Photo: Kevin Durso/Flyerdelphia
Flyers development camp has taken on new meaning in recent years as a chance to get a glimpse of the future.
With every passing year, that future is not too far away.
The Flyers opened development camp on Thursday in Voorhees, as several of their top prospects take the ice. While many of these prospects, notably defenseman Ivan Provorov and forward Travis Konecny, are nearing their NHL debuts, GM Ron Hextall assures this is not a week to evaluate prospects, but give them a chance to work on getting better as a whole.
"This is a week for you to get better," Hextall said to CSNPhilly.com. "We are not going to evaluate you. We’re going to find ways to try and make you better, try and send you away with certain things to work on the rest of the summer to make yourself better."
Flyers player development coaches John Riley and Kjell Samuelsson will oversee the camp, which will feature various drills by position and in groups at the close of the week. There will also be the annual 3-on-3 tournament held Monday.
Through it all, the Flyers staff is not focused on evaluations, even if that is what the focus will be from others.
"I tell everybody on our staff, no evaluations here," Hextall said. "You want to have the kids unguarded where they say, ‘Hey, I feel like I need to work on this,’ and bang, John Riley or Kjell Samuelsson give them a template to work on. That’s the time we really want them to try and get better."
For players like Provorov and Konecny, with the NHL beckoning, there will be a sense that this is the beginning of their journey to making the team this season. They will get their chance in training camp, even if they receive so much of the attention in development camp as the most likely players to stick around through camp.
"Training camp is different," Hextall said. "Kids who played really well in junior have given themselves a leg up in trying to make our team. That’s really the first part of the tryout."
In addition to Provorov and Konecny, the Flyers prospect pool is well represented with nine of their 10 draft picks this season in attendance — the only exception is first-round pick German Rubtsov, who is signed in the KHL in Russia. Some other top prospects in attendance include Travis Sanheim, Sam Morin, Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Robert Hagg.
In addition to Rubtsov, one other notable exclusion from the roster is prospect defenseman Philippe Myers, who is recovering from offseason hip surgery.
Kevin Durso is managing editor for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @Kevin_Durso.
