Philadelphia Flyers Charities and the Flyers Alumni Association today named long-time partner Toyota the official title sponsor of the Toyota Flyers Charity Classic, a city-wide recreational event coming in less than three weeks, Sunday, July 16. The inaugural Classic includes options for a 5K walk or run, a 10-mile family bike ride, or 50K and 100K bike rides.

As a part of the sponsorship, Toyota will be providing a fleet of 23 vehicles to assist with the day's race courses as well as a post-event fan fest.

"We're proud to support Flyers Charities in really making this a premier event for the city," says Paul Muller, President of the Tri-State Toyota Dealers Association. "We've been partnered with them for years on the Flyers 5K, so when they approached us with this new, even bigger event, it was a no-brainer. They help so many wonderful non-profit organizations in the area and everyone at Toyota is delighted that we can help in those efforts."

The Philadelphia Flyers announced today that they have re-signed defenseman Mark Alt to a one-year contract, according to general manager Ron Hextall.

Alt, 25 (10/18/1991), recently completed his fourth full season with the Flyers American Hockey League affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms recording 11 points (1g-10a) in 40 games to go along with a plus/minus rating of plus-8. He also appeared in all five Calder Cup Playoff games.

Alt also made his NHL debut with the Flyers on Mar. 28, 2015 vs. San Jose where he logged 9:25 of ice time.

Over parts of five seasons with the Phantoms, Alt has recorded 68 points (12g-56a) in 237 games, including a six-game stint in 2012-13 when he turned pro after a three-year career at the University of Minnesota.

The Philadelphia Flyers announced today that they have made Qualifying Offers to the following players, according to GM Ron Hextall:

Cole Bardreau, Scott Laughton, Taylor Leier, Alex Lyon, Roman Lyubimov, Anthony Stolarz and Mike Vecchione.

COLE BARDREAU

• In his second full season with the Phantoms, he appeared in 72 of 76 games recording 24 points (9g-15a)
• Played a four-year career at Cornell University and won a gold medal with Team USA at 2013 World Junior Championships where he was also teammates with Shayne Gostisbehere.

SCOTT LAUGHTON

• He recorded 19 goals and 20 assists for 39 points in 60 games, while playing in all situations for the Phantoms.
• He led the team and tied for the AHL lead with four shorthanded goals and led all Phantoms with a plus-minus rating of +17 this season.
• He has appeared in 109 NHL games, recording 27 points (9g-18a) with the Flyers over parts of the last three seasons.

TAYLOR LEIER

• He appeared in 10 games for the Flyers this season and recorded his first NHL goal and had two points while averaging 9:03 of ice time.
• He was named an alternate captain for the Phantoms… He posted 37 points (13g-24a) in just 48 games this season to go along with a +10 rating.
• He was also named to the AHL's 2017 All-Star Classic and won MVP after scoring a hat trick.

The Hockey Hall of Fame today announced that former Flyer Mark Recchi will be a member of the 2017 Hockey Hall of Fame induction class. 

Recchi is one of five individuals in the player category who will be officially enshrined at the Hockey Hall of Fame induction ceremonies in Toronto on Monday, November 13. (Teemu Selanne, Paul Kariya, Dave Andreychuk & Danielle Goyette). Clare Drake and Jeremy Jacobs join the class of 2017 in the builders category.

Recchi served two tours of duty with the Flyers, over which time he collected 232 goals and 395 assists for 627 points in 602 games to rank eighth on the Flyers' all-time scoring list. 

He was originally acquired from Pittsburgh on February 19, 1992 with Brian Benning and Los Angeles' 1st round choice in the 1992 Entry Draft in exchange for Rick Tocchet, Kjell Samuelsson, Ken Wregget and a third-round pick in the 1993 Entry Draft. 

Recchi recorded 27 points in 22 games for the rest of the season following the trade, and then proceeded to put together consecutive 100-point seasons - a 123-point campaign in 1992-93 and a 107-point season in 1993-94. 

1. IT'S NOLAN

After two months worth of hype the moment finally arrived and Nolan Patrick, NHL Central Scouting's No. 1 rated prospect, is officially a Philadelphia Flyer.

"I'm happy -- I'm really happy I went here," said Patrick moments after being selected by GM Ron Hextall. "I've been there a few times, and it's obviously a great sports place. I like the way the team plays, and hopefully I can fit into that."

The Flyers had Patrick come to the team's practice facility for a visit and any questions as to his injuries from last year were made clear. The result was that the club couldn't be happier to have him a part of the future.

"There's some stuff out there that they [team doctors] wanted to prove wrong, we did," said Hextall. "I believe that Nolan is a very great young man. You can ask Ivan [Provorov] about him. Really good young man, works hard, and wants to be a National Hockey League player and we couldn't be more excited to have him on board." 

As for this upcoming season, Patrick made his intentions clear when asked if he could crack the Flyers roster come Fall.

"Yeah, I think after a good summer of training, that's my goal. I just try to look at everything in my control that I can do, and I'm going to do everything I can to make it… I'm just going to try to play my game and contribute as much as I can. Obviously I think the Flyers have a really good team."

Video: Hear from GM Ron Hextall on the 2017 NHL Draft

7TH ROUND

WYATT KALYNUK (196TH Overall)

POSITION: Defense

TEAM: Bloomingtom Thunder (USHL)

BORN: April 14, 1997

HOMETOWN: Virden, Manitoba

VITALS: 6'1", 174 pounds  

• The 20-year-old defenseman was the lone blueline Philly selected in this year's Draft. He is committed to the University of Wisconsin, beginning in the fall of 2017.
• Amateur scouts consider Kalynuk to be a puck-moving defenseman.
• He produced six goals and 31 points in 60 USHL games for Bloomington in 2016-17.

Tweet from @NHLFlyers: With the 196th pick in the #NHLDraft, the #Flyers have selected Wyatt Kalynuk! pic.twitter.com/ZrIEcEOl13

Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds center Morgan Frost has never been one of the biggest players on the ice, nor was he a marquee name entering the Ontario Hockey League.

He was the 81st overall pick of the 2015 OHL Priority Draft coming out of midget hockey. Rapidly, however, he's shown himself to be a fleet-footed and offensively gifted player with the ability to make his linemates better. "I think I'm a playmaker," Frost said.

"I think I'm a high-skill player who has the hockey sense to create plays."

After choosing the highly touted Nolan Patrick with the second overall pick of the 2017 NHL Draft, the Flyers subsequently announced a major trade. The team sent Brayden Schenn to the St. Louis Blues for the 27th overall pick of the 2017 Draft, a conditional 2018 first-round pick, as well as veteran two-way NHL forward Jori Lehtera.

Video: Blues trade 27th pick to Flyers for Brayden Schenn

Frost had spoken with the Flyers a few times in the months leading up to the Draft. While he was hopeful that Philadelphia would select him with the 27th pick when news broke of the big trade with St. Louis, he had no way of knowing at the time whether he or someone else was the player the Flyers were targeting.

Tweet from @NHLFlyers: With the #27 pick, the #Flyers have selected Morgan Frost! Welcome to Philadelphia! #NHLDraft pic.twitter.com/DERKqIi5dN

With the 27th overall pick in the 2017 NHL Draft, the Flyers selected center Morgan Frost from the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League.

Below are news, notes & analysis on Frost:

Video: Hear from Flyers 27th overall pick Morgan Frost

Below are news, notes & analysis on Frost:

MORGAN FROST

POSITION: Center

TEAM: Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, OHL

BIRTHDATE: May 14, 1999

BIRTHPLACE: Aurora, Ontario

VITALS: 5'11", 173 pounds

SHOOTS: Left

Video: Flyers draft F Morgan Frost No. 27

KEY NOTES

• He recorded 20 goals and 42 assists for 62 points in 67 games for Sault Ste. Marie in his second season with the club, which ranked him fourth on the team in overall scoring.
•  His 62 points were a 35-point improvement from his rookie season in 2015-16, where he posted 27 points (7g-20a) in 65 games.
• During the regular season, he helped the Greyhounds to a 48-16-3-1 record and a first-place finish in the West Division, ranking fourth on the team in scoring.
• He added eight points (2g-6a) in 11 playoff games, which finished third on the team in scoring.
• Prior to joining the Greyhounds, he won a bronze medal with OMHA Black by recording eight points (1g-7a) in five games at the 2015 OHL Gold Cup.
• Frost was ranked 31st among North American skaters in the NHL Central Scouting final rankings.

ANALYSIS

NHL Central Scouting on Frost:

"Smart and skilled center with a very good offensive hockey sense. Excellent vision and anticipation to quickly take advantage of opportunities… He has a heads up game to evade checking pressure and shows a consistent two-way effort." 

"He is creative with the puck to set up plays and generates scoring chances. He has very good puck skills to execute passes in traffic and while he's being checked."

The NHL Draft is F-I-N-A-L-L-Y here and tonight the Flyers will add to their deep pool of prospects. Before we dive into what you need to know, here's where you can watch:

The First Round from the United Center in Chicago begins at 7 p.m. ET on NBCSN. Rounds 2 through 7 will be broadcast live on the NHL Network beginning Saturday morning at 10 a.m. ET.

1. A SPECIAL YEAR

With the second overall pick, the Flyers will be "on the clock" immediately after the New Jersey Devils select first and have a total of five minutes to make their selection.

How rare is this? 

Well, the Flyers haven't drafted this high in 10 years and this is only the THIRD time in franchise history that the club has drafted in the Top 2. And you can put away the public perception that this is a bad draft year.

"People talk about this draft and say it's not a very good draft - they're wrong," said Flyers GM Ron Hextall. "It's a good draft. It's not maybe what the last two were, but the last two were bumpers, so this is a good draft."

Another little tidbit, whoever the Flyers pick, he will be 469th draft pick in team history.

The Philadelphia Flyers, in conjunction with the National Hockey League, today unveiled their schedule for the 2017-18 season.

The Flyers will open their season on Wednesday, October 4 when they visit the San Jose Sharks as part of a four-game road trip to start the season. They will open the home portion of their schedule on Saturday, October 14 vs. Washington. The season will conclude on Saturday, April 7 when the Flyers host the New York Rangers.

The NHL heads into its fifth season under the current alignment of four divisions -two each in the Eastern and Western Conference. The two Eastern Conference divisions contain eight teams each. With the addition of the Vegas Golden Knights, the Pacific Division increases to eight teams this year, while the Central Division remains a seven-team group.

The schedule design continues to emphasize divisional rivalries along with the division-based playoff seedings. The Flyers will play all of their divisional opponents four times - twice at home and twice on the road. The Flyers will play 28 of their 82 games against opponents in their own division. The games will tend to come later in the season again this year - after the home opener vs. Washington, the Flyers will not play another Metropolitan Division opponent until November 22 when they visit the New York Islanders.

The Flyers will play the eight Atlantic Division teams three times each for a total of 24 games against that division. The Flyers will play two home games and one road game against Boston, Buffalo, Montreal and Toronto. They will play two road games and one home game against Detroit, Florida, Ottawa and Tampa Bay. The breakdown of home and road games against each Atlantic Division team alternates each season.

The Flyers will again play a home-and-home series with every Western Conference team, assuring that fans will have the opportunity to see every NHL club at the Wells Fargo Center at least once this season. The Flyers will play a total of 30 games against the Western Conference. Their first game against the expansion Vegas Golden Knights comes on the road on Feb. 11, and Vegas's first visit to Philadelphia is set for Monday, March 12.

National and local TV broadcast information, as well as the local radio broadcast schedule, will all be released later this summer.

Secure next season now! Flyers 2017-18 season ticket memberships are available by calling 215.218.PUCK or PhiladelphiaFlyers.com.