Impressive Morin sent back to juniors

After Sam Morin's impressive training camp, the Flyers considered keeping the 19-year-old defenseman on the roster before "reality" hit and they sent him back to juniors Friday.

"It gets a little tempting, and then you kind of hit 'refresh' and think about reality, which is these are preseason games and there's a lot of young players in the lineups and a lot of the older players in the league aren't necessarily brining the good stuff," general manager Ron Hextall said.

The 6-foot-7, 224-pound Morin will play for Rimouski in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

"The kid has a great attitude. His first question was: Can I get to Rimouski tonight and play?' " Hextall said.

Hextall wants to develop prospects slowly, which also explains why he sent center Scott Laughton and defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere to the AHL Phantoms earlier in the week.

Said coach Craig Berube: "Sam played really well, (and was) as close to cracking the lineup as you can get."

He added that sending him to his junior team was best for his development "to become the player we think he's going to become."

Simmonds update. Right winger Wayne Simmonds, who suffered an unspecified lower-body injury against the Rangers Tuesday, did not practice Friday and his status for Wednesday's opener is "up in the air," Berube said.

Simmonds traveled with the team to Cape Cod on Friday afternoon.

Lineup set. Assuming Simmonds is able to play, here is the Flyers' projected opening-night lineup for Wednesday in Boston: Claude Giroux centering Brayden Schenn and Jake Voracek; Sean Couturier centering Matt Read and Simmonds; Vinny Lecavalier centering Michael Raffl and R.J. Umberger; and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare centering Zac Rinaldo and Jason Akeson.

Bellemare, 29, will become the ninth French-born player to reach the NHL.

Bonding trip. Paintball competition and fishing are among the activities on the Flyers' agenda as the team spends four days in Cape Cod. A smiling Steve Mason said he and his teammates "ambushed" Jake Voracek in paintball when they were playing for Columbus a few years ago.