The Flyers season is set to get underway on Thursday night. Monday at 5 p.m. marked the deadline for submitting the final roster for the 2022-23 season.
Tuesday morning, the team officially announced the 23-man roster ahead of opening night. While there were a few moving parts to the roster even after the initial submission deadline due to injuries, this is the group that will start the season at the NHL level. The roster consists of 13 forwards, eight defensemen, and two goalies.
Here is the 2022-23 Flyers roster:
Forwards
- 57 Wade Allison
- 89 Cam Atkinson
- 49 Noah Cates
- 44 Nicolas Deslauriers
- 86 Joel Farabee
- 48 Morgan Frost
- 13 Kevin Hayes
- 42 Hayden Hodgson
- 11 Travis Konecny
- 58 Tanner Laczynski
- 21 Scott Laughton
- 74 Owen Tippett
- 25 James van Riemsdyk
Defensemen
- 47 Ronnie Attard
- 61 Justin Braun
- 77 Tony DeAngelo
- 9 Ivan Provorov
- 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
- 6 Travis Sanheim
- 24 Nick Seeler
- 54 Egor Zamula
Goalies
- 33 Samuel Ersson
- 79 Carter Hart
Sean Couturier was placed on injured reserve and Ryan Ellis was officially moved to long-term injured reserve. Wade Allison, Tanner Laczynski, and Egor Zamula were all sent down as paper moves at Monday’s deadline before being recalled on Tuesday.
Bobby Brink, Patrick Brown, and Felix Sandstrom were all placed on the Injured Non-Roster list.
There are a couple observations for this roster. There aren’t many surprises at forward. The veterans expected to make the team are there. Noah Cates and Laczynski each were highlighted by the coaching staff enough to indicate that their place on the roster was expected.
Hayden Hodgson could be viewed as a bit of a surprise, especially after John Tortorella noted he had an “okay” camp, but he seems like a fit for the 13th forward spot. This is especially important at the start of the season with Cam Atkinson still not a sure thing to play in Thursday’s opener and Joel Farabee coming off a significant surgery.
The team is also carrying eight defensemen. Given the youth there with Ronnie Attard and Zamula making the team, they certainly have the cap space to do that once Ellis’ contract was moved to LTIR. That said, it doesn’t make a lot of sense for both Attard and Zamula to be on the roster long-term unless both are playing. Earlier this week, indications were that Nick Seeler and Justin Braun would be the team’s third pairing on defense with the other four defensemen locked into spots. Either something is going to change there, or this is a very temporary placement for both.
Finally, there is the goaltending. Carter Hart has been practicing regularly for over a week now, despite not playing in a game this preseason. All signs are he is good to go for Thursday. But the backup competition is a little less resolved. Samuel Ersson has made the team more out of necessity than anything. He was certainly locked in a battle with Sandstrom, but it appears Sandstrom is at least not going to be ready for the start of the season. That gives Ersson the opportunity for now.
The puck drops on the 2022-23 season on Thursday night when the Flyers host the New Jersey Devils at 7 p.m.
