We continue our Player Previews series with the guys this whole rebuild thing kind of hinges on. The young players who have NHL experience, but room left to grow and become foundational parts of the next great Philadelphia Flyers team.
Luckily for them, this is another season to finding out, which provides a wide-open opportunity for these forwards to seize larger roles and establish themselves. Some are more well positioned than others to make that jump, but we’re not counting anyone out until Game 82.
Bobby Brink
What did we see from Brink last season?
A lot of good things, but also some standard growing pains. That said, at this time last year, Brink had just completed an absolutely gangbusters training camp, slamming open the door and putting himself in a rotation with Tyson Foerster to begin the season–that was something nobody had expected going into camp. In the following 57 games, Brink scored 11 goals and 23 points; not a mind-blowing rookie season, but a decent enough showing to make the case that he’s going to be an NHLer.
There were growing pains, though. Brink was healthy scratched in his hometown Minnesota game, and spent a few weeks with the Phantoms to try and rediscover the mojo that’d helped him make the roster in the first place. He did just that, too; there was no sulking about the demotion, he went into the AHL and scored a bunch and was back with the big club in a couple weeks. However, the last few images of Brink during the season were Torts yelling at him as he returned to the bench after a bad shift, and then getting benched for most of the season’s final game.
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