Flyers roster battles: Where Jack Nesbitt and Rodrigo Ābols stand after the first preseason game

ELMONT, N.Y. — Rick Tocchet said earlier in the day that, while it’s nice to win, the focus of the lid-lifter for the preseason on Sunday was that he wanted to see his players try things.

The new Flyers bench boss and his staff — working together for the first time themselves — expected to see the 18 skaters try things off the rush, be creative, and show that they are starting to grasp the concepts and systems. It wasn’t the cleanest game, and the odd-man rushes that plagued the team last year popped up, but steps forward were taken.

And, after 12 rounds of shootout action, the Flyers opened their preseason slate with a 3-2 comeback win over the Islanders. But, as Tocchet said, the game wasn’t about a win. Jamie Drysdale impressed with his skating and mobility, and Trevor Zegras played a good 200-foot game — he broke up a Mathew Barzal chance in overtime and then almost scored on a breakaway — but roster battles are all the talk.

Here is a look at three guys fighting for a roster spot.

When asked during rookie camp who, aside from Alex Bump and Nikita Grebenkin, could make a push at the main camp, the Flyers’ director of player development, Riley Armstrong, answered: Nesbitt. Selected 12th overall in June, the 18-year-old was impressive in the rookie series against the New York Rangers with his poise, puck play, high hockey IQ, and physicality. He’s carried that into the Flyers camp.

In his first taste of action against another team — and several veteran NHLers — Nesbitt said he knew what to expect with a stronger and faster opponent, but he still needed to get used to it. Watching the young center play across 16 minutes, 5 seconds, which included time on the power play, penalty kill, and in overtime, you wouldn’t have thought he looked out of place.

“In the [Ontario Hockey League] I always come prepared, just to have the energy on the bench, knowing what I do when I get the puck, stuff like that, having a good hockey IQ on the ice,” said Nesbitt, who plays for Windsor. “I just bring the same stuff here and just go out there, play my game, do the best I can.”

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Less than three minutes in, while centering a line with Rodrigo Ābols and Samu Tuomaala, he intercepted a pass by Matthew Schaefer, the No. 1 pick of his draft, in the neutral zone. Nesbitt carried the puck into the offensive zone before dishing to Ābols on the left wing, with the Latvian burying it past goalie David Rittich.

“You can see that he’s a smart player, and for me as a winger, it’s really easy to play because he’s in the right spots,” Ābols said.

Nesbitt made several nice plays, including laying a hit on Matthew Highmore in the third period that allowed the Flyers to break up the Islanders’ pressure, and later used his height to knock down a clearing attempt at the blue line before making a sweeping on-the-tape pass as he was falling to Tuomaala for a shot on goal.

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Nesbitt does a good job of closing out lanes, was spotted several times directing traffic either on faceoffs or in the defensive zone, and has an active stick on the penalty kill. But there are, of course, areas for improvement.

Schaefer went around him before putting the puck on net, and Kyle Palmieri pounced on the rebound to make it 1-1. Nesbitt was thrown out of the faceoff circle several times, and he misread a breakout play, allowing New York to keep Philly pinned with Aleksei Kolosov needing to make a big blocker save.

Nesbitt went to the bench, and assistant coach Jaroslav “Yogi” Svejkovský went over things with him in between the young center getting encouraging taps from his teammates.

“He asks a lot of questions; that’s another thing I love about him — he’s a coachable kid,” Tocchet said. “Listen, you know, he’s a young kid, but he’s got the framework to be a prototypical big centerman that can play both ends of the rink, can make a play, can score. So, the sky’s the limit for him.”

Compared to the rest of the defensive corps from last season, Zamula’s position as a top-six blueliner doesn’t feel as solidified.

Last season, he played in 63 games and had 15 points and a plus-minus of minus-14. One of the criticisms last season by then-coach John Tortorella was the pace of play.

“He likes to slow the game down, I was told,” Tocchet said. “I thought tonight, his patience; he’s got really good patience. He’s got the long stick, he can defend. We’ve just got to keep working with him playing a faster style of play, and we’ll continue to chip away at that.”

Skating with Drysdale, Zamula was a good partner for the fleet-of-foot defenseman. The Russian was often directing traffic in the defensive zone and made important plays, including breaking up a pass meant for Marshall Warren as Kolosov slid across the crease.

Like his teammates, there were a few miscues as he shook off the rust — he was one of several players who lost Palmieri on his goal — but he was on the ice for the two Flyers goals.

Zamula played a game-high 25:29, and, according to Natural Stat Trick, blocked five shots on goal, with his partner blocking six. He played more than 20 minutes only five times last season.

It was a big offseason for the 25-year-old, who changed his summer regimen, “focusing on food first of all, and my program was more like conditioning-wise and power.”

As he said, “If you want to be in the best league in the world, you need to work your [butt] off every year, every summer, and every game.”

One of the biggest question marks is how the Flyers’ bottom six will shake out. A big, versatile forward, the 6-4, 206-pound Ābols put his name into the conversation on Sunday.

“He had a really good first [period]. … But, for a kid like him, he’s a big kid that can skate, and he is a system guy,” said Tocchet, hinting that the Latvian was maybe one of the players who slowed down a little as the game wore on after a three-hour bus ride from Philly on Day 4 of camp.

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“There’s something there. I like him, and now he’s got to find consistency in his game. I don’t know a lot about him, but I really loved his first period.”

Ābols played in 22 games last season for the Flyers, collecting five points, as he moved through the lineup. He knows how to use his body to protect the puck and create space.

He already has been named to Latvia’s Olympic team. His versatility to play wing or center came in handy, as he started on Nesbitt’s wing but also played center when Lane Pederson did not return to the game with an upper-body injury, after taking a hard hit late in the first.

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Across the game, he played 13:54, registered two shots on goal, and won 57.1% of his faceoffs. Facing former Lehigh Valley Phantoms goalie Parker Gahagen, Ābols scored in the 10th round of the shootout after Islanders forward Luca Romano put them ahead.

Did he feel like the game put him in a good spot?

“That’s more a question to the coaches. Obviously, the goal was nice; kind of a small reward for the work you’ve put in in the summer, kind of build confidence on,” he said. “But I think for my sake, I was just trying to be more consistent, I think not too high, not too low in my shifts. Thought that did a good job with that, OK.”