Hakstol likes 'completeness' of Lindblom's game
Asked what he saw in his first extended look at Flyers prospect Oskar Lindblom, whom is expected to grab one of the open forwards positions come September Hakstol said, "Just growth. When you see the completeness of his game. The skill package."
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The Flyers finished off the on-ice portion of their development camp with 3-on-3 competitions Tuesday in front of a sometimes raucous Skate Zone crowd – and one figure who watched mostly unnoticed, at least for awhile, along the glass.
Maybe it was the shorts, or the glasses, but Flyers coach Dave Hakstol blended right in as almost two hours of almost nonstop hockey ended with Linus Hogberg's goal in double-overtime, giving the White team a 2-1 victory — and Hogberg a hat trick for the day in the round-robin event.
Hogberg, 18, is a 6-1 fleet skating defenseman from Sweden selected in the fifth round of the 2016 draft.
Earlier, amid the four-team tournament, Hakstol held a short news conference in which he shared some observations of his third development camp as the Flyers head coach. Some of the highlights:
Asked what he saw in his first extended look at prospect Oskar Lindblom, who is expected to grab one of the open forward positions come September, Hakstol said: "Just growth. When you see the completeness of his game. The skill package. And let's be clear. It's just the skill package. Because we're not in a competitive situation here. Even the 3-on-3 games that's not the competitiveness that training camp will bring. But I like the maturity that I see in his game on the ice in the skill package and the same thing off the ice."
Hakstol noted a difference in defenseman Travis Sanheim from a year ago: "Just the assertiveness that he handles himself with in every phase. And again, I'll reference on and off the ice. That's just maturity as the young man grows and develops. I think if I was going to use one word that I see I terms of development in Travis, it's just his overall assertiveness."
On defenseman Philippe Myers, who is in his second development camp: "Physically you can see the growth in Phil when you see him off-ice. That stature. Again, you just want to see him come in to camp and compete as he did hard as last year and improve on the results."
Olle Lycksall, the Flyers' sixth-round pick in the draft, led all scorers with five goals. Sanheim, who played with the Phantoms last season, and David Kase, a 20-year-old fifth-round pick from 2015, had four each. German Rubtsov, the Flyers first-round pick from 2016, also had a hat trick.
Some other viewing highlights:
Morgan Frost, the Flyers other first round pick (27th overall) from June's draft, is a passing artist. The prettiest might have been a feed through two defenders and onto the stick of Connor Moore, whose hard redirect beat Felix Sandstrom high.
Nicolas Aube-Kubel, who had 18 points in 71 games with the Phantoms last season, blasted a one-timer over Carter Hart's shoulder, bringing oohs from the crowd. Wyatt Kalynuk, one of the last players selected in this year's draft (196th), showed some skill by roofing a shot over Hart in close. Myers scored on a beautiful backhand-forehand move against Matej Tomek, who is heading back to the USHL, hopefully to find his mojo after spending most of last season on the University of North Dakota's bench.
Both Sandstrom and Hart made a slew of saves that also buzzed the crowd. Hart's glove save robbed Kubel on a breakaway, made another impressive pad save on Myers in close. Sandstrom had a nice save on undrafted invitee Ivan Kosorenkov, who earlier had blazed a one-timer over the Swede's shoulder. Note: He should be signed — in case the Flyers hadn't thought of that already.