The Flyers' future: Strong farm system gives them hope
They missed the playoffs for the third time in five seasons. But their defense could improve next season if Morin, Sanheim, and Hagg emerge.
The Flyers regressed this season while missing the playoffs for the third time in the last five years.
There was, however, a silver lining.
Three rookies - Ivan Provorov, Travis Konecny, and Jordan Weal - made an impact, and the system has several gifted prospects knocking on the NHL door. The hope is that the Flyers took one step back this season but will take two steps forward in 2017-18.
"I know there's a bunch of good players in the pipeline," said second-year defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere, who finished second in the rookie-of-the-year voting last season. "It's great to see the young guys coming up."
One veteran NHL scout said he likes what the Flyers have in the system, "especially the defensemen that are coming through."
The top four are Sam Morin, Travis Sanheim, Robert Hagg, and Phil Myers.
The 6-foot-7, 227-pound Morin, who made an impressive NHL debut Tuesday in New Jersey, is expected to win a spot with the Orange and Black next season.
"He's a big boy with a lot of upside," right winger Jake Voracek said.
Sanheim (6-3, 198) and Hagg (6-2, 201) figure to battle for another spot. Hagg may be closer to being ready, but Sanheim has more all-around potential, scouts say.
"I like Sanheim, but he needs to get a little bit bigger, a little bit stronger," the scout said. "You just have to be patient."
Myers, slowed by injuries this season in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, could make the team with a lights-out training camp.
Some scouts think the 6-foot-5, 202-pound Myers may be the crown jewel of the up-and-coming defensemen, but he is likely two years away from reaching the NHL.
General manager Ron Hextall was asked last week who was closer to helping the Flyers between Sanheim and Hagg.
"I'm not going to go there. It's not fair to the players," he said.
He then added Morin to the mix.
"All three kids are doing very well," He said. "They're different players, all three of them, and they've all come a long ways. I look at Hagger and he's come a long ways. Travis, from October to now, [is] night and day, and Big Sam has continually gotten better in his two years. Those kids, we're thrilled with all three of their development."
Hextall has been patient with Morin. Of the 30 first-round picks in the 2013 draft, Morin was the 29th player to reach the NHL when he made his debut last week. He would give the Flyers some much-needed physicality next season and someone who would keep the crease clear for his goaltender.
It's not far-fetched to imagine four rookies being regulars with the Flyers next season: Morin, Hagg or Sanheim, left winger Oskar Lindblom, and center Mike Vecchione.
If they do, here is how the Flyers' lineup might look in 2017-18:
Claude Giroux centering Travis Konecny and Jake Voracek.
Valtteri Filppula centering Weal and Wayne Simmonds.
Sean Couturier centering Lindblom and Brayden Schenn.
Vecchione centering Dale Weise and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare.
Players expected to battle for a roster spot: Michael Raffl, who began this season as the top-line left winger but struggled and then suffered a knee injury; Nick Cousins; Matt Read; Taylor Leier; and Scott Laughton. (The expansion draft for the new Las Vegas team could affect this group.)
Defense: Provorov and Andrew MacDonald; Radko Gudas and Sanheim or Hagg; Gostisbehere and Morin.
Goalies: Michal Neuvirth and Anthony Stolarz.
The list, of course, could be altered by trades and free agency. It might also be altered if Vegas trades for Neuvirth or chooses him in the expansion draft if he is left unprotected.
The above roster includes seven players (eight if Leier makes the team) who will be either first- or second-year players.
"We're not getting any younger," Voracek, who turns 28 this summer, said about the team's veteran core, "so you have to be excited about the other guys getting ready to jump in."
Provorov, who turned 20 during the season, looks like a future all-star. As a rookie, he was named the winner of the Barry Ashbee Trophy given to the team's top defenseman. Gostisbehere won it as a rookie in 2015-16.
"Provy has a lot of skill. He came in at 19 and showed he was ready. Not many people can come in at that age and make such an impact," Voracek said. "And T.K. [Konecny] has a lot of skill. There's still a lot of things he needs to work on, but he's a talented player and he works hard on and off the ice."
Weal, who will turn 25 Saturday, has been one of the team's most pleasant surprises, supplying some much-needed offense - and creativity - since being recalled from the Phantoms. He plays bigger than his size (5-10, 179) and isn't leery about crashing the net.
"He's very shifty and quick on the ice," Voracek said. "I think all our young kids took advantage of the opportunities, so it's a positive for next year."
Lindblom, 20, will be among the rookies trying to turn heads in training camp. His development this season has been eye-opening. Selected in the fifth round of the 2014 draft. Lindblom was among the scoring leaders in Sweden's top league, composed primarily of much older players.
"He's taken his game to the next level," Hextall said recently.
A strong two-way player, the 6-foot-1, 192-pound Lindblom did well in a short stint with the AHL's Phantoms last season, collecting seven points in eight games. It was a small sample, but it seemed to show Lindblom will make a smooth transition to the smaller rinks in North America.
Lindblom is part of a pipeline that third-year general manager Hextall and player personnel director Chris Pryor have transformed into one of the best in hockey.
The Flyers' once-weak farm system is ranked sixth among the 30 NHL teams by ESPN.
It is a system deep in promising defensemen and gifted goaltending prospects, thanks to Stolarz, Alex Lyon, Carter Hart, Felix Sandstrom, and Merrick Madsen, all of whom hope to be the next (ahem) Sergei Bobrovsky.
But the Flyers lack an abundance of blue-chip forwards in their farm system. That's why they picked seven forwards out of their 10 selections in last year's draft, hoping to build some offensive depth in the system.
Their top pick last year, center German Rubtsov, played extremely well after leaving Russia's KHL and joining Chicoutimi this season in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, where he had nine goals and 22 points in 16 games before his season ended because of a broken hand.
Still, Rubtsov, who is at least two years away from reaching the NHL, has lots of upside. Ditto Connor Bunnaman, a sturdy 6-3, 214-pound center who can also play wing. Drafted by the Flyers in the fourth round last season, he has made major strides, scoring 37 goals (21 more than last year) for Kitchener in the Ontario Hockey League.
The prospects are making progress. The retooling of the big-league team is slowly taking shape. Patience is required.
@BroadStBull