Flyers Day 1 Training Camp: The 2021-22 Phantoms (AHL) Roster Begins To Take Shape

VOORHEES, New Jersey - The Philadelphia Flyers opened training camp with Day 1 of on-ice sessions at the newly renamed 'Flyers Training Center' in Voorhees, New Jersey on Thursday.

And while all eyes were on the lines/pairings on the first day and how the initial NHL roster is shaping up, here at Inside AHL Hockey we are obviously going to take a look at how the Flyers' roster shaping up affects the potential opening night roster their AHL affiliate in Lehigh Valley this upcoming season.

The Flyers' camp roster was split into three groups for Thursday's on-ice work.

Group C

While Group A and Group B have a full compliment of 12 forwards, eight defensemen and two goaltenders, Group C had six forwards, two defensemen and one goaltender.

The theme of Group C seems to be more or less those who are either coming back from an injury or are more of a longer range prospect and need more work to get ready for the pro game.

Kirill Ustimenko, 22, missed all of last season after having hip surgery, and with five goalies at camp, it's not too much of a surprise that he's with the 'extras' at camp.

It's not unreasonable to think Ustimenko might be a little behind incoming North American rookie Samuel Ersson, who turns 22 in October, and Felix Sandstrom, 24, for the two spots on the AHL roster right now.

We'll have to see how both the NHL and AHL preseason shake out to see who starts the season as the odd man out heading to the Phantoms' ECHL affiliate Reading Royals.

Forwards Maksim Sushko and Elliot Desnoyers are coming off injuries of their own as well.

Desnoyers, 19, was limited in Development Camp and Rookie camp. He didn't appear in either of the rookie games against the New York Rangers this past weekend, but he was a participant with Group C Thursday. After a 21-goal, 49-point breakout year in 37 QMJHL games with Halifax in 2020-21, Desnoyers could be poised for a big finish to his junior-league career in 2021-22.

Sushko didn't participate in Development or Rookie camps this summer, though he was seen by NBCSPhilly's beat reporter Jordan Hall (@JHallNBCS) skating on his own during rookie camp with development staffers. He did skate today with Group C Thursday morning, so while he may not be 100% hopefully he'll be on track to be ready for the start of the season.

Jon-Randall Avon, 18, went undrafted in the recent 2021 NHL Entry Draft and probably largely because he didn't play any hockey this past season due to the pandemic preventing the OHL and his team, the Peterborough Petes, from playing. He turned a development camp invite into a rookie camp invite, and into an NHL main training camp invite before the Flyers ultimately signed him to a three-year entry-level contract announced on Wednesday.

Another 18-year-old forward in Group C Thursday, Samu Tuomaala (2021-2nd round, 46th overall) told reporters last week at rookie camp the plan was for him to play hockey in North America in 2021-22, and ultimately that he was pushing for pro hockey in the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Phantoms.

Tuomaala is AHL-eligible at 18 years old because he's not bound by the NHL/CHL agreement, as he's from Oulu, Finland and has been playing hockey in Finland and not in any of Canada's junior hockey leagues prior to being selected in the NHL Entry Draft.

It's ultimately the Flyers' decision, and they'll decide what is best for him and whether it's pro hockey and the AHL or Canadian junior hockey in the OHL (Sudbury Wolves own his CHL rights) to begin adapting his game to the North American ice. It's definitely possible that he'll be assigned to the Phantoms for AHL training camp preseason regardless of whether he's loaned to the OHL or turns pro in the AHL.

Groups A and B

While the two groups featured a mixture of both AHL-destined and NHL-locks type players, separating the forward lines and defense pairings into 'NHL' and 'AHL' on Day 1 of camp was pretty straight forward.

Training Camp Day 1 NHL Roster Projection

Claude Giroux - Sean Couturier - Travis Konecny (Group A)James van Riemsdyk - Morgan Frost - Joel Farabee (Group B)Oskar Lindblom - Derick Brassard - Cam Atkinson (Group A)Nate Thompson - Scott Laughton - Nicolas Aube-Kubel (Group B)

Ivan Provorov - Ryan Ellis (Group A)Travis Sanheim - Rasmus Ristolainen (Group B)Keith Yandle - Justin Braun (Group A)

Carter Hart - Martin Jones

There are plenty of NHL outlets to expand your reading on the Flyers roster outlook, so our focus will be on the fringe/bubble players looking to fill out the 23-man roster and the affect all of that has on what becomes of the opening night lineup for the Phantoms.

Season-Opening Injuries

Defenseman Sam Morin (knee surgery on 9/10, six-eight weeks) and forwards Wade Allision (right ankle sprain, out indefinitely) and Kevin Hayes (abdominal surgery on 9/21, six-eight weeks) are on the injured list at the NHL level.

At the AHL-level, defenseman Cooper Zech, who was injured in the Flyers opening rookie game against the New York Rangers Saturday, is expected to miss six to eight weeks with an upper body injury.

Forward Zayde Wisdom, who had successful shoulder surgery over the summer, is on track to return to game action at some point in December/January. He's been in Voorhees with the camp roster, though he's obviously not participating

Potential Early AHL Roster Projection

Ryan Fitzgerald - Cal O'Reilly (AHL) - Gerry Mayhew (Group A)Ratcliffe-Laczynski-Foerster (Group A)Bunnaman-Rubtsov-Sandin (Group B)Wilson(AHL)-Cates-Willman (Group B)

Cam York - Adam Clendening (Group B)Egor Zamula - Nick Seeler (Group A)Mason Millman - Wyatte Wylie (Group B)Linus Hogberg - Brian Zanetti (Group A)Jackson van de Leest (ATO) - Logan Day(AHL) (Group B)

Felix Sandstrom - Samuel Ersson

All in all, a starting point for the Phantoms.

Obviously, the Flyers' opening night roster will need one more body (and probably two) so it's likely a forward and defenseman from this AHL group will at least begin 2021-22 in the NHL.

But who?

Up front, Tanner Laczynski appears ready to build off of his rookie season and despite having to shut it down early last season after getting his first taste of the NHL with the Flyers down the stretch, he told reporters at rookie camp that he feels ready to go after getting the full clearance from the medical staff on Sept 17.

He appeared in one of the Flyers' rookie games this past weekend without incident, and is full-systems go in training camp. Though his time with the Phantoms was brief, it didn't take long for Laczynski to acclimate himself at the AHL level. While the points weren't coming right away, the chances he was creating were consistent and it wasn't long before they started going in for him. He finished with 10 points (six goals, four assists) in 14 AHL games prior to his recall to the Flyers.

More on Laczynski's offensive surge and strong two-way play catching the Flyers' attention last season here -> https://insideahlhockey.com/article/laczynskis-offensive-surge-strong-two-way-play-earns-him-1st-nhl-recall

Guys like Isaac Ratcliffe and Connor Bunnaman are enter training camp with a chip on their shoulder looking to prove their worth.

Ratcliffe hasn't been able to put it all together to date, and that's presumably due to the fact that he's had some tough luck with injuries - including missing the beginning of 2020-21's pandemic-shortened season after a training incident just prior to the start of camp later revealed a broken rib and punctured lung.

For more on Ratcliffe, he went 1-on-1 with Inside AHL Hockey earlier this off-season for a look into his summer of training and his mindset entering what will be the final year of his entry-level contract.

I also caught up with Connor Bunnaman over the summer, and will have that story posted this weekend, but suffice to say it was a difficult season for a lot of the 'tweener' players in 2020-21 (enter, the taxi squad horror stories) and Bunnaman was no different than a lot of fringe players who kind of got stuck in the proverbial mud this past season.

Linus Sandin opted to return to the Flyers organization, re-signing a one-year contract as an unrestricted free agent to return for what he told reporters during development camp was one more shot to chase down his dream of playing in the NHL. He was an effective two-way playing, middle-six winger for the Phantoms last season and enters his second stint in North America much more comfortable than his first.

As I mentioned in my latest feature, don't count out Max Willman from being a darkhorse candidate for NHL duty - if not right out of camp, when injuries/call ups arise - in 2021-22.

And then there's Tyson Foerster. Despite being just 19 years old, he showed he could produce offensively at the AHL level this past season (17 points in 24 games) while also dealing with a fractured shin after his first AHL regular season game and a late-season shoulder injury.

Fully healthy and a year both stronger and wiser, Foerster is probably destined for AHL duty with Lehigh Valley in the fall but could stick around and make things interesting if he continues his strong play in training camp and the NHL preseason.

Here's my prospect profile on Foerster, which was later featured by the AHL in the league's 'AHL on the Beat' series -> https://insideahlhockey.com/article/foerster-catching-fire-with-phantoms

Jackson Cates begins his first full year of pro hockey after signing with the Flyers and appearing in some NHL games at the tail end of last season.

German Rubtsov returns to North America after spending 2020-21 in the KHL with Sochi.

On defense, prospects Cam York and Egor Zamula have the attention of the management/staff and excited fans alike.

York went 1-on-1 with InsideAHLHockey.com over the summer to reflect on his first pro season, the wild journey hockey took him on last year during the pandemic as well what feedback he got from GM Chuck Fletcher and his focus this off-season in getting stronger and built more solidly to endure the battles and bruises of pro hockey.

Zamula didn't score a goal this past season with the Phantoms (six assists in 25 games), but he was able to play big minutes in all situations in the AHL in 2020-21 and started building a reliable two-way game while getting adjusted to the pro game.

Come for a Tom Brady football analogy relative to Zamula and the choices defensemen must make on the breakout, and stay for an in-depth look at Zamula's rookie season through his own eyes.

Chuck Fletcher has also replenished the veteran depth defense he lost over the summer when pending free agents Chris Bigras, Derrick Pouliot and Tyler Wotherspoon all hit the open market.

Adam Clendening, a right-handed offensively minded defenseman, was an AHL All-Star the last time the league held the event in January 2020.

Nick Seeler, though he took a year away from hockey and opted not to play in 2020-21, is a solid defender with plenty of pro experience that younger players can lean on and learn from - not to mention the fact that the lengthy absence from the game he loves probably has him chomping at the bit more than a regular off-season away from hockey would do to a player.

Again, it's only one day of training camp in the books, but it's the beginning of the 2021-22 roster starting to take shape. And what happens at the NHL-level will have a direct impact on how the roster at the AHL level will ultimately shake out.

While we wait (and while training camp continues with Day 2 and on...) there will be plenty more exclusive coverage, news, interviews and more coming your way. So stay tuned!