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Flyers launching Dave Hakstol era

On-ice work begins Friday for veterans and prospects.

Philadelphia Flyers newly-hired head coach Dave Hakstol smiles as he
speaks at a news conference, Monday, May 18, 2015, in Philadelphia.
Philadelphia Flyers newly-hired head coach Dave Hakstol smiles as he speaks at a news conference, Monday, May 18, 2015, in Philadelphia.Read more(Matt Slocum/AP)

DAVE HAKSTOL arrived at Flyers training camp Monday, when prospects reported, ready to get to work at his first training camp as a head coach in the NHL. The former University of North Dakota coach was wearing orange and black from head-to-toe, having traded in the green and white of UND for the big time.

He was sporting a new haircut, too.

"It's a new year," Hakstol said with a laugh.

Those four words seem to be the most popular and perhaps most crucial around Flyers training camp, which gets underway in its entirety today when on-ice workouts with the entire group commence.

Everyone is looking for a fresh start, and to finally turn the page from last year's season, when the Flyers finished 14 points out of the playoffs.

They haven't missed the playoffs in consecutive seasons since a run of five absences from the 1989-90 season through the '93-94 campaign.

They'll try to keep it that way under a first-year head coach, who was asked Wednesday what he's feeling heading into his first camp. Nervous? Anxious?

"Probably a little bit of everything, if I'm being completely honest," Hakstol said. "I'm excited to get going. I think everybody, all the players, our staff, everybody's done a lot of work over the summer to prepare for this time. Obviously, it's my first opportunity to get out there and be involved with the group.

"We have to get a lot accomplished in a short period of time."

The Flyers have only three days of workouts before Monday's preseason opener in Allentown, a split-squad game against the New York Islanders. Those three days will be used by Hakstol to get on the ice for the first time with his new team. Yesterday, veterans officially reported to camp - though all of them have been at the facility already - and finished up conditioning testing. There were also team meetings to go over Hakstol's new system and expectations for the upcoming season.

Hakstol, hired in May and signed to a five-year, $10 million contract to replace Craig Berube, coached for 11 years at North Dakota. The beginning part of this week during rookie camp was an age group he's certainly used to. Today will be different.

"It's not the talent, it's the maturity of the game, in terms of execution in every little area of the game," Hakstol said. "That's what the biggest difference is as players grow and mature. So that execution level that we'll expect to see on Friday will be at a high level."

Hakstol said that over the summer, he had some line combinations in mind. Obviously, the pairing of Claude Giroux and Jake Voracek on the top line will not change. They might have a new winger, but there are definitely a few weeks to work everything out. That includes defensive pairings, of course.

"I think everybody's kind of looking forward to a fresh start and a clean slate," defenseman Luke Schenn said. "Everyone's on the same playing ground, and it's kind of refreshing that way."

Schenn is part of perhaps the most interesting positional battle of camp. The defense will be watched very closely throughout the next few weeks of camp, which runs through the final preseason game on Oct. 2, with eight players on one-way deals and some young prospects pushing for opportunities.

Flyers general manager Ron Hextall has long maintained prospects won't be rushed. In a perfect world, would the veterans outperform the youngsters and make Hakstol's decision easy?

"I don't know if there is a perfect world," Hakstol said. "I haven't thought of it that way. The young guys that are in camp, they're here to show us that they belong here and they're ready to stay here. Bottom line. That's just how it is."

And so it begins. The Hakstol era is officially underway at 9:45 a.m. Over the next two to three weeks, we'll find out a lot: how advanced the defensive prospects are; whether Scott Laughton is ready to make the team and be a difference-maker; whether R.J. Umberger is as prepared as he says he is; whether Vinny Lecavalier has anything left in the tank; whether Andrew MacDonald can live up to his contract; what Hakstol's system even looks like, and so on.

There's a clean slate, seemingly, for everyone.

"I've tried to say that all the way along," Hakstol said. "We want to get out and see things on the ice, in real time. That being said, there's some combinations that are likely going to be in place, things that have worked well. So we're not looking for wholesale changes in those areas. That doesn't mean we can't go out and experiment and create different opportunities for people. It's a short amount of time, but we can do a little bit of that, and we will."

Slap shots

The Flyers will have two on-ice sessions today at the Skate Zone in Voorhees, N.J. One begins at 9:45 a.m. and the other at 1 p.m. That schedule will remain for the first three days of camp over the weekend. The sessions are free and open to the public . . . Monday night in Allentown is the team's first of six preseason dates. The second, Tuesday, is the home opener, when the Flyers host the New York Rangers at 7 p.m.