Things are starting to wind dow for some of the Flyers’ prospects, but there’s still no shortage of action to talk about. But before we get into that, let’s recap the bit of news for the week.
The big news comes, in case you missed it, in the form of a pair of signings. With the NCAA regionals behind us and UMD and Western Michigan both eliminated, the Flyers were able to sign Noah Cates and Ronnie Attard to their entry level contracts. Cates made his NHL debut on Tuesday in Minnesota, and Attard is set to be available as early as this weekend. Exciting times!
Three Stars
Emil Andrae
We’ve got playoffs abound happening overseas and Andrae is certainly on a bit of a tear as his team hits the postseason in the Allsvenskan. In HV71’s last three games, his scoring has really popped, and he’s put up a goal and three assists. He’s being leaned on heavily down this stretch, consistently sitting at or towards the top of his team in ice time, and he’s certainly taken this increased role and run with it. The move to get him set and settled playing down in the Allsvenskan has been kind to him, and with him expected to move up to a full time role in the SHL next season, he’s certainly looking like he’s going out from the old league with a bang.
Ivan Fedotov
Speaking of the postseason, Fedotov’s playoff run continues to impress. He picked up two more wins on the week and posted a .931 SV% between them (in those two games, he stopped 23 of 26 and 31 of 32 shots faced). This all brings his playoff save percentage to .942 percent, which is, uh, yeah that’s pretty good. A lot remains up in the air in regards to whether he will or can sign with the Flyers for next season, but his play is certainly worthy of an offer, that much we can say for certain.
Zayde Wisdom
Wisdom’s been working himself back to old form after recovering from his injury well, and while it’s definitely been a bit of a process, he’s really starting to put things together again, and that’s been a real treat to see. In Kingston’s last three games, he put up a tidy four assists and contributed six shots on goal, and while that isn’t the absolute flashiest stat line we’ve ever seen, it’s still very solid. He’s putting in very good work and continuing to make progress, and that’s exactly what we want to see.
Honorable mentions
Bobby Brink
Okay, okay. One assist in the two games on the week doesn’t exactly scream first honorable mention, but we’re grading on a bit of a curve here. Brink’s weekend was a big one, as Denver worked to advance past the regional stage in a pair of single elimination games, and took care of business nearly. They defeated UMass Lowel and Cates’s UMD team, and they punched their ticket to the Frozen Four next weekend, and Brink was a key part of that success. His line brought a lot of energy and created some really nice chances, and he served as an effective driver for Denver’s offense. It wasn’t super flashy, but it was still nice to see him showing up in the way that matters on the big stage.
Oh, and by the way, he’s also a Hobey Baker finalist.
Wade Allison
It was a tough week for the Phantoms, as they dropped each of their three games and failed to score more than two goals in any of them (they totaled just four across those three games), but hey, at least Allison’s still looking good? He chipped in one of those four goals and added 11 shots to the mix, so he’s continuing to do well to drive offense on the whole, even if the results aren’t coming in droves for him or the team. But he’s working back towards dominating that league, and it’s been nice to see. The Flyers only have one regular call-up from the Phantoms left, and it’s going to be much coveted, but Allison’s continuing to make a strong case to be the one to get it before the end of the season.
Tyson Foerster
Alright, so we’ve got one more piece of news that we held off on sharing: Tyson Foerster’s back! It feels like ages since he took that shoulder injury in the beginning of his season with the Phantoms, but he’s been recovering well, and the Flyers sent him back to Barrie to get some games in, and he made his season debut this week. He played in all three of their games, and held up well with the workload. And he seemed to waste no time in getting his confidence back playing at the OHL level—he put up one goal already and totaled 11 shots between those three games. So the offense was certainly going already, and we’ll see if he’s able to keep this rolling once some of the first week back adrenaline wears off. But hey, not a bad debut to say the least.
