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Flyers TV broadcasts will be different starting in 6 days when the season begins. Three members of the broadcast team are 'out' of the NBC presentations. This includes this afternoon's announcement via twitter from Bill Meltzer of the sudden retirement of Bill Clement, outstanding Flyers game color commentator. No announcement from NBC or the Flyers club. Strange. And suddenly, only 6 days before season start! Bill Clement will be missed. Flyers: Katie Emmer out at NBC Sports Philadelphia after one year The Flyers broadcasting team has taken yet another hit as the network continues to lay off personnel amid the coronavirus pandemic. After just one full season serving as the Flyers analyst and pre-game and post-game host, Katie Emmer will not be returning to the broadcasting team next season. The news comes just months after the network laid off Chris Therien citing the on-going pandemic. NBC Sports Philadelphia continues to reshape the on-air Flyers broadcasting team, making several reported changes. In the absence of Emmer and Therien, executives at NBC Sports Philadelphia will reportedly move Taryn Hatcher and Scott Hartnell to pre and post game show duties. The news was expected considering the network had planned to move forward from sideline reporters.

And, continuing to think about the opening 2 games vs Pittsburgh in 6 days - - I know it won't happen, but I want Sam Morin in these 2 opening games vs Pittsburgh and the dirty, cheap-shot, Malkin. Here is one of the incidents from last February: Penguins’ Malkin suspended one game for swinging stick at Flyers’ Raffl The NHL suspended Pittsburgh Penguins star Evgeni Malkin for a high-sticking incident where he swung his stick from “a dangerous height in arc toward” Philadelphia Flyers forward Michael Raffl. Malkin was ejected from the game on Monday, which the Penguins ultimately won 4-1. “I’m not trying to hit his face. … I know it’s dirty, but I missed,” Malkin said, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “He just like dived and the referee give me five minutes. [He wasn’t] injured, not bleeding, nothing.” The league notes Malkin’s history of fines in its explanation, and there’s no denying that Malkin’s lost his cool on the ice quite a few times over the years, particularly if you go beyond the “history” that tends to count as far as supplemental discipline is concerned. (You could probably put together a lowlight reel of his run-ins with the Flyers, alone.) The edge Malkin plays will likely helps him become such a dominant force. When the Russian center gets a full head of steam, he can sometimes seem like a runaway train, and it must be frightening for opponents to try to deal with Malkin at his best. Here in this compilation, Malkin with his stick tries to take Giroux' head off. Some of us have seen this compilation before:

More on Giroux on Jan 7 from the Transscript - Question: In a short camp, you guys are looking to crunch in as much as possible and get people as engaged as possible in the week that you have. Is it helpful to have a guy like Claude Giroux as a leader on the team? He seemed especially engaged today battling with Justin Braun and knocking over Wyatt Wylie over the half boards one time and setting an example for everyone out there. AV: Claude is hungry. I believe he is highly motivated to help this team win. I believe that last year, I believe it even more this year. He has come in here very focused, a lot of energy, a lot of emotion. Obviously, that transpires to the rest of the group. Like today was a physical scrimmage. There was intensity. I thought the pace picked up. It was longer, but it will still in my mind the guys were trying to play the right way and do the right things on the ice. That’s exactly what we talked to them about doing as far as their preparation. The tone will be set by Claude Giroux, by Jake Voracek, by Provy on defense, by all these guys that are Flyers and want to win. That’s what we are trying to do. Opener vs Pittsburgh is only 6 days away. Back-to-back games against the Pens. It will be classic Giroux vs Crosby -

Todays report from Carchidi on Farabee - “The first year gave me a good idea of where I needed to be for my second year,” he [Farabee] said. “I spent a lot of time back at home working out, trying to build a lot of leg muscle and stuff like that. … So I’m definitely feeling strong, feeling good and ready to get going here.” The added weight — Farabee is now at 185 pounds — should help him win more puck battles, which he has done early in training camp. “I have taken notice of his protection skills and his one-on-one battles where he has been involved,” coach Alain Vigneault said. “There’s no doubt that’s going to be beneficial to him. He’s come here extremely prepared. He’s got almost a full year of experience with him starting last year in the minors, getting called up and obviously the stoppage of play. He’s a good young player who’s in his learning curve.” Vigneault said Farabee, a first-round selection in 2018 (14th overall) who starred at Boston University in his one season there, “hasn’t reached his full potential yet, but he’s working real hard. I do think that extra muscle is going to help him moving forward here.”

Maybe a break for our Flyers? The Flyers play the NYI on Jan 30 and Jan 31. MATHEW BARZAL C, NEW YORK ISLANDERS Without specifically mentioning Mathew Barzal, Islanders coach Barry Trotz talked about the importance of participating in training camp. Barzal is a restricted free agent, so he obviously hasn't been part of the Islanders' camp yet. Still, the longer his negotiations drag on, the harder it'll be for Barzal to get up to speed. "If you’re going to start the season, you’ve got to get going right away," Islanders coach Barry Trotz said. "It’s hard if you miss some time here. I don’t know if you can replicate what we’re doing here. It’s tough for anyone to catch up. We’re going to have live bullets, this will be a week from now. There’s not going to be a lot of practices [once the season starts]. You need to be in live action as much as you can." If Barzal ends up missing training camp, then it's entirely possible that he'll end up underperforming this season as a result. SOURCE: Newsday Jan 7, 2021, 11:13 AM ET

Continued Meltzer Report from today (1/7/21) - * Egor Zamula is a long shot to make the NHL roster given his tender age and need to gain some pro experience. Nonetheless, the fact that he was assigned to the NHL roster dominated Group A practice on Day 3 and was paired with Myers in Group B on Tuesday speaks volumes about how high the organization is on his upside. Zamula's camp has been similar to the previous ones in which he's participated, including the pre-Bubble camp in July (which earned him a trip to Toronto with the team to play in the exhibition game win against Pittsburgh and a Black Aces spot thereafter). He is very smooth and poised for such a young defenseman. He is mobile and gets the puck to the forwards effectively with accurate first passes. The young Russian defenseman still needs to get stronger physically (he remains rail-thin although perhaps he added a couple pounds). Like most young puck-movers, he isn't immune from the odd mistake with the puck; hanging on a little too long or getting an outlet try picked off. Overall, though, Zamula is clearly a bonafide NHL prospect and he's getting a long look with guys who will be on the NHL roster. IMO, he will get some time with the Flyers this season as a member of the Taxi Squad and perhaps later as a call-up from the Phantoms. Zamula will be a regular on the Flyers 6-man defence next season: 2021-22 Season Provorov - Gustafsson (strategically re-signed as a UFA after the Expansion Draft) Sanheim - Myers (RH) Hagg - Zamula (or Zamula - Friedman (RH)) #7 - Hagg or Braun (Hagg may be taken by the Kraken in Expansion Draft) - Ghost traded soon, before getting too close the July Expansion Draft.

More from Meltzer's report today as he highlights Giroux - - the Captain is wound-up for this season. Players and media have taken note of his intensity and drive. We sense a coming great season from Giroux. * The competitiveness and physicality of the Day 2 scrimmage was higher than the first day, and Day 3 was significantly higher than Day 2. If you had to cite one particular player who drove the competitiveness higher, it would be Claude Giroux. The Flyers' captain, apart from making things happen with the puck, also was chirping, slashing and generally getting under the skin of Team Black's players.

Continued optimism - Meltzer's report today (he observes at Camp every day) - Following are some notes through the first three days of on-ice work: * Nolan Patrick has looked outstanding in camp so far; confident with the puck, physically engaged, making plays. Sooner or later, we were going to get the first test where he got hit. Yesterday, it came about in accidental way and from the last player you'd want to see collide heavily with Patrick: Samuel Morin. Thankfully, Patrick got back up and, after collecting himself for a bit at the end of the bench, he got ready for his next shift and was fine thereafter. It would have been a nervous moment had it been any player, because the gargantuan Morin accidentally freight-trained his own scrimmage teammate on an attempted bodycheck, but no harm was done. Patrick has yet to score a goal in the scrimmages, but that's meaningless right now. He's right in the thick of the play and making things happen with his skill and size. If he carries that into the season and stays healthy, he'll be just fine. Patrick scored a snazzy "reverse Forsberg" goal in Wednesday's shootout. Nolan Patrick skill Level - - Cool Goal

FLYERS’ CLAUDE GIROUX ENTERS TRAINING CAMP WITH A CHIP ON HIS SHOULDER FROM LAST SEASON “He’s a great leader. He’s a big presence in the room. Just to see him bring his work ethic every practice and every game, it’s something that you want to learn from and you want to bring that yourself when you see a guy like that bring it every day. It brings the energy up. It makes you want to work that much harder. He’s a great guy and a great guy to have in the room. I’m glad he’s on my team. Just the way that he brings it. He brings it every day. Just to see a guy like that bring it every day motivates the boys to push yourself that much harder. He’s a big presence in the room. He’s been here a long time and has a lot of experience. He’s a great leader. I can’t say enough good things about Claude Giroux. He’s the captain of our team and I’m glad that he’s with us.”– Philippe Myers

Agree. And Captain G, in this Camp, is reportedly in great shape, very enthusiastic, embarrased by the bubble playoffs, and highly motivated. The younger players have been quoted as being very impressed with Giroux.

Good post. However, I'm much more optimistic as I see things. I've watched this club for 54 seasons including 35 seasons as a STH. That doesn't make me any more qualified than any of us here. There are many sharp dudes here. Watching the surge at the latter part of last season, the short 13-game (small sample size) playoffs, and the improvements shown and expected - The optimistic view is: 1) the addition of Lindblom and Patrick. This is not to be minimized. It's significant. 2) Improvement/growth from last season - 8 young players already on roster who are far from their peak - this is a great point not to be overlooked - Fletcher said he and his staff had counted "eight players on the NHL roster that haven't come close to hitting their peak and to having their career seasons." "That's the exciting thing," Fletcher said. "That's our growth." Hmm - 8 roster players: 1) Myers 2) Sanheim 3) Farabee 4) Konecny 5) Lindblom 6) Patrick (health permitting) 7) Aube-Kubel 8] Hart 3) This team will score goals. Our Flyers last season were 7th in the 31-team NHL in 'goals scored'. They played 1 and 2 games less than the two teams ahead of them, and could easily have been 5th in the League. As Fletcher said, don't be fooled by the 13 game small sample size of the bubble playoffs. 4) Infusion of youth - an open 3RW spot - - Fletcher said: “We’re comfortable with our group. We like our team. We already have a lot of players signed and a lot of kids who we feel can push for ice time and an opportunity. - Sandin, Allison, Laczynski - - one could make it - Question: Do you foresee any of your older first-year pros coming in this season -- Linus Sandin, Wade Allison, and Tanner Laczynski specifically -- to compete for a NHL job this upcoming season? All three are physically mature and 23- or 24-years old. [AGM] Brent Flahr: First of all, Laczynski and Allison like you said, and Sandin, they’re older players. They’re physically more mature than typically players that are coming out of junior that are 19, 20 years old. Their mindset coming to camp is to make the team. - - - In reality I would say, I would assume that each of them are going to play games this year. Hopefully one of them grabs it and makes the best of their opportunity. 5) Goaltender Carter Hart, age 22, taking the next step: Asked if he had set any personal goals, Hart said he wants to “be the best I can be. I want to be able to give our team a chance to win every night. I don’t want to just be another NHL player; I want to be the best and I want to be the best NHL goaltender. That is something that I strive for every day. Optimism. IMO, this is a very, very, good team - - a SC contender. ZZ

Optimism Camp Day 3 - Jordan Hall: Just like old times Speaking of rekindling past chemistry, Vigneault put Oskar Lindblom, Sean Couturier and Travis Konecny together on Wednesday. Remember how good that trio was right out of the chute last season? Lindblom, Couturier and Konecny made up the Flyers' best line — and it wasn't even close — through the first six weeks of 2019-20. They had to be broken up because Vigneault wanted to spark others and create greater balance in his lines. In the 50-minute scrimmage Wednesday, Lindblom beat Carter Hart on a nasty shot from a side angle. He was active and around the net, creating opportunities. "No doubt that having Oskar back with our group is not just comforting for me, it's comforting for all his teammates and I’m sure it's very comforting for Oskar," Vigneault said. "Today was the first time really that I put guys back together that have sort of played a little bit together in the past. When Oskar stopped playing, he was playing with Coots and T.K. I wanted to see that today and wasn’t disappointed."

Flyers defenceman Cam York For those who may not have watched the GOLD Medal game, here is a tweet with video clip: (do double 'full screen') 2022-23 Season Provorov - Gustafsson (strategically re-signed after Expansion Draft) Sanheim - Myers (RH) York - Zamula #7 - Hagg or Friedman (RH) Dynamic 6-man defence.

We can set our calendars - - Sunday's Flyers intra-squad game will be televised on NBCS-P at 7 PM ET for those who can get it. Jan 10.

I'm a believer. This is a very, very, good team. Anyone else a believer?

Another blurb from Charlie O - - - - as we all are pulling for Sam Morin - Samuel Morin mentor with the most successful NHL career: Daniel Brière Morin has been taking advice from quite a few different voices as he attempts to make the transition from defense to left wing. But only one of them has nearly 1,000 NHL games and 700 points to his credit: former fan-favorite Danny Brière, who has dropped by to give Morin a few pointers, likely gained from having the complete opposite body type as Morin. “Danny B is great, such a good person,” Morin said. “The advice he gave me was … well, this morning, I was watching my game yesterday on tape (with him) and when you’re a big guy, people notice you, right? So, they notice if you’re not moving your feet, so it’s really important for me to always move my feet and stay in movement.” Morin has numerous other mentors: assistant coach Ian Laperriere, for one; Matt Martin, as more of a silent, watching-from-afar mentor via tape study; even Morin’s forward teammates such as Scott Laughton, Konecny and Bunnaman, who have tried to give him tips on the finer points of the position. But Morin remains, as Vigneault acknowledged after practice Tuesday, very much a “work-in-progress.”

Flyers Defencemen Depth Chart Provorov Sanheim Myers (RH) Gustafsson Hagg Braun (RH) Gostisbehere Friedman (RH) Zamula York Wylie (RH) Hogberg Andrae Attard (RH) Millman Ginning St. Ivany (RH) Vasilyev

World JR Championship Our Flyers York and Brink win the GOLD Medal with Team USA over Team Canada 2-0. Both players were significant contributors. Awesome game.

BLAST Charlie O'Connor wrote this morning - Best intentional hit: Philippe Myers on Carsen Twarynski Couturier-on-Konecny was accidental, but Philippe Myers blasting Carsen Twarynski into the boards certainly wasn’t. Early in a shift, the two got tangled up along the boards, with Twarynski ultimately dragging Myers down to the ice with him. Myers must not have liked that very much; seconds later, with Twarynski chasing down a dump-in, Myers lined him up and unceremoniously crushed him just as Twarynski was about to reach the puck, sending him sprawling to the ice and into the boards. Never say Myers doesn’t have a mean streak. Vigneault didn’t merely notice the increased physicality of Day 2; he encouraged it. “It’s one thing that we talked to our team this morning prior to our video meeting and our pre-ice,” he said. “(The) best way to prepare ourselves is when you’re doing a drill or you’re scrimmaging right now, if you have an opportunity to finish your check, finish your check. It’s good for you and it’s also good for your teammate.”

This whole discussion about Hospodar was before the Saturday Photo Contest started because someone thought the advertisement shadow image was the contest. So, we played along with guessing Flyers' enforcers names. The last Saturday Photo Contest was a good one, a fun one, as you can see in this thread during Saturday.

@BobbyClarkeFan16 Some interesting thinking BCF16 regarding Frost. Frost is gong to be a high quality player in the NHL as he matures in his game. He has only played Center in JRs and Pro. If Patrick's health holds-up, the Flyers are set at Center for the top-9 for years: Couturier Hayes Patrick (The 4th line is another whole discussion, not for now.) Frost is locked-out, and the Flyers organization must try to groom him at wing with the Phantoms. Frost is ready for the NHL at Center. PLD plays Center and LW. Proven. If Frost goes in a package to Columbus, PLD can come in and play LW, and he also would be a back-up to play 3C if Patrick has health issues. However, the quote shown in my previous post in this thread: "When the Columbus Blue Jackets exited the 2020 postseason, the roster had an abundance of NHL-caliber defensemen but lacked proven centers. By the time the 2020-21 regular season begins, the team will have a decidedly different look. With the trades of long-time Blue Jacket Ryan Murray and his occasional D partner Markus Nutivaara, the blue line got thinner. Signing centers Max Domi and Mikko Koivu substantially improved the roster down the middle. The Blue Jackets could use a scoring winger…but who? " Frost may, or may not, be very interested in Frost. GM Kekalainen may be looking for a quality proven defenceman or winger, unless one of his centers can play equally well at wing and move there to make room for Frost. Getting a proven quality defenceman may be key for Kekalainen. The Flyers don't have that to give up. If Kekalainen was willing to take Frost and one of Ghost/Hagg/Friedman, that would be good for our Flyers IMO. It's harder, and more important to NHL GMs, to build a quality 6-man defence. For our Flyers, Zamula is 'next up' in the high value prospect stream: Egor Zamula Cameron York Wyatte Wylie Linus Hogberg Emil Andrae Ronald Attard Mason Millman Adam Ginning John St. Ivany Valeri Vasilyev This assumes Friedman is already considered NHL experienced. The 6'-4" high skill Zamula is going to be a good one. Fletcher/Flahr are very high on him. IMO, he would not be offered in a package for PLD, rightfully so. In a few seasons, our Flyers may have one of the best mobile 3-zone quality defence groups in the NHL. We may be looking at something like this: 2020-21 Season Provorov - Gustafsson Sanheim - Myers (RH) (don't break them up) Hagg - Braun (RH) #7 - Friedman (RH) Ghost - traded 2021-22 Season Provorov - Gustafsson (re-signed as a UFA) Sanheim - Myers (RH) Hagg - Zamula or Zamula - Friedman (RH) #7 - Hagg or Braun (Hagg may be taken by the Kraken in Expansion Draft) 2022-23 Season Provorov - Gustafsson Sanheim - Myers (RH) York - Zamula #7 - Hagg or Friedman (RH) Dynamic 6-man defence. Ooops, the Team USA / Team Canada Gold Medal game is starting - - - gotta go - - - Nice play by our Flyers' York already - - - of course all of us are pulling for Team USA, including our guys in Manitoba, Ontario, BC, etc - - Back with a continuation edit (Team USA leads 1-0 after the first period) - So, BCF16, for PLD, I agree with you to include Frost, but not Zamula in the package.

Good stuff y1964. Informative. Thx.

@SCFlyguy I respect your opinions. You posted in this thread multiple times reacting to those with opinions on who they would trade for C/LW PLD. In this rare occasion, where a high-quality young player is seemingly available, would you like to see PLD with the Flyers? As a good Flyers fan, and if you were to put on your Flyers GM hat, what would you offer to try to influence Kekalainen to trade with you? (It's okay to put yourself out there with a positive post and accept feedback from others. We are all respectful and responsible posters.)