VOORHEES, N.J. – Before people wonder if the Flyers can repeat last season’s surprise ending, maybe they should consider the advantages of having Rick Tocchet in his second year of coaching this team.
In theory, Tocchet should know a lot more about the players he inherited when he walked in the door at the Xfinity Mobile Arena a little over a year ago.
On the flip side, the players should have a better handle on their coach’s likes and dislikes.
One thing is for sure: It’s going to be fascinating to watch how these two factions perform once play officially gets underway on Wednesday.
“There is a blueprint to how we want to play,” Tocchet said after Sunday’s practice at the Flyers Training Center. “So if we go a little bit sideways, we can get back to our base. That’s the good thing about having a year with these guys.”
Of course, there have been a number of changes to the roster but most of the significant names are still on it.
“It’s only been a year and we’ve still got a lot of work to do,” Tocchet said. “But it does help coming to training camp knowing there are certain things where the guys expect and know what to do. Last year you kind of had to walk them through it.”
During practice is where all this might be most evident.
After Saturday’s somewhat “humbling” (Tocchet’s word) 5-1 preseason loss to Washington, there was some stuff to clean up a day later.
“This team practices really hard,” Tocchet said. “I really like that. Even if things don’t go well the night before, they put good work in. We talked about what we have to work on the last couple games. They’re trying to do it on the ice.”
Captain Sean Couturier knows the Flyers can’t be content with what happened last season.
“We know each other, we know our group, we know what we can do,” Couturier said. “But we have to push ourselves to another level this year. What happened last year was good but we have to do that year after year and have high expectations of ourselves.”
Couturier was asked about Tocchet’s post-game comments in which he said he was almost pleased the Flyers lost by a 5-1 score, because, he said, “sometimes you aren’t as good as you think you are.”
Small wakeup call before the season?
“Yeah, it can definitely give you a reality check,” Couturier said. “Keep us humble, keep us down to earth. And kind of remind us we need to put the work in to get some results. It was a learning lesson. An embarrassing loss that we can take some positives from as well.”
Travis Konecny is one of the veterans who seems to have picked up quickly on what Tocchet is looking for.
“Even though it’s the same team, the maturity we have, the growth we have just takes you that much deeper,” Konecny said. “When you can stick everybody together and come back with the same team, it’s really exciting.”
>Vladar still hopeful
No. 1 goaltender Dan Vladar took part in practice and everyone on the team is hopeful he will be available when the Pittsburgh Penguins hit town on Wednesday for the season opener.
Konecny was smiling when he spoke about Vladar.
“There was no doubt for me he was going to be back and ready to go,” Konecny said. “Good to see him out there.”
Added Tocchet: “I wouldn’t say he’s a hundred percent but he’s very hopeful.”
>Lines set
The Flyers are close to putting their final lines together. On Sunday, Konecny, Alex Bump and Christian Dvorak skated together.
“It could be a really good line for us,” Tocchet said. “You’ve got shooters on the line. TK is a good forechecker, ‘Bumper’ can shoot the puck. ‘Dvo’ is responsible.”
>Short shots
Denver Barkey and Nikita Grebenkin did not skate. “They’re both kind of day-to-day,” Tocchet said. . .The Flyers open with a fairly tough schedule. “I think you want to get to your game as quick as possible,” the coach said. “We’ve got to get summer hockey out of our head. Just like every
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