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It's now up to the NHLPA to vote and ratify the agreement. Should the agreement go into effect, hockey fans can expect to see the puck dropped on the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs on Saturday, August 1st. Training camps (Phase 3) will officially open a week today on Monday, July 13th. Players will travel to the NHL's two hub cities (Edmonton in the Western Conference, Toronto in the Eastern Conference) on July 26th in preparation for puck drop on August 1st. The hope then is that the Stanley Cup Playoffs will conclude with a new champion sometime before October, 2020. No word yet on the opening of the 2020-21 season, but I think it's probably safe to say that the NHL will push things into 2021 and utilize a condensed schedule in an attempt to wrap things up in June 2021. Hopefully come the 2021-22 season there will be some sense of normalcy when it comes to the NHL's schedule. In any case, the NHL looks to be officially back. At the very least it's nice to pencil in some important dates on the calendar.

Party Time......

· Happy Rick DiPietro day! The former Isles goalie and #1 pick gets a cool $1.5 million today and every July 1st for the next 8 years as part of his insane 15 year contract buyout

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In effect, the Pegulas cleaned house. Now there's a belief that Sabres superstar captain Jack Eichel might be at the center of things. Check out these comments from NHL insider Elliotte Friedman on his latest 31 Thoughts podcast:

By Jordan Hall June 07, 2020 5:15 PM FLYERS PROSPECTS One of the top D-men in CHL? This prospect could be Flyers' biggest sleeper Flyers' best college prospect? Excitement building around ascension of Cates A coach with a Stanley Cup ring sees an NHL power forward nearing the Flyers An 'elite' quality makes for a smart bet on this Flyers prospect From verbal battles to swagger, opponent's look at Flyers' resurgent 1st-rounder One of Flyers' top prospects can help and torture goalies 'Elite offensive defenseman' getting closer to Flyers Flyers prospect who does what 'not many players can' shifts focus to pro level Mason Millman was the third defenseman taken by the Flyers in the 2019 NHL draft. The first was Cam York, the 14th overall selection who had scored 65 points, a U.S. national team development program single-season record for a blueliner. The second was Ronnie Attard, a 6-foot-4, 210-pounder coming off a 30-goal season in the USHL (yes, 30 goals as a defenseman). Naturally, for fans and followers, Millman sort of became the tailpiece of the class. He didn't come to the Flyers with juicy statistics. Fittingly, Millman was an upside pick, just like in his OHL draft. The Saginaw Spirit are seeing the beauty of identifying potential and watching it fruit into a player. The Flyers could enjoy the same story with Millman, who is starting to look like one of the club's biggest sleepers in its entire prospect system. "The way that they draft now and the way the game is going, they’re very smart in their selections," Saginaw general manager Dave Drinkill said about the Flyers in an April phone interview with NBC Sports Philadelphia, "and drafting a guy like Mason is going to make them look very smart.” Possibly even smarter after the 2020-21 OHL season. That's when Millman will have the chance to really raise the bar. “We expect him, and I think he expects himself, to be one of the top defensemen in the league, and I don’t mean that in a cocky way," Drinkill said. "He’s not a cocky individual at all, he’s just very confident in his ability, and the opportunity he’s going to get with us and the amount his game has grown, it’s going to continue to grow. We expect him to take a huge role and be one of the top D in the league, and that means offensively and in the two-way style of playing against other teams’ top players. I really believe he can be one of the best defensemen in the OHL, if not the CHL. "We’re not biased toward him, I think other teams around our league look at him as one of the top D-men in our league and his age group, as well, so that’s very unanimous around the league that they feel that way about Mason.” The Spirit took Millman in the seventh round of the 15-round 2017 OHL draft. At the junior hockey level, projection is paramount in the evaluation of draft prospects. Drinkill watched Millman play for the London Jr. Knights midget AAA program. He watched a 15-year-old at the early stages of development with underlying upside. "What we saw in Mason was a very raw, slender, smooth-skating defenseman who we thought had a lot of offensive potential and a lot of potential in his game in general," Drinkill said. "We thought if we could get him in the right spot in the draft, get him into our system and develop him properly, there was big upside. "I always like to draft players — I tell my scouts this, as well — to look for players with high ceilings. Sometimes at the minor midget level, when you’re drafting players to the OHL, the players that pop out at you, the most dynamic ones are guys that are more physically mature than others ones, or have already kind of met their potential at a young age. For us, we have to look past that and find players that have a lot more room for growth, and Mason had a ton of that and it’s all definitely worked out that way.” luke_durda_ohl_images_mason_millman_flyers_prospect.jpg (Luke Durda/OHL Images) Millman, who turns 19 years old in July, is a long, 6-foot-1, 180-pound blueliner that glides up the ice and is turning into a problem for OHL opponents. Alain Vigneault and the Flyers love them some skilled puck movers with size. Millman is of that ilk, a "prototypical new-age defenseman," as Drinkill called him. Just about three weeks into the 2019-20 campaign, Millman had a minus-12 rating. When the season was all said and done, Millman was a plus-31 (fifth best among OHL defensemen) with 44 points (13 goals, 31 assists) in 58 games for the 41-16-5 Spirit. "So he definitely turned his game completely around," Drinkill said. "He provided a lot of offense for us, but he’s also a really good penalty killer, he’s got a great stick, he’s really learned to battle and be smart on the ice about winning battles, puck position and then when to have possession and when to move it. He’s just becoming an all-around leader and a great, great player for our organization. “I think his confidence grew, he took a greater role with us. He’s just such a great kid and a great person, as well." See OntarioHockeyLeague's other Tweets When the Flyers drafted Millman last summer, he was coming off a 25-point season in 66 games with Saginaw. "A defenseman two of our Ontario guys felt strongly about, that he has upside," Flyers assistant general manager Brent Flahr said then. Drinkill knows Millman is still growing. "I think when he adds strength, the rest of it will continue to come and grow in his game," he said. "You do find that sometimes kids put on too much weight at one time and it kind of hurts the rest of their game. With Mase, he kind of gradually got stronger, he’s becoming more of a man even looking at him, his face is kind of becoming more mature and so is his body, as well, it’s making his shot better, his passes are crisper and harder, he’s starting to get that hockey player build with a strong core and legs. "You can see the big jump he made from last year to this year. I’m looking forward to seeing him come back into camp next year being a 19-year-old in our league, being one of the older players on our team now and kind of in a leadership role, but also being depended on to play 24, 25 minutes a night and in every situation. Obviously we’re going to rely on him heavily for offense from the back end, but his skating ability allows him to be on the ice against other teams’ elite players, elite talent to try to shut them down in a shutdown role, as well." The more you can do on the back end, the better. Millman's style of play is trending in the direction of how the NHL game is trending. "You’ve got to be able to skate and you’ve got to be able to make plays," Drinkill said. "He never wants to dump the puck out or chip the puck off the glass when there’s another option to be made. In fairness to him, he always takes the other option, whether it’s a smart play or regroup or hitting a guy to the middle or a chip to an area is the worst-case scenario. "He’s not that old-school defenseman that just wants to get the puck out and make the safe play. He makes the smart play and that’s the way the game is going. I think Philadelphia saw that and I think they’re going to be very impressed as they get him into their pro system and continue to work with him. "I think they’ve got a good one." Not bad for their fourth-round pick and third defenseman in the 2019 draft. luke_durda_ohl_images_mason_millman.jpg (Luke Durda/OHL Images)

2020 NHL draft profile: Why Jan Mysak is so intriguing By Jordan Hall June 03, 2020 4:10 PM 2020 NHL DRAFT PROFILES Possible sleeper in draft fits Flyers' mold Remind you of anyone? Winger with shot, 'unique size' will be there for Flyers Finnish center already playing against pros could interest Flyers in draft Could Flyers go the USNTDP route again with this skilled, slick center? A winger who has 'lots of juice and generates offense' should attract Flyers Prospect who relishes physicality could be an option for Flyers in draft 'A gamer' with impressive vision at center would make sense for Flyers Keep an eye on a center with 200-foot bite and Flyers in the family The entire picture for the 2020 NHL draft remains cloudy with the ongoing suspension of the 2019-20 regular season because of the coronavirus outbreak. Where will the Flyers be picking? When and how will the draft be held? Those questions are currently unanswered. The Flyers hold seven total selections and, as of right now, are slotted with the 26th overall pick. “I think it’s a decent draft — I don’t know if it’s top end," Flyers assistant general manager Brent Flahr said April 25 in a phone interview with NBC Sports Philadelphia. "The top 10, 12 guys look like pretty high end. There’s a bit of a drop-off, but there’s some depth to the draft for a couple of rounds. We don’t know totally where we’re picking, but we have an idea. We have some guys targeted we feel we would be very happy with in the top couple of rounds and then we still have some work to do to clean up the mid-to-later-round picks. "Obviously you’d want the big, scoring, playmaking center, anybody does. We’re in a position where we’ll likely be taking the best player available. "Realistically the players you draft now are two or three years down the road, best-case scenario. Some cases you get surprised. But by then, your team needs are different. We’ll do the best we can, we have an idea of where our holes are going forward and places where we certainly want to add depth to, whether it’s center or scoring winger or defense, we’ll see what happens. We’ll prepare, we weigh guys against each other, the pros and cons and we’ll do the best we can there.” This month, we'll continue to break down options for the Flyers at No. 26. Jan Mysak Position: Center/winger Height: 5-foot-10 Weight: 175 Shoots: Left Team: Hamilton Bulldogs Scouting report There is a ton of intrigue to Mysak, an underager with innate scoring ability and a precocious hockey IQ. After scoring nine points (five goals, four assists) through 26 games playing against grown men for the Czech Extraliga's HC Litvinov, the 17-year-old transitioned to the OHL and punctuated his draft year. Mysak took off with Hamilton, delivering a pair of hat tricks and 25 points (15 goals, 10 assists) in 22 games. The Czech Republic native played a much bigger role at the junior level, especially with the Bulldogs losing center Jan Jenik to a season-ending injury in December. Mysak understands the art of scoring. He might not be the flashiest or smoothest, but he's strong, quick and knows how to dissect the opposition. He can also play down the middle and on the wing, versatility that attracts NHL teams in the first round. “Anybody that can play center is good," Flahr said about Mysak on May 12. “He had the reputation coming into the year. He played with men the first half, I saw him a number of times over there early. Just like any young player playing with men, he played and worked and did the little things, but wasn’t overly productive, just kind of played safe and played a role. Then midseason, he came over. "The way it worked with Jenik going down to injury, he stepped right in on the top line and produced right off the bat. He played center when I saw him and he’s played wing overseas when I saw him, but real hard-working, honest, two-way game. You can argue whether he’s more of a shooter or a playmaker, but he’s got some rawness. I think coming over was real good for him.” Fit with Flyers The Flyers very well could be eyeing the best center available during the first round after selecting three defensemen, three wingers and a goalie last summer. It's a premium position and every organization is looking for greater depth down the middle. The fact that Mysak can player center and winger is a bonus. So, will he be available for the Flyers? It's difficult to say. He's the NHL Central Scouting's 28th-ranked North American skater and TSN's Craig Button rates him as the 34th-best player in the draft. However, in an excellent film review, The Athletic's Scott Wheeler sees Mysak as one of the top forwards among this class. Some teams might want to see more from Mysak. Some teams might be completely sold. If the Flyers end up picking at No. 26 overall and Mysak is available, he'd be hard to pass up. brandon_taylor_proam_images_jan_mysak.jpg (Brandon Taylor/ProAm Images)

According to a report from the website survivornet.com, an online cancer research and support community, Philadelphia Flyers forward Oskar LIndbolm has completed his treatments for bone cancer. “He feels great, considering the condition he’s in,” said Brett Flahr, Flyers assistant general manager told the Philadelphia Inquirer, “He’s such a great kid and he’s determined. His focus is to play as soon as possible.” “He’s doing things like cardio [workouts] to keep up his strength as much as he can. I think as soon as he gets his last treatments, the worst is over for him.” Flahr reported that Lindblom’s doctors have told the young forward “it couldn’t have gone any better for him.” Lindblom’s teammates, of course, want nothing but the best for him. “Obviously we want to win,” player Kevin Hayes told NBC Sports, “but hockey is an extreme lower level … compared to cancer. He’s going through a battle and … he just brings a bunch of energy to this room.” The Flyers have kept Lindblom’s locker room stall in tact, waiting for his eventual return. But… could the kid actually return to the ice when the NHL resumes play later this summer? With the determination that this kid has shown over the past six months… anything is possible. I’d never, EVER count out Oskar Lindblom now. For the full story, click below: