Friday marked the first day of ice time for the Flyers veterans hit the ice this season and from the get-go, new Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol set the tone.
Hakstol brings a method of attack to the Flyers, a sense of urgency and playing a 200-foot game for 60 minutes. Through practices and the preseason, Hakstol said he would get the most real-time information to make conscious decisions on who would make the roster. Given the pace on the first day of ice time, Hakstol is doing just that.
“That’s the pace we want to have,” Hakstol said. “We don’t have a lot of time. It’s real important to get as much work and get up and down the rink and get as much as we can in these first three days when we have the time to do that.”
The players certainly seemed to enjoy the extra physicality and competition. It will be a crucial camp for the Flyers, who have several decisions to make regarding roster spots.
“It was high-intensity,” Claude Giroux said. “We did a lot of battle drills and up and down and, at the same time, some system work. Guys were focused. Guys want to get better. I’m pretty tired, but it was good. When you work hard in practice it becomes a habit in games.”
“I think there's a lot of excitement to get back out there and to see what the new coach has,” Brayden Schenn said. “Fast hockey, but at the same time, I think that's what this team needs.”
Obviously, Friday was also the first chance to see his players on the ice. His first impression of the team was a good one.
“We all liked what we saw from the intensity level,” Hakstol said. “The effort and some of the execution for Day 1 was pretty good.”
Notes:
- The Flyers prospects — names such as Shayne Gostisbehere and Sam Morin — did not practice with the veterans but watched from near the bench area.
- It’s early, but the Flyers had some interesting line combinations on Day 1. Forward lines were as follows:
- Michael Raffl-Claude Giroux-Jake Voracek
- Wayne Simmonds-Sean Couturier-Matt Read
- Chris Porter-Scott Laughton-Brayden Schenn
- R.J. Umberger-Vincent Lecavalier-Sam Gagner
- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare-Chris VandeVelde-Ryan White.
- Defensive pairings were as follows:
- Mark Streit-Nick Schultz
- Michael Del Zotto-Yevgeni Medvedev
- Andrew MacDonald-Radko Gudas
- Luke Schenn-Brandon Manning
Kevin Durso is managing editor for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @Kevin_Durso.
