By Siobhan Nolan, Contributing Writer
The Flyers couldn’t have asked for a better start to the season than a pair of wins over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday and Friday. Wednesday's win saw 20-year-old Joel Farabee shine with one goal and three assists.
Farabee is just one of an extensive group of young Flyers players to keep an eye on this season, but not all of whom have made it to the final roster for the 2021 NHL season.
At Flyers training camp this year, 13 prospects had the opportunity to practice and scrimmage with the senior players. Morgan Frost, a 27th overall pick in 2017, was the only member of that group to make the final roster. So where will all of the other prospects be playing? Get a primer on what the Flyers prospects will be doing this season.
Several of the prospects present at training camp were sent down to play for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in the AHL this year, including Tyson Foerster and Zayde Wisdom, who went 23rd and 94th overall in 2020, respectively. They join goaltenders Roddy Ross (169th overall in 2016) and Felix Sandstrom (70th overall in 2015), right winger Linus Sandin, defensemen Wyatte Wylie (127th overall in 2018) and Egor Zamula. Three more Flyers draft picks – Linus Hogberg (139th overall in 2016), Maksim Sushko (107th overall in 2017), and David Kase (128th overall in 2015) – were also assigned to Phantoms after being on loan in Europe.
The Phantoms also received defenseman Tyler Wotherspoon – originally drafted 57th overall by the Calgary Flames – left winger Matthew Strome (106th overall in 2017), forward Max Willman – originally drafted 121st overall by the Buffalo Sabres – and center Pascal Laberge (36th overall in 2016).
Four prospects will appear in NCAA competition this season. Defensemen Cam York and Ronnie Attard (14th and 72nd overall in 2019, respectively) will both suit up for Michigan teams. York will be playing Big Ten hockey with the University of Michigan, while Attard will appear on the other side of the state for Western Michigan University in the NCHC.
Jay O’Brien (19th overall in 2018) played one season for Providence College during the 2018-19 season, but an injury limited him to playing just 25 games that year. After a brief stint with the Penticton Vees during the 2019-20 season, O’Brien rejoined the Hockey East division by committing to Boston University for this season.
Right winger Bobby Brink, who along with York won gold at this year’s World Junior Championships, is set to appear for the University of Denver in the NCHC.
Defenseman Emil Andrae, who represented Team Sweden at World Juniors, will return to his native country to play for HV71.
You can check back here for weekly updates on these Flyers prospects as the season progresses.
