How young can the Flyers defense get?

Heading into training camp in late September, there were some concerns that the Flyers defense was going to experience a logjam.

The signing of Marc Staal, acquisition of Sean Walker, and the returning quartet of Rasmus Ristolainen, Travis Sanheim, Cam York, and Nick Seeler made it seem like there would be limited opportunities for younger options to earn a spot.

However, when the puck drops on the season opener on Thursday against Columbus, both Egor Zamula and Emil Andrae will be present on the NHL roster. With Rasmus Ristolainen being placed on injured reserve, another spot opened up and allowed both young blueliners to secure a spot to start the year.

Head Coach John Tortorella made it clear early on in camp that the Flyers were a \"land of opportunity\" , and that every young player would have a chance to secure an NHL job. But in spite of that declaration, the meat of the Flyers youth movement looked like it was going to begin mostly with the forwards, and in between the pipes. Tyson Foerster and Bobby Brink both look like they will stick in the NHL and join a host of younger names like Morgan Frost, Owen Tippett, and Noah Cates. At the same time, the tandem of Carter Hart and Samuel Ersson are still one of the younger starter/backup combos in the league, despite Hart\'s considerable experience for his age.

In those areas of the ice, the rebuild is well and truly underway.

But it was less clear cut on the backend at the start of camp — it usually takes a bit more development for defenders to really be ready for the challenge of an NHL season, and Tortorella isn\'t necessarily one to push youngsters into the line of fire right away. But it seem ed as if maybe that philosophy was starting to shift, he made it clear that he is fully aware of the situation the team is in, and that young players who could be part of the core going forward would have every chance to stake a claim on this rebuilding outfit.

And with the amount of young talent that has stuck on the 23-man roster, you can\'t say he lied.

Andrae and Zamula making the opening night roster in particular ensures that at least until Ristolainen\'s return, there will be a fresh face on the blueline getting regular minutes and establishing themselves. There may even be two, and they will avoid the back and forth shuttle between the Phantoms and the Flyers.

That sort of limbo is all too familiar to players like the aforementioned Sanheim, who found himself back in Lehigh Valley during his 2017-18 rookie season while players like Brandon Manning and Andrew MacDonald pretended (and failed), to be NHL defenders. This lack of a long leash is something that has plagued the Flyers before, and individually as a coach, Tortorella has been accused of mishandling young players in the past as well and refusing to give them time to grow.

But the air around the Flyers camp felt a little different this year, everyone was looked at seriously regardless of age, and there simply wasn\'t a glut of veterans or older PTO signings that clogged the pathway for younger players. Technically, the Flyers could ice a six-man defense corps where the only player under 25 is Cam York once Ristolainen returns, but that just doesn\'t seem to fit with the philosophy of the new front office\'s ideals or long term plans. Andrae and Zamula making the opening night roster, despite not having necessarily \"perfect\" training camps, shows that the commitment to getting younger extends to the back end, too.

The trust shown in Andrae and Zamula will certainly give them a boost to start the year, and their presence should well make for better viewing — that is, one imagines that fans would much rather see these sorts of players on the roster as opposed to your Marc Staals or Victor Metes, without any offense to those two totally capable NHLers. They just simply will not be on the roster when the team gets good (and in Staal\'s case, he\'ll probably be retired). In a season when the organization is making it pretty clear they don\'t expect to be competitive, giving the fanbase a reason to tune in is still a factor.

And this season, while it may not be necessarily successful in the standings, will give fans a glimpse at what some of the future pieces may hold, all over the ice.

Talking Points