ALLENTOWN – At first glance, the Flyers’ roster for defensemen looks fairly well stocked for the upcoming season, which could create quite a traffic jam among the prospects in waiting.
In addition to young players with a taste of NHL experience such as Ronnie Attard, Adam Ginning and, to a lesser degree, Emil Andrae, you have talented newcomers such as Oliver Bonk, Hunter McDonald and Helge Grans.
All four of the latter names were in the lineup for Saturday’s Rookie Series game against the New York Rangers youngsters at PPL Center.
Heading into next week’s opening of official training camp, Attard and Ginning would appear to have the inside track in case there’s an injury callup situation, a trade, etc.
Yet a year or two down the road, some of these kids could get a real shot at a regular position, either here or with some other NHL team.
Prior to the tilt with the Rangers, Lehigh Valley Phantoms coach Ian Laperriere offered appraisals of a couple of the promising defensemen.
McDonald has been particularly impressive. The 6-foot-4, 235-pound native of Fairport, N.Y. has been throwing his weight around with abandon and there’s always room for a guy who can deliver a big hit or take one.
“I’m impressed with ‘Mac,’ he put weight on,” Laperriere said. “He put 20 pounds on and he looks faster. He did the work (over the summer), he looks good.
“My feeling with a guy like that, putting that much weight on, he’s going to get better every day. I’m amazed you can put that much weight on in one summer and it’s not fat. To put on that much muscle and the way he’s moving out there, it’s impressive.”
The key part of McDonald’s game is dishing out big hits and getting under the skin of opponents’ major players.
“He’s going to be in your face,” Laperriere said. “He’s going to have to fight, the way he plays, let’s be honest. So when you do weigh 235, it’s a big advantage when you need to fight the big guys.”
McDonald split time between Northeastern University (NCAA) and the Phantoms last season.
A lot of that year was spent learning when and when not to deliver a big hit.
“The first game back (a 4-3 shootout loss to the Rangers on Friday), it was finding out that line of when to be physical and when not to be,” he said. “Just kind of let the game come to you. I’m all right there. It’s fun to be physical. That’s what I try to bring to the team.”
Part of that deal is chirping after the whistle.
“I try to stay focused on playing,” he said with a grin. “I know that (baiting) will come. Hopefully if they are worried about what I’m doing, they won’t be focused on the game.”
As for Andrae, the 22-year-old Swede has impressed coaches with his steady play. He managed to get into four games with the Flyers last season and didn’t disappoint. He’s a bit on the smaller side at 5-foot-9, 194 pounds but he makes up for it with a physical style.
“He’s a little bit faster this year,” Laperriere noted. “It’s really going to help him joining the play.”
Like the rest of the Flyers, Andrae got off to a slow start in Friday night’s game against the Rangers but came on strong in the later stages.
Andrae changed his offseason training program and the new approach seems to be working.
“I always trained with my team back home before,” he said. “I did a lot of off-ice training. You’re trying to translate it into the on-ice, too.”
There’s no question the 2020 second-round draft pick (54th overall) believes his time is coming.
“I’m pretty hungry,” he said. “I’ll probably have the same mentality I had last year when I came in here. Now I feel like I know a lot more than I did when I came here last year, more experience.”
Andrae was asked what he believes are the final hurdles to making the NHL.
“I have to be more consistent,” he said. “I feel like I had a lot of ups and downs during the year, especially in the beginning. During the season I learned a lot. I felt like I had a little different mentality at the end. I tried not to get too low, too high. . .not try to be a hero every game.”
In 61 games with Lehigh Valley, Andrae registered five goals/32 points.
During that four-game trial with the Flyers, he received some words of encouragement from head coach John Tortorella.
“We had a good talk after the game in Vegas before I got sent down,” Andrae said. “He told me I had to play more minutes for my development. I didn’t really feel like I was on my game and he felt like it was too fast. He was happy, he was positive. He told me if I continued to develop, I would probably be up there again.”
