VOORHEES, N.J. – There is still a ways to go until the Flyers make up their minds on a final roster for opening night on Oct. 9.
But in the case of at least one hopeful player, all the signs looked positive at Tuesday’s practice.
Defenseman Adam Ginning worked out with the big boys on the east side rink of the Flyers Training Center.
That could be a smoke signal the Flyers are leaning in his direction to make the team when the games start to count.
When training camp began, one of the big question marks to be answered was who might fill the roster spot left open by the injury to Rasmus Ristolainen.
There have been several candidates so far but the 25-year-old Ginning’s play appears to have been the most impressive.
Maybe that’s why he wasn’t one of the 10 players assigned to the Phantoms on Tuesday afternoon.
“He’s been pretty steady in certain situations,” Tocchet said following the afternoon workout. “I think there’s some more there for him. But there’s enough there to say this guy’s got a shot.”
Ginning, a native of Sweden, was selected by the Flyers way back in the 2018 draft. He was a second-round pick (50th overall). It just took him awhile to make his way to North America. He didn’t start play with the Flyers until the 2022-23 season and still has only 11 games under his belt at the NHL level.
“There’s been some details from the meetings and the practices that he’s doing in a game,” Tocchet said. “I like that. The last two or three games I’m seeing things he’s picked up from the coaches. For me, that’s a good thing.”
Another thing working in Ginning’s favor: He can use his 6-foot-3, 196-pound frame in physical situations, something the somewhat small Flyer defense corps can use.
Ginning said he might have tried to do a little too much last season and that might have hurt his progress. With Tocchet seeing him for the first time, there might be less of a feeling of trying to impress.
“I think he’s who he is,” Tocchet explained. “And he’s trying to be good at that. He’s made mistakes but he’s corrected them. We’re all going to make mistakes. But I haven’t seen those mistakes the last couple games. He’s cleaning that stuff up. Good for him.”
The way it stands now, the defense pairings could look something like this:
>Cam York-Travis Sanheim
>Nick Seeler-Jamie Drysdale
>Egor Zamula-Ginning
As for the seventh and eighth defense spots, they will probably go to veteran free agent signees Dennis Gilbert and Noah Juulsen respectively.
“Hockey and lineups are a puzzle,” Tocchet said. “You’re looking for that fifth-sixth (pairing). . if Zamula is the fifth. The guy in that sixth spot has to be a penalty killer, got to be a guy who can defend. And if he’s big, that’s even better.”
Ginning was paired with Juulson for Monday night’s 3-2 shootout win at Boston. That unit seemed to work well.
“I think we played a really solid game,” Ginning said. “We play kind of a similar game.
“I want to be a steady defensive defenseman. Make hard plays. I think I’m having a pretty good camp. Today was good. Just keep building from that.”
>Roster decisions made
The Flyers sent the aforementioned 10 players to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms:
Forward Denver Barkey, forward Alex Bump, forward Alexis Gendron, forward Devin Kaplan, defenseman Emil Andrae, defenseman Helge Grans, defenseman Hunter McDonald, defenseman Ty Murchison, goaltender Carson Bjarnason, goaltender Alesei Kolosov. The roster now stands at 29 players.
Prior to the transactions, Tocchet said there some tough decisions to be made.
“You have these meetings during the day and now it’s close to crunch time,” the coach said. “Two (preseason) games left, you would like to play most of your (regular) guys now. The guys who had their chance might not get in now.
“There’s just not enough roster spots. There will be some tough decisions to make.”
Surviving the cuts were: Forward Nikita Grebenkin, forward Jett Luchanko and forward Jacob Gaucher.
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