Although John Tortorella could still scratch them or revamp the lineup before the Flyers face off against the Connor Bedard-led Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday afternoon at Wells Fargo Center, it looks like Cam York and Morgan Frost will be making their returns to the Flyers lineup.
York, who will have been out exactly a month after getting injured against the Capitals on Oct. 23, is set to get back into action, according to The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz.
York has two goals and an assist in eight games so far this season before his injury — a somewhat disappointing raw stat line but has been another bright spot on the back end, averaging almost 23 minutes a night and often paired with Travis Sanheim as the Flyers top combination. What that means for Saturday is anybody’s guess as it looks like coach John Tortorella was influenced by the Flyers’ Casino Night benefit event on Thursday night and was rolling the dice with a wide array of defensive combinations at Friday’s practice.
So what we know is four of those players should be paired up on Saturday: Sanheim with Ristolainen and Zamula with Grans it appears. But as for the other combinations? We’ll find out tomorrow I guess.
The other big news out of the practice today is that it also appears Morgan Frost will end his run of healthy scratches and see action against Chicago, a team Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman tied him to as far as a possible trade earlier this week. Frost as one goal this season (one which hit him) and has been off to another snail-like pace. Hopefully against a weaker opponent Frost might see some light at the end of what has been a very dark tunnel and get his game back to where it needs to be. If you thought the leash on him was short last year, it’s much shorter this season. He needs to produce. End of story. That or if he is traded to Chicago tomorrow he can simply catch the flight out of town with his new team.
Three more things out of today’s practice.
One is Travis Konency had a “maintenance day” and didn’t participate in practice. The second was seeing Anthony Richard on the top line with Owen Tippett and Sean Couturier. Richard might be out of his element on the top line but the fact Tortorella is giving him a shot there is proof he’s worked his way into being a part of the forward unit for the next little while. That is, of course, if Konecny cannot participate in Saturday’s game because of a nagging injury; otherwise Richard was just a fill-in in that spot and could even be the healthy scratch.
The third thing? Well Jamie Drysdale was skating and wearing a regular jersey following practices where he was sporting a non-contact one. Another good sign.
The fourth line combinations of Scott Laughton, Ryan Poehling, Nic Deslauriers and Garnet Hathaway shouldn’t surprise anyone as, well, it’s the fourth line and not a lot is expected out of them. At least the lines don’t see Laughton, Richard and Tippett as the top line and Couturier fighting it out (figuratively we think) with Hathaway, Poehling and Deslauriers.
What this means in terms of roster changes or players being sent down is unclear. Having Sam Ersson put on IR clears up York’s return to the lineup. After that we’ll have to let Tortorella and company flesh out who goes where. Regardless, Flyers fans are hoping the team rolls some sevens tomorrow against Chicago, and not come up with snake eyes.
