The 2021-22 NHL season is just a day away from starting as teams have begun announcing their rosters to open the campaign. To start, the Flyers will have a 21-man roster heading into their four-game homestand. They will hit the ice on October 15th, giving them a few more extra days than most teams.
They will open the season against the Vancouver Canucks before they welcome in the Seattle Kraken on October 18th. The Boston Bruins made their first trip to Philadelphia on October 20th. And the Flyers will complete their season-opening homestand against the Florida Panthers on October 23rd.
To round out their final roster, the Flyers had a few final cuts to make. Jackson Cates, Nick Seeler, and Cam York have been loaned to the Phantoms. Garrett Wilson, who would’ve needed an NHL contract to stay, has also been sent back to Lehigh Valley. With the Flyers having little cap space to keep extra forwards or defensemen, it was hard for most of these players to stick around.
In sort of a surprising move, the Flyers claimed Vegas forward Patrick Wilson off waivers. He will start the season in the NHL, having appeared in 33 career regular-season games between Vegas and Carolina. Brown also played in 14 playoff contests during the 2020-21 season, recording two goals in 12 games. for the Knights. He appeared in four games the team last season, recording no points.
Known more as a career AHLer, Brown has played in 403 games at the minor league level, five with the Hurricane’s AHL affiliate and parts of the last two with the Knights’ affiliate. He has 63 goals and 154 points in those 400+ games.
Flyers 2021-22 Opening Night Roster
Forwards:
11 – Travis Konecny
13 – Kevin Hayes*
14 – Sean Couturier
19 – Derick Brassard
21 – Scott Laughton
23 – Oskar Lindblom
25 – James van Riemsdyk
28 – Claude Giroux
38 – Patrick Brown
44 – Nate Thompson
62 – Nicolas Aube-Kubel
86 – Joel Farabee
89 – Cam Atkinson
*While the team appears to not be placing Kevin Hayes on season-opening long-term injured reserve, he will not be available for the first few weeks of the season. He has begun skating and the team is optimistic he will return on the shorter end of the original six-to-eight-week timeline.
Defense
3 – Keith Yandle
6 – Travis Sanheim
9 – Ivan Provorov
61 – Justin Braun
70 – Rasmus Ristolainen
94 – Ryan Ellis
Goaltenders
35 – Martin Jones
79 – Carter Hart
The Flyers also placed the following seven players on injured reserve or injured non-roster:
51 – Ryan Fitzgerald
54 – Egor Zamula
55 – Samuel Morin
57 – Wade Allison
58 – Tanner Laczynski
60 – Zayde Wisdom
68 – Cooper Zech
The season kicks off this Friday as the Flyers have four new forwards, three new defensemen, and one new goaltender on the roster to open the campaign. They will continue to build chemistry as they’ll look to return to their play from the 2019-20 season.