Philadelphia Flyers: Younger players set for bigger roles

The Flyers have a lot of young players who could hold prominent roles heading into next season.

Always a team with a high-end prospect system, the Flyers are looking for some of those younger players to have more of an impact next season. They already had a handful make their NHL debuts and score their first NHL goals.

But it could be more than that moving forward. The likes of Joel Farabee and Nicolas Aube-Kubel have already found their roles on the team. Though, the latter will be looking for a new contract for next season.

Add in players like Morgan Frost and Mark Friedman as prospects looking to crack the NHL lineup. Both have had a taste of the NHL before. Friedman hasn’t looked out of place during his short stints with the Flyers.

And Frost started off well with two goals in his first two games. He tapered off a bit, unable to make the same creative plays that he could at the junior level. But the Flyers will give him the chance to bulk up and try to steal a spot on the roster.

Linus Sandin, the 24-year-old forward, will be looked at as well. The Flyers were able to snag the top Swede during the season pause. Currently playing overseas, Sandin will have a strong chance to make the team. That’s likely a big reason he chose to sign here.

You’ve got players like Tanner Laczynski and Wade Allison who recently signed their entry-level contracts. The two will likely need some AHL time to start, but could impress enough down there to earn call-ups. Of course, that is true of any of the Flyers younger players. The potential is there with this group.

“Our young players have size. They have skill. They’ve got will. We have quite a few of those young players that are scratching the surface as far as talent potential. They can all get better and they all proved this year that they can get better.”

And you cannot forget some of the younger Flyers who already have made their mark on this team. Even though they’ve established themselves already, players like Ivan Provorov, Travis Konecny, Oskar Lindblom, etc, still have room to grow as well. While they aren’t considered a part of said prospect group anymore, they’ll be looking to take steps forward as well. Even Carter Hart likely has an opportunity to get even better.

A lot of what the team is able to do this offseason can and will dictate where some of the players above start. With a tight cap the next few seasons, Chuck Fletcher’s hands will be tied a bit. But there is a belief in what the Flyers have.

Shedding some money will be necessary and the team may have to get creative with it. They currently sit with 8.9M in cap space according to CapFriendly. And that is with a large amount of restricted and un-restricted free agents to sign.

They won’t all be back and some decisions will have to be made. With the trust the Flyers have in their youth, we could see this team get a lot younger very soon.