Flyers see no need to rush the blue line
Defensemen at rookie camp might be in line for more seasoning, given the logjam at the position.
EVEN AFTER the Flyers lost Braydon Coburn in last year's season opener to a lower-body injury that kept him out a month, general manager Ron Hextall was content - happy, actually - that defensive prospect Sam Morin hadn't made the big club out of training camp.
Then 19, the 6-7 Morin was sent back to juniors to play in Quebec.
"In the end, there is no doubt in my mind we made the best choice, and it's tempting," Hextall said. "You've got a big guy, and he's kind of the type of player that we need - big guy, he skates well, he's got a good defensive stick, so a lot of good things there. But in the end, we made the right decision."
Within the time Flyers rookies hit the ice for the beginning of rookie camp on Sept. 14 and the end of the preseason on Oct. 2, Hextall will be faced with similar decisions on Morin, Travis Sanheim and others, including first-round pick Ivan Provorov, who many say could be NHL-ready at age 18.
But with the team's current logjam of defensemen - the Flyers have eight on one-way deals - finding room won't be easy. Hextall also isn't in any position where he will rush anyone who might not entirely be ready. The organization has put a strong emphasis on development, one reason Hextall was happy Morin wasn't in Philadelphia when camp ended.
Instead of moving a prospect back-and-forth from the AHL to the NHL, or having one start the year in Philadelphia, playing his allotted nine games and heading back to juniors, Hextall prefers to have players stick in one location for the season.
"In a perfect world, your kids all go either back to juniors or minors, and when they come to this level they are ready to stay at this level for the rest of their career," Hextall said. "That's a perfect world."
But the hockey world is rarely perfect. Injuries happen. Trades and other roster moves happen. There are plenty of situations that would put Hextall's preferences to the test.
At age 20, Morin isn't eligible to go back to juniors, so it's either Lehigh Valley or Philadelphia when camp ends for him. Provorov will get a good look, but unless he really wows Hextall and new coach Dave Hakstol, it will be back to juniors for him. Sanheim is in the same boat. Other defensive prospects Robert Hagg and Shayne Gostisbehere, both over 20, are likely to start the year in the AHL.
Perhaps the numbers game will help make Hextall's decision easy come the end of camp. And his desire not to rush anyone also will be paramount.
"I think whenever you have good young prospects, those are good decisions to make, fun decisions," Hextall said. "Also, I believe in giving your kids the proper time at the proper level to develop. So sometimes we won't rush our kids in for whatever reason. It allows us, if a kid steps up and we think he can make us a better team, we will see what we can do. To me, it's a good problem to have.
"But if we keep a young kid and we make a mistake, we keep a young kid for two months and all of a sudden he really falls off, then it's kind of like that thing where, what do you do? So it's critical in our evaluation to try to figure that out. Is it black and white? No, it's not. It's probably the hardest part of our job is to figure out whether a kid can maintain a high level to help us be a better team for 82 games."
They'll have all of 2 1/2 weeks to figure that out.
Slap shots
The entire 2015-16 training camp will be held in Voorhees, N.J. In the past, the Flyers have gone on team-bonding trips toward the end of camp. "My biggest concern would be getting off to a good start," Ron Hextall said. "That's one thing that we need to do. We felt like we needed to change something like we did last year and the year before" . . . Hextall said the team has reached out to a few veteran free agents regarding camp invites, but he wouldn't disclose any names . . . When asked how much cap space the team had, Hextall said it was $583,000.
