The calendar has flipped to September and for the first time in nearly 20 years, there will be regular season NHL games played this month.<\/p>\n
The Philadelphia Flyers open Rookie Camp next Friday, with Training Camp shortly thereafter. They\u2019ll open their preseason slate on Sept. 21 ahead of the season opener on Sept. 30 against the Pittsburgh Penguins.<\/p>\n
The Flyers are in an interesting position, roster-wise at least. In prior years, you could perhaps look at the roster and know where a handful of players would be lining up. This year, however, there are plenty of questions and variables you have to factor in when predicting the opening night roster.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, let\u2019s take our first crack at predicting the Flyers\u2019 opening night roster here at the beginning of September.<\/p>\n
Predicting Flyers\u2019 opening night forward lines <\/p>\n
Tyson Foerster \u2013 Trevor Zegras \u2013 Owen Tippett<\/p>\n
When Tyson Foerster made his unexpected return late last season, it was this line that he clicked on.<\/p>\n
Despite some recent suggestions that the Flyers may want to see how Trevor Zegras and Matvei Michkov work together in training camp, I can\u2019t see Rick Tocchet opening the season with those on a line unless they\u2019re both wingers with a responsible centerman like Christian Dvorak in the middle. It\u2019s possible, given the trust Zegras gained at center last season and into the playoffs, but Michkov still has to earn that.<\/p>\n
The Flyers should want to keep Zegras at center, and he had some chemistry last season with Tippett. The two played alongside Dvorak for 210 minutes at 5-on-5, and 70 more minutes in this configuration with Foerster on the left side.<\/p>\n
All three of these players have shown top-line potential and could be a formidable trio if everything falls into place.<\/p>\n
Travis Konecny \u2013 Christian Dvorak \u2013 Porter Martone<\/p>\n
This is another line that saw time together in the final weeks of the season and into the playoffs. Martone played just over 82 minutes at 5-on-5 with these veterans, while also spending 11 minutes on a younger line with Alex Bump and Denver Barkey.<\/p>\n
Dvorak is the responsible two-way centerman, Konecny has led the team in points for several years running, and Martone can hopefully be a key power forward to complete the line.<\/p>\n
Konecny and Dvorak have also played together a lot, as the Zegras \u2013 Dvorak \u2013 Konecny line was the Flyers\u2019 most-used trio last season.<\/p>\n
Denver Barkey \u2013 Noah Cates \u2013 Matvei Michkov<\/p>\n
The good news is that this would have Matvei Michkov playing his natural position. The bad news is that he wouldn\u2019t be in the top six, at least to start the season.<\/p>\n
Michkov formed some chemistry with Cates last season, with either Bobby Brink (183 minutes) or Barkey (87 minutes) as the other winger.<\/p>\n
One of the big questions this training camp is whether Barkey will make the team \u2014 which he should \u2014 and perhaps more so where he\u2019ll play. I think he should get a chance on the third line, although I could see Alex Bump earning this spot in camp and bumping Barkey down to the fourth line.<\/p>\n
In theory, the two-way game of Barkey and Cates should allow Michkov to play his game a bit more as the offensive weapon on this line. It may also give him some easier competition to play against as teams would need to game plan for the top two lines ahead of Michkov\u2019s trio.<\/p>\n
Nikita Grebenkin \u2013 Sean Couturier \u2013 Noel Acciari<\/p>\n
Sean Couturier looked like a different player as the fourth-line center last season, and while that could earn him a spot as the third-line center if Zegras shifts over to wing, the safer option is this one.<\/p>\n
Noel Acciari will be a key upgrade over Garnet Hathaway to raise the Flyers\u2019 floor, and Nikita Grebenkin is a guy who should earn a roster spot, as he can be moved up and down the lineup if necessary.<\/p>\n
After years of penciling in Nic Deslauriers and Hathaway into the lineup, the Flyers having an effective fourth line would be a breath of fresh air. <\/p>\n
This would leave Carl Grundstrom as the 13th forward, with Alex Bump starting the season in a top-six role with the Phantoms.<\/p>\n
Predicting Flyers\u2019 opening night defense pairs<\/p>\n
Travis Sanheim \u2013 Rasmus Ristolainen<\/p>\n
As long as Rasmus Ristolainen is healthy, which has been a big if in recent years, this will be the Flyers\u2019 top pair to begin the season.<\/p>\n
The Olympic medalists played 488 minutes together at 5-on-5 last season, largely in the latter half, and 150 minutes in the playoffs. <\/p>\n
Cam York \u2013 Jamie Drysdale<\/p>\n
Cam York and Jamie Drysdale have a friendship off the ice and found a connection on it last season, playing 482 minutes together at 5-on-5 in the regular season and then 137 minutes in the postseason.<\/p>\n
Interestingly enough, both of these players could work their way up to the top pair throughout the season, especially if Ristolainen gets hurt.<\/p>\n
Drysdale has progressed well in each of two full seasons with the Flyers, being a steady blueliner no matter his partner last season \u2014 and he had a lot of them, playing over 100 minutes with each of York, Andrae, Seeler, and Sanheim.<\/p>\n
Nick Seeler \u2013 David Jiricek <\/p>\n
I am really hesitant about penciling David Jiricek into the lineup given his defensive deficiencies, but the Flyers can\u2019t afford to lose him to waivers, and I don\u2019t know if they\u2019ll want him sitting in the press box.<\/p>\n
The alternatives are either Simon Benoit, who will end up playing more than we want, anyway, or Oliver Bonk, who probably should (and could) earn a roster spot out of training camp if it weren\u2019t for the waivers of it all.<\/p>\n
The Flyers\u2019 sixth (and seventh) defenseman battle is going to be one to watch in training camp.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The calendar has flipped to September and for the first time in nearly 20 years, there will be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":833998,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-833997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=833997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833997\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/833998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=833997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=833997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=833997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}