Philadelphia Flyers: Playoff roster officially announced
The Flyers have the 31-man group that will be make their way to Toronto for the playoffs.
With the Flyers making their way to Toronto for the postseason, they officially have a playoff roster. The training camp group was cut down from 34 players to the 31 that boarded the plane earlier today.
There were not many surprises among the group of Flyers that made the playoff roster. Most of the group is the same from what the team put on the ice this season.
Other players are ones that have seen time with the team this season. There are also a few who haven’t played in the NHL, or even made their professional debuts.
The roster, from the Flyers official website, is as follows:
FORWARDS (17)
10 – Andy Andreoff
11 – Travis Konecny
12 – Michael Raffl
13 – Kevin Hayes
14 – Sean Couturier
18 – Tyler Pitlick
21 – Scott Laughton
23 – Oskar Lindblom
25 – James van Riemsdyk
28 – Claude Giroux
38 – Derek Grant
44 – Nate Thompson
48 – Morgan Frost
49 – Joel Farabee
62 – Nicolas Aube-Kubel
82 – Connor Bunnaman
93 – Jakub Voracek
This group of forwards confirms what Alain Vigneault made official a few days ago. Oskar Lindblom is heading to Toronto for the playoffs. His status is yet to be determined, but he has come a long way since December.
It’s uncertain what he will do in Toronto, but his energy will certainly bring a boost to the team. His addition to the roster could be one of the reasons that Carsen Twarynski did not make this final roster.
He spent some time with the Flyers this season, posting one goal in 15 games. The rest of the group ahead of him has appeared in more NHL games. So the team primarily went with experience.
DEFENSEMEN (10)
3 – Andy Welinski
5 – Philippe Myers
6 – Travis Sanheim
8 – Robert Hagg
9 – Ivan Provorov
15 – Matt Niskanen
53 – Shayne Gostisbehere
54 – Egor Zamula
59 – Mark Friedman
61 – Justin Braun
There are hardly any surprises with this group of defensemen. Zamula’s addition to the roster is the only one that is a bit of a shock.
He spent half of the season rehabbing after back surgery, so leaving him off the roster would have made sense. He has yet to make his professional debut, something he’s expected to do with the Phantoms next season.
GOALTENDERS (4)
34 – Alex Lyon
37 – Brian Elliott
67 – Kirill Ustimenko
79 – Carter Hart
The Flyers decision to take four goaltenders meant they had to drop an extra forward or defensemen from their original list.
Goaltenders were unlimited when it came to training camp, but they now count against the roster. So it is interesting that they decided to bring all four goaltenders with them.
Ustimenko made his professional with both the Phantoms and Royals this past season. He won’t play in the postseason unless the Flyers run into extreme goaltending problems. But he will gain some valuable experience.
Most of this group will get the chance to take the ice on Tuesday against the Penguins. Otherwise, some players will be there for the ride and in case the team runs into injury troubles. But this is the official group for the Flyers playoff run.