The Eagles have Dallas Week.
Is this Pittsburgh week for the Flyers?
With an April game rescheduled for this week, the Flyers play three consecutive matches against the Penguins on Tuesday (19h ET / NBCSP), Thursday (19h ET / NBCSP) and Saturday (13h ET / NBCSP).
Before the intrastate set of three games, let’s get into our most recent ideas about the three Flyers.
1. Flyers ties in Pittsburgh
Flyers are 11-4-3 with 25 points and Penguins are 11-8-1 with 23 points. The two clubs face each other for the first time since the set of two opening games of the season, in which the Flyers won by a combined score of 11-5.
There is always intrigue in clashes between Flyers and Penguins, but there are some fun new stories for this series.
Former Flyers general manager Ron Hextall is now the general manager of the Penguins. Last weekend, Hextall brought Chris Pryor on board as his new personnel director for players. Pryor was Hextall’s right-hand man in Philadelphia and spent 20 years in the Flyers’ organization. He has been instrumental in the team’s renewed scouting efforts under Hextall and the franchise’s talent assessment since the early 2000s.
When the Flyers face the Penguins this week, Hextall and Pryor will see many players that they have observed, recruited and developed in Philadelphia. Pryor’s work goes back to people like Claude Giroux and Sean Couturier.
Hextall brought one of the 2014 Flyers draft choices to Pittsburgh last week, when the Penguins withdrew Mark Friedman from the exemptions. The Flyers needed to go through Friedman’s exemptions if they wanted to put him in the cab group. Friedman has not yet made his Pittsburgh debut; maybe this will come against the Flyers this week.
“We knew we were taking a risk, but we wanted to be able to maybe play [Nate] Proceed if necessary, “said Flyers’ coach, Alain Vigneault, last Friday.” For that, we had to make Mark available. He is a good young player and was signed by Pittsburgh. We wish him nothing but the best. I talked to him after he was caught, he was excited. We wish him nothing but the best. “
2. Adaptation in Konecny
Travis Konecny skated on Monday and went to Pittsburgh to join the Flyers after a 14-day period on the NHL’s COVID protocol list. The Flyers’ 2020 All-Star is expected to participate in the club’s morning skateboard on Tuesday and is considered a playing time decision.
This is purely a guess, but it seems plausible that Nolan Patrick could watch a game in Pittsburgh. Vigneault said last Friday that he could rotate personnel in the rear and in the front because of the team’s packed six-game period over nine days.
In the last 11 games, Patrick has been goalless with four shots. The natural center has played the far right in the last three games on the second row of the Flyers with Kevin Hayes and Giroux. Vigneault transferred Patrick to the right wing “to help him get a little start here,” said the head coach on Tuesday.
Konecny is a right winger and an obvious candidate for the second row. The first row is getting together and the third row of Oskar Lindblom, Scott Laughton and Jakub Voracek was good at sweeping two Flyers games in Buffalo. Vigneault also liked the effectiveness of the fourth row, which was centered by Connor Bunnaman.
In the Flyers’ 3-0 victory over Sabers on Sunday, Patrick played 13:30 minutes and just 3:22 in the third period, while the Flyers closed things up. Patrick will likely return to the center of the last six positions at some point. It is very positive that Patrick is healthy and has played all 18 games after losing 2019-20 due to a migraine. Before the season opened, Patrick had not played an NHL game in more than 650 days.
“It took me a while to find my game and I feel like in the last few games, I have been tending in the right direction and playing with more confidence, getting close to the top of my game,” said Patrick last Friday after his first game at the winger right. “It is obviously difficult to waste so much time, but I am feeling good and having fun being back.”
Vigneault seated defender Philippe Myers, 24, for a game over the weekend. Allowing Patrick to watch a game and reset both physically and mentally would not be the worst thing for the 22-year-old.
3. Ekholm’s buzz
Tony Androckitis from InsideAHLHockey.com reported that Predators watched AHL affiliate Lehigh Valley play last Saturday night.
Pierre LeBrun of Atlético recently noticed how Nashville (10-11-0) may be looking to retrofit and defender Mattias Ekholm, 30, may be one of his biggest changers. LeBrun identified the Flyers as a team that he sees as a potential fit for Ekholm. According to CapFriendly.com, Ekholm has reached the $ 3.75 million limit and could become an unrestricted free agent after the 2021-22 season.
There is still time before the NHL trading deadline, which is April 12. March will be a revealing month for Flyers, who are now healthy on the back end and going back on shutouts. They look much more like the club that rose in the final stretch of the 2019-20 regular season.
In short: give it a little more time and then we’ll see around April if the Flyers need outside defense help.
More on these topics here with the Flyers Talk podcast
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