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Laughton will get his shot at Flyers camp

Promising centers Scott Laughton and Nick Cousins are among the 25 players who have been invited to the Flyers' rookie camp, which starts Friday and will be held for three days at the Skate Zone in Voorhees.

Flyers' Scott Laughton skates during training camp at the Flyers Skate
Zone in Voorhees , NJ on Sunday, January 13, 2013. (Yong Kim/Staff Photographer)
Flyers' Scott Laughton skates during training camp at the Flyers Skate Zone in Voorhees , NJ on Sunday, January 13, 2013. (Yong Kim/Staff Photographer)Read more

Promising centers Scott Laughton and Nick Cousins are among the 25 players who have been invited to the Flyers' rookie camp, which starts Friday and will be held for three days at the Skate Zone in Voorhees.

The camp begins at 10:30 a.m. each day and is free and open to the public.

After three practice days, the Flyers' prospects will play the Washington Capitals rookies at 4 p.m. Monday at the Kettler Capitals IcePlex in Arlington, Va.

All the Flyers' prospects, general manager Paul Holmgren said, will participate for at least a few days of the big-league camp, which opens Thursday at the Wells Fargo Center.

Most of the Flyers' invited prospects are preparing for the coming season with their junior clubs or have completed their junior/collegiate careers and will start their first professional seasons this fall.

Laughton, the Flyers' first selection in the 2012 draft, has an outside chance to make the team. He is 19, so he is not AHL-eligible and figures to be sent back to juniors if he is not on the Flyers' opening-night roster. Last season, he had 56 points (23 goals, 33 assists) and a plus-22 rating in 49 games with the Oshawa Generals of the Ontario Hockey League.

Holmgren expects Laughton to push for a job at camp.

"I think we have to give him an opportunity to see how he does," he said.

The camp also will feature the highly touted Cousins, 20, who finished third in the OHL with 103 points (27 goals, 76 assists) in 64 games last season.

Holmgren said that if players stand out in practices and in the rookie game against the Caps, "we'll continue to take looks at them."

Most of the Flyers' veterans skated at their Voorhees practice rink Thursday, including defensemen Braydon Coburn, Andrej Meszaros, and Nick Grossmann, three players who missed significant time because of injuries last season but have been cleared to play.

Marc-Andre Bourdon is a defenseman who has yet to be cleared. He suffered a concussion while playing with the AHL's Phantoms last November and is still experiencing symptoms.

"I still have some ups and downs," Bourdon said. "It's taking longer than I thought. I'm hoping [to be back soon]. I'm praying on it."

Said Holmgren about Bourdon: "It's going in the right direction and I anticipate him being fine."

Breakaways. The Flyers reached an affiliation agreement with the Greenville (S.C.) Road Warriors in the ECHL. They had been affiliated with the Trenton Titans, who folded. . . . Center Claude Giroux, who had finger surgery last month, continues to progress. "He just can't use his hand and do anything with his stick yet," said Holmgren, adding that he believes his captain "will be able to take part in a lot of stuff" when camp opens. . . . Winger Matt Read recently got engaged to his college sweetheart, Erin Cody, and they will be married in July. . . . Center Sean Couturier looks as if he has bulked up from last season. . . . Former Flyers forward Danny Briere skated with his ex-teammates and doesn't plan to head to his new team, Montreal, until after the weekend. Briere said he wants to spend as much time as he can with his three sons before heading to the Canadiens' camp. . . . Read on Vinny Lecavalier: "He looks like he's 25 again. He still has his legs and good vision. Looking forward to seeing him in the black and orange."