Van Riemsdyk makes cut for Flyers' first road trip

JUST A FEW hours after breathing a sigh of relief, James van Riemsdyk had a pit in his stomach again.

As he is learning, such is life for a 20-year-old trying to leapfrog the minor leagues in his first NHL training camp.

Van Riemsdyk found out on Monday afternoon that he would be making the season's first road trip with the Flyers - his first since signing an entry-level contract out of the University of New Hampshire in April - for their three-game preseason swing to Detroit to face the Red Wings and then onto London, Ontario, and Toronto, to meet the Maple Leafs.

Now he just doesn't know when - or if - he will be playing. The Flyers start chipping away at their preseason docket tonight at Joe Louis Arena against the Wings.

"They haven't said anything yet," van Riemsdyk said. "I'm sure they will tell us [today]."

That could make for a long night in a Detroit hotel room.

Yesterday, during the first full scrimmages of training camp, van Riemsdyk got his first taste of NHL-level competition.

But he didn't disappoint. Much like in last week's rookie contest against Washington in which he scored four goals, van Riemsdyk proved he can bury the puck. He potted a pretty goal behind Ray Emery during a shootout drill.

"[Yesterday] was my first time really playing against NHL players," van Riemsdyk said. "The first half of the five-on-five session, I was terrible. After that, I got my legs under me and started to play a lot better."

If van Riemsdyk's linemates are any indication of his status for tonight, the Middletown, N.J., native is in good shape. Van Riemsdyk skated on the wing with Danny Briere and Claude Giroux.

"It's important to give these guys an opportunity to play with veteran guys and see how they can perform," Flyers coach John Stevens said. "But I wouldn't read too much into that."

Stevens made it clear that van Riemsdyk will need to earn his spot. He won't be given any extra consideration because he was drafted No. 2 overall in 2007.

"Where the kid is drafted or what his background is . . . once they get on the ice, they are hockey players," Stevens said. "We have to put players on our team that will make an impact. If James is one of those guys, then he will be on our team.

"This isn't a situation where we are going to develop players. We have to get off to a good start and put the best team possible on the ice. If he is ready, he will be here."

One player who was a casualty of the numbers game was free-agent winger Tomas Sinisalo. He is one of the 24 players in camp not traveling with the team.

If his name sounds familiar, it's because he is the son of former Flyers winger Ilkka Sinisalo, who is a scout in the organization. If Tomas were to earn a contract, he would become the first son of a former Flyer to do so, accomplishing something that Chase Watson (son of Jim Watson) and Ryan Sittler (Darryl Sittler) could not.

"My goal was to come here and give it my best effort and see where that gets me,'' said the younger Sinisalo, who spent the last 4 years in the Finnish Elite League. "It kind of feels like home."

He remains a longshot to earn a deal, as the Flyers are within one of the 50 contract limit, but that doesn't mean he is out of the race.

"Unfortunately, we had to draw a line on a number," John Stevens said. "There are a couple guys on the depth chart that we still want to look at [who didn't make the trip]."

John Stevens continues to be impressed by Mika Pyorala, a confident and crafty winger from Oulu, Finland. He figures to be battling for one of the final spots. Forwards Lukas Kasper and Krys Kolanos and defensemen Joonas Lehtivuori and Joey Mormina also caught the eye of the head coach during the scrimmages.

Blair Betts and Mark Bell, forwards with NHL experience on tryout contracts, made the trip, as expected. Forward Jason Ward - in a similar boat - was not as fortunate. Ryan Dingle, the player acquired from Anaheim in the Chris Pronger trade, did not travel.

Bruising forward Matt Clackson, winger David Laliberte and defenseman Oskars Bartulis were some of the surprise trip invitees.

John Stevens did not say who would be playing in goal tonight. All three goalies (Ray Emery, Brian Boucher and Johan Backlund) will see game action at some point on the 4-day trip . . . In yesterday's morning session, the Flyers were a dismal 2-for-13 during the shootout drill against Backlund and Boucher . . . Stevens reiterated that he is just experimenting with lines and defensive pairings for now . . . Tomorrow's game in London, Ontario, against Toronto, can be seen on the NHL Network.