The much-anticipated arrival of Flyers training camp is only days away with prospect/rookies camp Monday and veterans hitting the ice Friday.
CSNPhilly.com has been addressing some questions and issues leading up to the camp. Perhaps none, however, are more intriguing than the one fans have asked repeatedly since the end of last season:
Which Flyers defensive prospect figures to be on the opening-night roster?
It’s a complicated question weighed down by the fact the Flyers already have eight defensemen on one-way contracts.
General manager Ron Hextall has admitted that he's tried since last spring to free more salary cap dollars on defense and gain roster space in the process.
And while he was able to move Nick Grossmann’s salary this summer — the Flyers retained $500,000 in the bizarre Chris Pronger/Sam Gagner trade with Arizona — they still have too many bodies and too much salary on their blueline — nearly $25 million of their overall $71.4 million cap.
The names challenging for a spot are familiar: Sam Morin, Shayne Gostisbehere, Travis Sanheim, Robert Hagg and newcomer Ivan Provorov, the club’s first-round pick from last June’s NHL draft.
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Among the scouts who see these players regularly, there is no real consensus as to who might be further along.
Some think it’s Ghost. Some say it’s Sanheim. Others say it’s Morin, who increasingly reminds you of a young Pronger.
And yet, several scouts at the draft flatly predicted Provorov would play for the Flyers this season.
This much is certain: Only one of these players nearly made the roster last season. That was Morin, who was the final cut at the end of camp.
Never in their entire 48-year history have the Flyers had so much future talent on the back end.
Fact is, they are so deep now it’s likely one of these players eventually gets traded simply because he won’t crack the Flyers' lineup, regardless of his NHL-readiness.
An embarrassment of riches perhaps, yet one where the Flyers need to start enjoying it at the NHL level.
“You can put any young player on your team,” Hextall said over the summer. “I won’t mention teams, but if you look at the history, you can put players on your team and melt them through the year. But … is it the right situation for their development?
“Does a guy get boxed out here on defense? I guess it’s a possibility. Someone comes into camp and lights it up. Then we will do what we can to create a spot.”
So who has the inside edge?
Right now, it appears to be the 6-foot-7 Morin, who predicted at development camp in June that he will wear orange and black this season.
“I go into camp and sure, I want to make this team,” Morin said. “Looking at these guys, I’m not impressed any more. My first year I was impressed, but not anymore.
“When we do a scrimmage on ice, I feel really good and I’m confident. I need to prove myself on the ice and in the camp and enjoy it. It’s going to be fun.”