Flyers open camp to a quicker pace

New Flyers coach Dave Hakstol's first day of training camp had a much higher pace and intensity level than a year ago.

Welcome to Camp Agony.

"It was tough overall - the skating, the battling, the two-on-twos, three-on-threes," right winger Jake Voracek said after camp opened in Voorhees on Friday. "I think that's the game situations that you have every game. It's a positive note that we jumped into it this early. Now we just have to keep it going."

Some players were hunched over, trying to regain their breath after drills.

Captain Claude Giroux was one of them. "A couple of drills were kind of hard, but the hard work is being done now so we won't have to work as hard during games," he said.

Hakstol said the practice had "the pace level we want. We don't have a lot of time. It's real important to get as...much as we can in during these first three days when we have time to do that."

The Flyers have split-squad exhibitions Monday in Allentown and Brooklyn, both against the Islanders.

Rugged defenseman Radko Gudas said he is 100 percent after missing most of last season because of knee surgery. Acquired from Tampa Bay as part of the Braydon Coburn deal, he never played a game with the Flyers.

"It was my first practice in pretty much nine months, and I'm excited for it to continue," said Gudas, who was with Andrew MacDonald on what appeared to be the third pairing.

The other pairings: Nick Schultz and Mark Streit; Michael Del Zotto and Evgeni Medvedev; and Luke Schenn and Brandon Manning.

The Flyers have eight defensemen on one-way deals, and promising rookies such as Ivan Provorov, Sam Morin, Shayne Gostisbehere, Travis Sanheim, and Robert Hagg.

One of the lines was the same as the end of last season: Giroux centering Michael Raffl and Voracek.

The other lines, which Hakstol said were a work in progress: Sean Couturier centering Matt Read and Wayne Simmonds; Vinny Lecacalier centering R.J. Umberger and Sam Gagner; Pierre-Edouard Bellemare centering Chris VandeVelde and Ryan White; and Scott Laughton centering Chris Porter and Brayden Schenn.

Porter, 31, a free-agent left winger who was with St. Louis last season, played for Hakstol at the University of North Dakota.

Flyers broadcaster Chris Therien lost 82 pounds over the summer, and he credited the elimination of sugary drinks, exercise and weight-reducing pills. The former Flyers defenseman said he now weighs 236 pounds _ 15 under his playing weight. . ..Camp resumes Saturday with sessions at 9:45 a.m. (rookies) and 1 p.m. (veterans).