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Vigneault Looking Forward To Normalcy With Flyers In New Season

By Ariel Melendez

TORONTO, ONTARIO - AUGUST 29: Head coach Alain Vigneault of the Philadelphia Flyers reacts against the New York Islanders during the third period in Game Three of the Eastern Conference Second Round during the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena on August 29, 2020 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ONTARIO - AUGUST 29: Head coach Alain Vigneault of the Philadelphia Flyers reacts against the New York Islanders during the third period in Game Three of the Eastern Conference Second Round during the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena on August 29, 2020 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
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The Flyers are less than 24 hours away from taking the ice in Voorhees for the beginning of training camp. There will be a lot of new faces and a lot of younger players looking to challenge for spots. And a sense of optimism and excitement follows this group.

And that is something that head coach Alain Vigneault discussed during his Tuesday afternoon press conference. There were a few formalities to get out of the way first, though. The Flyers had announced injury updates to Kevin Hayes, Wade Allison, Sam Morin on the NHL side along with Zayde Wisdom and Cooper Zech on the prospect side.

Allison was injured during the Flyers second rookie camp scrimmage against the Rangers. And rumors had sprung about Morin’s injury. But the Hayes news came as a bit of a surprise to most. After an early off-season sports hernia surgery, Vigneault mentioned that Hayes felt something in his groin during a skate on Monday. After an MRI, it was decided he needed surgery once more. With injuries to some key players, this will open the door for others to take advantage.

Morgan Frost will be one of those players. Vigneault mentioned that Frost, like other younger players, will be given the opportunity to show what he can do. He will get the chance to play with some veterans players due to the absence of Hayes. But for the first five days of camp, Vigneault expects to keep his lines the same. Finding chemistry on the ice will be important with the addition of a lot of new players.

And being able to return back to a sense of normalcy will certainly help that. The team has a full training camp and a slew of exhibition games to prepare themselves to return to an 82-game season.

"“We’re sort of back to normal. We’re back to normal the way we were my first year when I came here. Players have had a normal summer of training. Players are getting tested on and off the ice to see where their conditioning is. Players are gonna get the opportunity to show what they can do because we’ve got exhibition games. It’s a normal season. It’s planned to be an 82-game schedule. And that’s what I think everybody in hockey wants right now. And that’s hopefully what we’re gonna get here moving forward.”"

Conditioning will be a big factor as players, like Vigneault said, have been able to train knowing when they will be returning to the ice. There is already a sense of what that has been like as the younger players have gone through development and rookie camp. And after what Fletcher has done this off-season, it will be up to this group to prove that he made the right moves.

A big emphasis was put on team defense and adding veteran leaders with the additions of Ryan Ellis, Rasmus Ristolainen and Keith Yandle. Bringing in Cam Atkinson gave the team a proven shoot-first threat. Derick Brassard brings veteran depth to the bottom six. And Martin Jones adds that behind Carter Hart.

The Flyers will also be looking at some of their returning players to step up as well. And that includes a player such as Nicolas Aube-Kubel. Vigneault mentioned him by name as someone the team is hoping to get more out of this season. He brings a tenacity and physicality on the forecheck that they’ll be looking for this season.

The depth that this team now has will be even more important now that the league is returning to a full schedule. Add in this being an Olympic year, things are going to get challenging for all. So it’ll be up to Vigneault and his players to give it all they’ve got and step up to the challenges they’ll certainly face throughout the year.

"“At the end of the day, Chuck went out and got the job done. Him and his staff have come through for us. Now it’s up to me and my staff and my players. We have something to prove. And management has done their job, now it’s up to us to do ours. And I wouldn’t want it any other way.”"

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