6 Takeaways from the Flyers’ Final Cuts
The Flyers roster for Friday’s game is here and it’s… interesting.
At least for the season opener, Alain Vigneault will roll with 11 forwards and seven defensemen to start the season, likely due to injuries and the salary cap situation.
As it currently stands, the Flyers roster looks like this…
Forwards (11)
Travis Konecny James van Riemsdyk
Michael Raffl Claude Giroux
Kevin Hayes Carsen Twarynski
Sean Couturier Connor Bunnaman
Scott Laughton Jake Voracek
Oskar Lindblom
EDIT: Tyler Pitlick has been cleared for contact and will play on Friday.
Defenseman (7)
Travis Sanheim Shayne Gostisbehere
Robert Hagg Samuel Morin
Ivan Provorov Justin Braun
Matt Niskanen
Goalies (2)
Brian Elliott
Carter Hart
No Joel Farabee or Phil Myers… for now
With the Flyers being so tight against the salary cap, some tough cuts had to be made. Sitting $1.5 million over the cap before the final roster cuts, Chuck Fletcher had to do some real maneuvering just to get his team $283,000 under the cap. Unfortunately, this included sending down Phil Myers (who was the only waiver-exempt defenseman) and Joel Farabee.
It’s likely that at least one is back when the injury situation with Nolan Patrick and Tyler Pitlick is figured out.
Tyler Pitlick could be back very soon
Speaking of Tyler Pitlick, he will likely be back in the lineup fairly soon. One of the Flyers’ under the radar pickups this offseason, Pitlick has been recovering from left wrist surgery for most of the summer and still isn’t cleared for contact though he has not been ruled out for Friday, according to Sam Carchidi, and there is a forward spot available.
EDIT: Tyler Pitlick will play on Friday.
Nolan Patrick could be headed to long-term IR
Being diagnosed with a migraine disorder, Nolan Patrick will be out of the lineup for the beginning of the season. The question Chuck Fletcher is facing is just how long will he be without the third-year center? A possibility to bring Farabee or Myers back up would be to send Patrick to long-term IR which would allow the Flyers to use his $925k cap hit.
Sending Patrick to IR would require him to miss 24 calendar days (10 games) but could give the Flyers some short-term flexibility to give Farabee or Myers a run in the NHL.
Samuel Morin finally getting a chance
After being dealt with multiple injuries, the Flyers 2013 first-round pick has made the team’s opening roster for the first time. While it may not be a long stint with Phil Myers still very much in the picture, Morin will still get a chance to show that the Flyers got something out of the former 11th overall pick.
It’s unlikely that he stays with the team as the obviously won’t keep seven defensemen on the roster for very long, but in whatever time he does have in the pros, it can’t be anything but good for Morin.
Robert Hagg impressed with his preseason
Many, including myself, thought it was a shoo-in that the Flyers would that Phil Myers would win a spot over Robert Hagg for the season opener. Even though Robert Hagg would have to pass through waivers to be sent down, Myers seemed like he was ready to make the jump to the pros as the Flyers’ sixth defenseman.
Myers is the cheaper option with a $678k cap hit while Hagg’s is just over $1.1 million but it seems the Hagg impressed Fletcher and the coaching staff over the summer and earned at least another stint with the Flyers as he enters the final year of his contract.
Carsen Twarynski’s preseason production rewarded
While there’s little doubt that Joel Farabee has the higher upside of the two, with the injury and salary cap situation the way that they are, Twarynski won out for the time being. Even though his lower cap hit may have helped him earn the nod, Twarynski was a standout in the preseason and led the Flyers with two goals.
More than just the statistics, Twarynski really was all over the ice whenever he was out and Fletcher and Vigneault took notice. He’ll be interesting to watch in the Flyers bottom-six which will hopefully be much improved this season.
Featured Image: Matt Slocum/AP
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