Training Camp Day 1: News, Notes & Quotes

On Monday, the Flyers conducted the first day of on-ice work on Monday during their abbreviated training camp at the Skate Zone in Voorhees, NJ. The day started with simultaneous Group A and Group B practices on the rinks at either side of the complex for roughly 40 minutes.

Flyers head coach Alain Vigneault is a big believer in fast-paced practices; going over with players beforehand what drills will be done, and why. On the ice, there is very little standing around between drills and the individual drills themselves are relatively brief but demanding. Vigneault has always done it this way but feels it is even more important to do so in a short camp where time is of the essence in preparing for the season.
"There's no doubt. That's part of the preparation and getting our team ready. This morning prior to practice, we had a good video session on the theme for the day. Today, we were really focused on defensive zone coverage and our responsibilities," Vigneault said.
"Last year we took a step forward as far as improving our defensive play. I think we were the team in the league that gave up the least amount of shots. We want to have that strong foundation. Checking quickly so that we can get the puck and go play in the other end. We started with our zone today. We're going to go through each zone before the start of the regular season. Video before we pre-iced. I thought the pace of practice was excellent. The execution is going to get better. The pace and the attention to detail was good and what's what we were looking for."
PRACTICE GROUP A LINE PLAY
ORANGE
Claude Giroux - Kevin Hayes - Wade Allison
Oskar Lindblom - Morgan Frost - Jakub Voracek
Ivan Provorov - Justin Braun
Robert Hägg - Erik Gustafsson
BLACK
Carsen Twarynski - Nolan Patrick - Travis Konency
Michael Raffl - Connor Bunnaman - Joel Farabee
Travis Sanheim - Mark Friedman
Shayne Gostisbehere - Phil Myers
Goalies: Hart (Orange team), Elliott (Black Team)
The Group B drills were identical to what was done on the other rink, The only difference was that there were three different colored jerseys, with one forward line apiece. Defensemen wore black and rotated reps.
Practice Group B Line Play
James van Riemsdyk - Sean Couturier - Tyson Foerster (Black)
Samuel Morin - Scott Laughton - Linus Sandin (Orange)
Max Willman - Andy Andreoff - Nicolas Aube-Kubel (White)
Egor Zamula - Derrick Pouliot
Tyler Wotherspoon-Nate Prosser
Chris Bigras-Wyatt Wylie
Goalies: Alex Lyon, Felix Sandström
SCRIMMAGE REPORT
The practice session was followed by a 30-minute "Orange" vs. "Black" scrimmage. Team Orange won, 2-1.
The Hayes, Patrick, and Frost lines listed above comprised the Orange team, along with the Provorov pairing with Braun and the Hägg-Gustafsson pair atop the rotation. The Couturier and Laughton lines were the most notable atop team Black, along with the Gostisbehere-Myers pairing. Hart started in goal for the Orange side, Elliott for Team Black. The Phantoms' goalies came in for the latter part of the scrimmage.
Team Black scored first. Max Willman scored on an odd-man rush, beating Hart from the left dot. Team Orange then struck back for back-to-back goals scored close apary. Claude Giroux took a pass from Hayes in the slot. His shot missed the net but caromed right back out Giroux, who scored on a rolling puck from the right side. Shortly thereafter, Konecny gave Orange a 2-1 lead on a seemingly stoppable shot.
FIVE KEY TAKEAWAYS
1. The return of Nolan Patrick. After missing the entire 2019-20 season, center Nolan Patrick was on the ice with his teammates on Monday. According to Vigneault, the player passed his physical on Sunday and has been cleared for contact but will ease himself into those situations.
"It's obviously been a while since I've participated in everything with the team. I've been scrimmaging the last couple of weeks since I've been here, so pretty used to that. It was a good day out there today," Patrick said.
The player has been scrimmaging for much of the off-season in his native Manitoba with a group led by former Flyers forward Ryan White. Patrick said he felt "very comfortable" with the pace of the drills on Day 1. Although Patrick declined to elaborate on what he experienced last year or lay out specific goals for when he aims to play, he said that Monday's session was a productive one. Although he said he's looking at the here-and-now and not backwatd, he owned up to how missing last season weighed on him mentally.
"It's obviously mentally tough whenever you are injured watching. Obviously, you want to be out there. It's a tough injury that affects you mentally more than others would, but I feel good and hopefully get back soon," Patrick said.
Vigneault offered some additional details and observations.
"I thought Nolan looked really good today. I've had a couple chats with him the last couple days. He feels good about where he is. He's really upbeat about his energy level. I didn't speak to him other than a quick hi after practice there, but I thought he looked really good. I see the excitement in him about being back with his teammates, about working and having fun. I see the excitement in his teammates with him being back. In this situation, obviously he was probably very nervous today. Anxious to get going, hasn't played in a while. I think for him and for our team, it was a positive day, a step forward, and we'll take it a day at a time and see how he's doing," the head coach said.
2. Lindblom looking stronger. His hair has grown back after completing chemotherapy in June. He's added back much of the muscle mass he lost while underdoing chemotherapy and rib-removal surgery during his battle with Ewing Sarcoma. The usual smile beamed across his face. Cancer-free and eager to play the first season of his new contract, Oskar Lindblom is happy to be focused solely on playing hockey again.
"I had a good offseason at home. Worked out and skated a lot. I'm just trying to be as good as I can here at the start of camp. My goal is to start playing the first game, but it's the coach that decides if I'm playing or not. We'll see, but I'm doing my best out there," Lindblom said.
Before his cancer diagnosis last December, Lindblom was skating regular shifts in the top-six of the forward rotation at even strength, on the second power play unit and as part of the Flyers' penalty killing rotation. It's the 24-year-old left winger's goal to get back to playing such an extensive role for the team.
"It's more like I want to get back where I was before I got sick. I want to help the team on special teams. I want to help the team on five-on-five. Whatever I could do. It doesn't matter if I score a goal or block a shot. I just want to be there and help the team win," Lindblom said.
Vigneault said the player has taken many important steps toward getting back where he was prior to the cancer diagnosis.
"He's looked great. He's been here for quite some time. He's been skating a lot. He seems to be in real good condition. I've had a couple of talks with him about where he is and how he feels. As far as I could tell, obviously today was the first time I was on the ice with the guys as far as practices. He looked real good, real strong, and powerful. I think he's cleared, good to go and really anxious for a full season with his teammates," Vigneault said.
3. Hart Sets His Sights High. After backstopping the Flyers to a playoff series win and coming within one victory of a trip to the Eastern Conference Final last season, Carter Hart believes he is ready to take the next step in his evolution as an NHL goalie. He has set forth some extremely ambitious goals for the upcoming season.
"I don't want to just be another NHL player; I want to be the best and I want to be the best NHL goaltender. That is something that I strive for every day. For me, for myself and our team, we have a really good group again this year and I think we have to buy in and compete and we will have some success," the 22-year-old netminder said.
Hart has equally ambitious goals for the Flyers as a team.
"This year, our goal is to win a Stanley Cup and [not just] get into the playoffs. I know we have a good division with good competition. But we are in the metro every year, we always have good competition. It is nothing that we are not used to or familiar with. I think with the scheduling and how we are playing each team 8 times or so, it is going to create some competition and maybe some bitterness between teams. It is going to be fun and we are all really looking forward to being able to play the game again in less than 10 days," he said.
Over the summer, Hart took some steps to hyper-focus on his off-ice regimen, particularly in terms of diet and nutrition. He signed up for a meal delivery service, eating only organic, fresh food and high-quality proteins. On the ice, he made some minor technical adjustments that he believes will further improve his economy of motion and save-selection options.
"I was just back home in Edmonton with my goalie coach, Dustin Schwartz, my trainer Phil Daly back home and my usual group of people. It was good for the most part. I was able to get in a lot of work on and off the ice. I ran into a little bit of trouble at the end because of restrictions with COVID in Alberta. That's why I had to come here a little bit early, but for the most part we were able to get done what we wanted to accomplish," Hart said.
"We had a couple things that we were looking at just to tidy up a little bit. The one thing for me was just playing with different depths in the crease and seeing if I can manage different depths in the crease in different scenarios. Just playing with that and I think we got a lot of good work in a lot of different scenarios and situations that maybe I can gain a little bit of ice here or take a little bit of ice and come back a little bit more here, depending on the situation on the ice. I think it is something we played with a little bit this offseason and something I will continue to play with."
4. No tentative play from Morin. If there was any question whether Samuel Morin would be a little bit hesitant on the ice after missing roughy two-and-three-quarters of the last three seasons due to injuries and switching recently from defense to left wing, he put that much to rest quickly on the first day of camp. Morin played with his customary high-energy, exuberant style.
In terms of how things went on the ice, it was a mixed bag when it came to his play with the puck. He sprung a breakaway with a nice pass during the scrimmage. He scored a rebound goal at the net during the practice portion. He also got away with a low-percentage cross-ice pass that actually went for a point-blank scoring chance for linemate Linus Sandin during practice. On the flip side, Morin had several other situations where he tried to force things a little bit too much.
All in all, it was a pretty good start for a player trying to save his career and carve out a new path for himself.
5. "A sensitive moment," Vigneault said that he plans to change around line combinations and defense pairings for Tuesday. On Day 1, he wanted to properly welcome 2020 first-round pick Tyson Foerster to the Flyers' organization. He did so by placing the youngster on a line with Sean Couturier and James van Riemsdyk; themselves both first-round picks by the Flyers in their Dra00ft years.
"We want him to be a big part of this organization. He never got to come out on the stage with all of us, put his Flyer jersey and take a team picture with the group on the stage. I think it'd be great for him the first time he steps on the ice to practice and to scrimmage, to be with two former first-round players, Sean Couturier and James van Riemsdyk, two guys that were on that stage. I threw that at Chuck and he thought it was a good idea. It was a sensitive moment for me in the sense that I thought the young man obviously missed out on that day. That was sort of our way, and my way, the Flyer organization to welcome to our group and hope that he's a big part of our future moving forward at some point," Vigneault said.
PRACTICE NOTEBOOK
* Neither Zayde Wisdom (undisclosed, day-to-day) nor Tanner Laczynski (core muscle injury recovery) participated in either side of practice. However, both skated before the practice began. Although listed as No. 71 on the training camp roster, Wisdom wore No. 60 during his skating session. Phantoms forward Max Willman, who is not listed on the training camp roster, is wearing No. 71.
* At one juncture of the Group A practice, Morgan Frost turned goaltender Brian Elliott inside out and scored. At the other end on the same rep, Frost turned and beat Shayne Gostisbehere but wasn't able to finish the play.
* The best save of the practice session was a glove stop that Elliott made on Patrick near the net. The goalie snared the puck cleanly.
* Rookie defenseman Egor Zamula still looked like he needs to add muscle to his frame but he passed, defended and skate well on Day 1.
* AHL veteran defenseman AHL veteran Tyler Wotherspoon fared well one-on-one with several of the NHL roster forwards, including one where he snuffed out a Couturier shot attempt.
* After the end of the scrimmage, the "skills group" of players -- Giroux, Couturier, Konecny, Patrick, Hayes, JvR, Frost, Aube-Kubel, Sanheim and Gostisbehere among them -- did a shootout practice on the Phantoms rink and the remainder skated on the Flyers rink. Hayes, Giroux and Patrick were the only shooters to score on attempts.