(Kevin Durso/Sports Talk Philly)
By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor
Not much changed on Day 2 from Flyers training camp. In fact, the intensity only picked up.
Another day of drills and battles commenced on Saturday with both groups remaining the same and the lines remaining the same.
Here were a few of the highlights.
Jordan Weal was the player who really seemed to stand out the most. Weal was very impressive at the end of last season with his drive and energy, and that remained evident through the drills at camp. Another player who stood out was Philippe Myers — more on him in a moment — and Weal beat him on a one-on-one battle with relative ease.
Myers looked good in every other facet though. Whatever was ailing him on Wednesday that forced him out of the Rookie Game must have been minor, because Myers has been moving well and his shot looked very good in a couple of drills.
Group 2 definitely held the better talent, even with players like Claude Giroux, Oskar Lindblom, Travis Konecny, Ivan Provorov and Travis Sanheim in Group 1. The Lindblom-Giroux-Konecny line has potential, but otherwise, there wasn't much to gather out of Group 1. It is a lot of players who are expected to be headed back to juniors or to the AHL among the players on the ice in the morning.
The afternoon, however, featured a lot of potential combinations for the Flyers. The Weal-Nolan Patrick-Simmonds line stayed together and that's a line with real potential. I'd definitely like to see that line get some action in a game. The line of Dale Weise, Sean Couturier and Jake Voracek also looked very good. Weise was one of the Flyers better players out of Group 2 on Day 2, and is looking for a bounce-back season after a very disappointing 2016-17 season.
German Rubtsov and Sam Morin also had their moments in Group 1. Morin got to showcase his shot a little more, and was on point with a few. Rubtsov seemed to have an unstoppable energy, among the last players to leave the ice after Group 1 wrapped for the day.
Finally, there was the daily look at Nolan Patrick. While he still seems to be working on the conditioning, there's no denying that the skills are there. His shot looked good when used, he's always alert and looking to set up teammates and he moved the puck well. His play without the puck remained solid as well.
Of course, you can only tell so much in drills and every player looks good in some capacity against their teammates. As Wayne Simmonds said after Day 1, after a couple of days or hard skating, board battles and intense drills, taking out your frustration on another team is welcomed. The Flyers will get that chance on Sunday afternoon as some of the players travel to Long Island for the preseason opener.
All 57 players in camp were on the ice for Day 2. The players who don't travel for the game on Sunday will skate at 9:45 a.m. at Flyers Skate Zone in Voorhees.
Head coach Dave Hakstol said that the players traveling for the game will be announced early on Sunday.
The Flyers also made an off-the-ice move. The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun reported that the Flyers have hired former Los Angeles Kings GM Dean Lombardi to serve in a role under GM Ron Hextall.
Dean Lombardi is back in the NHL, the Flyers have hired him to do some work under GM Ron Hextall.
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) September 16, 2017
There is some obvious history behind this. Lombardi was a scout for the Flyers earlier in his career. Hextall served as assistant GM under Lombardi in Los Angeles during the first of their two Stanley Cup titles.
Check out some highlights from Day 2 of training camp below.