chicago has been, but it also goes the other way since the bottom pair on a very bad team isn’t a great environment for a young player.

He does have a lot of what the Flyers like, though. The 6-foot-4, left-handed defender was drafted as someone with high-end offensive skills and skating ability, but he has leaned more into his defensive game, being positionally aware and the more physical player on whatever pairing he finds himself on.

There isn’t a world where Del Mastro is some secret hidden gem that just needs the right coach, but there certainly is one where he can be turned into a useful NHL defenseman and is clearly a step above the likes of Hunter McDonald, Helge Grans, and others in the Flyers depth chart. Can he be better than Simon Benoit? That’s also a possibility and would be the main battle.

There is the much more high-profile defenseman in Chicago, former seventh-overall pick Kevin Korchinski, who is also eligible for waivers. But the 6-foot-1 offensive defensemen might not be exactly who the Flyers want to target and that’s why he isn’t on the list.

Ivan Miroshnichenko, LW

Ivan Miroshnichenko is a great story, as the Russian winger was diagnosed with cancer a few years ago, halting some of his development before eventually coming over to North America and being a fairly solid AHL winger for the Hershey Bears. It’s just consistency and the availability of a role on the Washington Capitals that has kept him from getting some sort of full-time role.

Now, he’s eligible for waivers for the first time in his career and Miroschnichenko could be headed elsewhere. Just last season he scored 14 goals and 34 points in 41 games for Hershey, but in 13 games for the Capitals scored twice and earned three points while averaging under 10 minutes a game. The 22-year-old forward is just on the outside looking in as other players like the Protas twins found a role more quickly.

There is still a fairly successful scoring winger somewhere in Miroschnichenko. While he’s 6-foot-1, he has immense speed and doesn’t shy away from physicality. It’s not impossible to envision a world where he becomes the next Vasily Podkolzin, who established himself as a regular, everyday player once he got out of Vancouver.

For the Flyers, this would be adding much more pressure on the likes of Barkey and Bump to truly exceed. Bump really shone in his first opportunity, but if he puts in a disappointing training camp, he could easily be sent back down to the AHL and maybe Miroschnichenko could be a replacement with a fairly similar profile as a player.

Matthew Poitras, C

We’re familiar enough with Matthew Poitras after Rasmus Ristolainen was heavily linked to the Boston Bruins in the middle of last season and the 22-year-old center felt like a potential centerpiece for a trade. And now, he’s eligible for the waiver wire and the Bruins could lose him completely after not really giving him any room to grow or make mistakes.

He does have 69 total NHL games of experience but averaging just 13 minutes a night doesn’t really show a whole lot of potential there. Even after scoring a point per game in the AHL last season at 21 years old, all the Bruins could find for him is three total games in the NHL. He’s not the hottest commodity, but he should be thought of as a regular NHL player for some team out there.

That could easily be the Flyers. The need for a scoring center is obvious, and while it isn’t a perfect fit considering they have filled their projected center depth as Zegras/Dvorak/Cates/Couturier heading into the season, with someone like Poitras potentially available, that should get shaken up a bit — at least until they find out if the 22-year-old has something worthwhile.

Considering the noise surrounding Poitras, this feels like it either ends up forcing the Bruins to keep him on their NHL roster, or with a trade. It seems unlikely he will just go ahead and be put on waivers, but with the threat of that, a team could approach Boston with the offer of a fourth-round pick or something, just so that they get absolutely anything in return for him.

It’s not some perfect player that could fix the Flyers’ center problems and need for someone to be in the top six, but considering the cost it’s an opportunity that they should absolutely take if it comes to them.

Luca Del Bel Belluz, C/LW

Another center that could be on the waiver wire for the first time in his career is Columbus Blue Jackets prospect Luca Del Bel Belluz, who doesn’t get a whole lot of recognition but has already had a couple of high-scoring seasons in the AHL before he turned 22 years old.

Like Poitras, Del Bel Belluz has had opportunities in the NHL with Columbus, but has only ever played a dozen or so games in the last two seasons and with no true opportunity to be higher in the lineup. And for the Blue Jackets, it’s a big logjam of underperforming prospects and he’s gotten the short end of the stick, always being sent back down. Well, now they can’t and still, Del Bel Belluz is not on the projected roster for next season.

He’s a 6-foot-1 center that isn’t the most physical but has immense puckhandling ability and can lead the transition game. It’s what has led him to having 22 goals and 58 points last season, and already having a 27-goal AHL campaign before that. He needs to get out of the Columbus system and given so much more runway to play with, and it could be with the Flyers.

There is not that big of a difference with the depth chart, but considering that he can play center and has speed, that could be a leg up on the Barkey and Bump duo, or at least be considered right beside them to give them competition in training camp. There is certainly a world where Del Bel Belluz quickly establishes himself as a better, more offensive option as the second-line center than Christian Dvorak, and sets up shop there.

It’s just another instance of an opportunity that the Flyers could take advantage of and sort out a deal to really try to get a young and talented center to plant some roots.

Scott Morrow, RD

While the Flyers forward group is fairly stocked already and there’s not much room to be had so any addition might mean some sort of subtraction, there is technically a spot available on the blue line. While David Jiricek is presumed to be gifted that role on the bottom pairing next to Nick Seeler, it’s could be considered open and adding someone who could battle it out with the former sixth-overall pick could be an easy way to really get the best out of that position.

Scott Morrow was seen as one of the centerpieces for the K’Andre Miller trade but the New York Rangers have not really viewed him as someone destined to make their roster and he could very well be on the waiver wire. Due to the Rangers adding more talent like Sean Durzi in the offseason, it only lowers the likelihood that Morrow is given a spot and the 23-year-old defender should probably get some sort of security.

He played 29 games in the NHL last season, scoring six assists while averaging less than 16 minutes a night. But in the AHL scored 19 points in 34 games for the Hartford Wolf Pack. He’s an offensively talented player who was drafted off his deception work on the blue line and really felt like someone who would eventually find a spot there, but being drafted to the stacked Carolina team and then traded to a Rangers team who could not care about development whatsoever, has put Morrow in a bad spot.

There’s certainly still something there. And he’s not small at 6-foot-2, so it’s not like the Flyers will have an aversion to thinking about him more seriously if he’s available via waivers or a low-cost trade.

It’s all about getting more talent and if Morrow wins out the job over Jiricek, then it’s simply just putting the best team on the ice. It feels like there is so much more with Morrow so it could be a big win for the Flyers and the most realistic grab out of any of these players.