VOORHEES, N.J. – Officially, Brad Shaw and Rocky Thompson are listed as Flyers head coach John Tortorella’s assistants.
Unofficially, there’s one more: Erik Johnson.
While Johnson is still playing for the team, his 16 years of NHL experience practically make him a third option as a sounding board for Tortorella’s staff.
The Bloomington, Minn. native, acquired in a trade with Colorado last March, can analyze games and situations with the best of them. One 10-minute conversation with Johnson and you’re willing to bet he’s going to be a coach someday.
It’s also a good wager that the Flyers brought him back for the very purpose of helping tutor some of the team’s younger players this season, especially on the back line.
For his part, the 36-year-old Johnson wants to give the Flyers a shot at a full season of his expertise.
“It’s such a special organization,” he said at the Flyers Training Center. “It’s a storied franchise. If you look at the facilities, the leadership, they really do it right.
“As an older guy, you just want to be at the rink here. It’s such an awesome group of guys – coaches, management, staff. It’s a place I felt strongly about. I wanted to return, I really loved it.”
It’s that sort of sentiment that has the Flyers believing they can end their four-year playoff drought.
“You just can’t help but get better here,” Johnson said. “For me, I think I can help these guys. I’m not going to be an everyday player but helping them with my experience, I’ll be happy to do that.
“I’m a guy that loves to be at the rink. This is a place that you just want to be at everyday. It’s a cool place to be and a place I wanted to return to.”
The Flyers’ defense is on the rather young side. Early 20s players such as Egor Zamula, Cam York and Jamie Drysdale can use all the mentoring they can get.
Johnson was part of the Avalanche’s 2022 Stanley Cup championship and knows the qualities of a winning operation when he sees one.
The Flyers pretty much proved the doubters wrong when they almost made the playoffs last season. Maybe this year they can take that last step.
Do they have the right stuff?
“I think it varies,” Johnson said. “For me, I look at the group of guys and it doesn’t seem like a complacent group to me. It really seems like a group that wants to get better.
“For example, if we had a 10 o’clock meeting, I see guys here 90 minutes, two hours early, working on stuff. That’s not something you see necessarily often. Here, you see guys who are really willing to put in the work.”
It makes a difference when players are dedicated to their craft. That’s an ethic which shouldn’t be taken for granted. Johnson has seen the flip side on other teams.
“Sometimes you play with guys who get there as late as possible and leave as soon as possible,” Johnson said. “I don’t really get that sense here. I set the sense of a group of guys who are really driven. For me, that was the exciting thing to return here. I think there’s a lot of growth here, growth that I can help with.
“I think this is a group which wants to keep getting better. And that’s cool.”
>Michkov paired with Frost
For the first day of intrasquad scrimmages, Russian rookie Matvei Michkov, a left wing, was paired on a line with veteran center Morgan Frost.
“It’s exciting to have the chance to play with him,” Frost said. “I think we were having fun out there. ‘Tipp’ (Owen Tippett) and I are pretty familiar with each other. We’ll see what happens moving forward.”
It might take some time for this line to develop some chemistry if it stays together.
“I think I have to shoot more,” Frost noted. “Because I think his playmaking ability is really good. As long as we’re using our creativity, I think we can probably read off each other.
“He’s obviously super skilled. You see a bunch of videos, hear everyone talking about him.”
