Aware of their position, Flyers resume practice full speed ahead

VOORHEES, N.J. – The calendar may say it’s only the dog days of mid-February but the standings indicate there’s a sense of urgency for the Flyers.
Which is why these practices during the tail end of the Olympics mean so much to this hockey team.
This was evident when all players except Olympians Travis Sanheim, Dan Vladar and Rasmus Ristolainen convened at the Flyers Training Center on Tuesday for the first of six scheduled practices.
Normally, these would be just your ordinary workouts, coming off an 11-day break due to the Winter Games in Italy.
But because the Flyers are eight points out of a playoff berth with just 26 games to play, the needle is pointing high on the urgency meter.
“With two divisional opponents (Washington, the New York Rangers) coming up (next Tuesday-Wednesday), there is urgency,” Noah Cates agreed after practice. “Definitely huge for us to get back into shape, the structure and things like that, everything we were lacking before the break.
“Get reset, refocused, dialed in for huge games in February and March.”
With head coach Rick Tocchet serving as an assistant coach for Team Canada over in Milan, Italy, assistant coach Todd Reirden is running the show in his absence.
Reirden acknowledges these practices will be important, given the fact the Flyers went 3-8-4 over their last 15 games.
According to Reirden, he has been in constant contact with Tocchet, going over the plans for practice. Both want the tempo of these practices to be extraordinary.
“We discussed that with the players today, meeting together before the start of practice,” Reirden said. “Just to let them know exactly where things stand. We had a Zoom call with ‘Toc’ (on Monday), went over our plan for every day.
“It’s the drills we want to use, everything we can do to maximize the situation, with some messaging – trying to improve some things structurally that have been deficient in our game, that we can attack right now.”
Reirden was pleased with how the players responded.
“We’re really excited about taking advantage of it,” the assistant coach said. “I liked the guys’ attitudes today, they were really high- end.”
The NHL trade deadline is coming up on March 6. Barring a significant trade, the current roster will be the one the Flyers go to battle with over the last two months.
“We realize where we’re at in the standings,” Reirden said. “Where things are, schedule-wise. Right now is part of the process. And today was part of the process of getting ourselves back up to speed. Every drill was done with a purpose and a reason behind it to be able to get the players executing at as high a pace as they possibly could.”
During this critical week, the Flyers know they have to make improvements in their power play and get their overall plus-minus back in the black.
“Tomorrow we’ll go after certain areas of our structure to improve,” Reirden said. “But that’s part of hockey. We know it’s going to be a sprint as soon as we get back a week from today to playing real hockey. That’s the challenge, to be able come everyday with the right attitude and the right plan in place to set up our players for success and team-wise, give us the best chance to have success here and grab points right away against Metro (Metropolitan Division) teams.”
Cates knows the Flyers (25-20-11) have their work cut out for themselves in March and April.
“The assistant coaches are doing a great job,” Cates said. “But at the end of the day it’s on you to be a pro on your break. Guys were doing stuff and getting ready. It’s your job, it’s important. It’s huge, every game coming out of this break.”

>Short shots

Goaltender Carson Bjarnason was called up from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms to practice with the team. With Vladar participating in the Olympics for Czechia, the Flyers wanted to have extra personnel around with Sam Ersson coming off injury. . .Reirden said defensemen Hunter McDonald and Oliver Bonk, recalled from the Phantoms, will be joining the Flyers in practice tomorrow. Bonk, a former first-round draft pick, might see some action with the big club down the stretch. “Super exciting,” said Reirden, “to see where these guys are at.”