FORHEES, NJ — The Flyers held a few scrimmages on Day 2 of Friday’s training camp.
John Tortorella didn’t take much of it.
After all, there are over 60 healthy players in the Flyers camp and Tortorella didn’t see any of them touch a single puck on Day 1.
He even only gets to know a few of their names.
The real evaluation of the head coach’s roster begins with practice moves, which kick off Saturday when the Flyers welcome the Bruins to the Wells Fargo Center (7:00 p.m. ET/NBCSP+).
“I’m not going to base decisions on these kinds of scrimmages within the squad,” Tortorella said on Friday, “but it gives them a chance to play.
“That’s my biggest struggle at the moment, just to get familiar with the team and the staff.”
Let’s dig into three observations from Day 2 at Flyers Training Center.
The preseason plan
Tortorella will not sit behind the bench for the Flyers’ first four preseason games. He will watch from the team’s management suite.
The plan is to have AHL-affiliated head coach Ian Laperriere and his staff coach the first two exhibition games, after which Flyers assistant coaches Brad Shaw, Rocky Thompson and Darryl Williams will coach the next two. Tortorella will coach the latter two with his assistants.
“That gives us the chance, at least for me, to really look from above,” he said. “Because I like looking at intangibles, I like looking at things that take place outside the play. And the only way you can see that is upstairs.”
Tortorella did not pay attention to immaterial matters during the scrimmages.
“I want to wait until it’s against another team that they didn’t just have breakfast with,” he said. “But I get to know the people better.”
General Manager Chuck Fletcher and his staff will put together the lineup for the first three games of the preseason.
“I give them the first three games because I think it’s important that they see some kids,” said Tortorella. “Chuck is in charge of the whole organization, he has to put pieces together to where they are and give people opportunities. Chuck has done that. We have three games, there could be some changes, but I like the management group to bring those together.” to set.”
You can find the Flyers camp and preseason schedules here.
Skating doesn’t stop
Each scrimmage lasted just under an hour. The two teams that lost were eliminated from the scoreboard.
After the scrimmages, each team went through about 30 minutes of practice, followed by more rounds of conditioning.
“The way the camp is designed, we have 13 or 14 players on each team,” Tortorella said. “So they’ve just had a lot of touches in the scrimmage for three hours, a lot of skating in the scrimmage, a lot of skating in practice, plus a pretty good fitness skate. I’m very happy, I think our camp looks like it’s in pretty good shape form. If you start, probably day 4, in that area, I think you see where guys are really conditioning, how they recover.”
Nicolas Deslauriers received a shoutout from Tortorella on Thursday about the “ugly as hell” performance of the winger in the skating glove. He then received further validation. Sean Couturier, among others, buzzed about it on Deslauriers’ phone.
“I got a number of texts from the quote saying it was ugly, but the job is done,” Deslauriers said with a smile. “I talked a lot with Torts on the phone and he told me it was going to be difficult. I don’t have a single stop in my game. Maybe ugly, maybe not fun, but that’s how I work.”
“But it was ugly.”
catch me if your cam
Fletcher mentioned the possibility that the Flyers would have 10 players aged 25 or younger on their roster.
Cam York, the first roster made by this Flyers regime, is clearly one of those 10.
“To me, that’s the main storyline of this camp — let’s see what we have, let’s see how good these kids are,” the GM said Thursday.
There were a few under-the-radar sequences for York in Friday’s second scrimmage.
When he went back for a puck, the 21-year-old defender took a heavy blow from Deslauriers. York isn’t a big kid (6-0/180), so it’s important to survive these kinds of checks if an attacker comes at him.
Usually, York prides itself on avoiding these hits with quick and smart decision making.
Later in the scrimmage, he showed good balance in orchestrating his team’s exit from the defensive zone with a skillful play.
Those are qualities the Flyers need.
“I’m going to play for the kids, I’ll tell you now,” Tortorella said on Thursday. “It doesn’t matter to me what my stature, draft pick, whatever it is, what you’ve done before. … It’s kind of a clean sheet with me because I really don’t know the players, I have to watch them.
“But I feel like as an organization we need to get a foundation under us right now, we need to get it back on track. And we need to get a good foundation of what our kids are, so they are I won’t be afraid to put them in situations that might run into another man who thought he would be there.
“I think there has to be a little bit of merit here, as far as everyone stands.”
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