(Kevin Durso/Sports Talk Philly)
By Jeff Quake, Sports Talk Philly staff writer 
During the 2017 preseason, the Philadelphia Flyers have many difficult decisions to make on who to keep and who to cut. One player that is certainly making a strong case to stay in the NHL is Taylor Leier.
With a split-squad playing at the PPL Center in Allentown, and the other the in Brooklyn, the third line for the team at the PPL Center consisted of Leier, Corban Knight and Pascal Laberge, Leier provided enough firepower for the team as he netted two power-play goals.
“These games mean a lot for a lot of guys. It felt good to be back in Allentown,” Leier said. “It’s a lot of familiar territory and familiar faces around the rink. I felt good coming into the game. You’re not going to feel good every night, but when you get those games when you feel good, and you know you feel good, you try to run with it.”
Leier would be a terrific candidate for the fourth-line role consisting of depth and speed. The energy that he brings along with his occasional offensive production would be a great mix.
He recorded 64 goals in the past two seasons with the Portland Winterhawks of the WHL.
Even in the AHL, Leier has been a consistent scorer. Leier scored 20 goals and had 49 points with the Phantoms in 2015-16 and last season had 13 goals and 37 points in 48 games, a little more than half of the games played in the 2015-16 season.
Phantoms captain Colin McDonald believes that Leier’s time is coming.
“The easy thing to say is it’s a numbers game,” McDonald said. “It takes time and I’ve been telling him that. I didn’t get all of my NHL games until I was 28. Sometimes you lose sight of that because you’re drafted at 18, and it’s a young league. So you get frustrated after a couple of years and you haven’t gotten your chance, but you've just got to stick with it. He’s going to be in the NHL, there’s no doubt.”
There is no doubt that Leier is certainly a sleeper pick for who makes the opening night roster for the 2017-18 Flyers. Whether he makes the team or not is to be determined, but both Ron Hextall and Dave Hakstol noted over the weekend that any player left in camp has earned the right to be there this far into camp.
By all accounts, the 23-year-old has certainly made his case not only to be included on the roster, but also in the Flyers lineup come opening night on Oct. 4 against the San Jose Sharks.
Podcast
Subscribe to the Flyerdelphia Podcast on iTunes, Google Play and YouTube.
