Kieffer Bellows to debut for Flyers on Saturday

Claimed off waivers on Thursday, Kieffer Bellows will make his Flyers debut when the team takes on the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday. The former first-round draft pick has found it hard to stick in the NHL since being drafted by the Islanders in 2016. He now has a fresh start with a coaching staff that doesn’t know much about him coming in.

Fresh starts are something that players talk about often when they are brought into a new organization, a new system, etc. It’s something that can help them shake old reputations or any thoughts that a team may have previously had about them. That’s exactly how Bellows is viewing this chance with the Flyers.

“I think fresh start is the best way to go about it. That’s what I’m trying to do, go out there with an open mind and play the right way for coach…I’m excited for the opportunity here and to get a kick start with the Flyers.” Bellows said after Friday’s optional practice.

The Flyers obviously see something in Bellows simply based on the fact that they claimed him. This will also be a situation for him where he could have the chance to be in an NHL lineup for an extended period of time. He did spend most of his season with the Islanders last year, but he was only in the lineup for about half of the games.

This won’t be a situation where he can just expect to play, though. He’s going to have to earn his ice time as there will be plenty of other young players looking to keep their spots. They know that Bellows is here to challenge that. Things like that can help as well when you have that internal competition between players who are still trying to show a team what they can do.

The Flyers have clearly built this team to focus more on the youth movement while still having those veteran leaders around to help lead the way. Bellows becomes yet another player under the age of 25-years-old to suit up for the team this season.

“Obviously the young guys here have made a big impact on this team and I don’t think that could happen without the veteran leadership here as well from those guys that have been around awhile. It’s a good united group between veterans and young guys.”

Tanner Laczynski remains out, decisions to make on defense

It was only an optional practice on Friday so we won’t know exactly where Bellows slots into the lineup until tomorrow. But we do know that the Flyers are expected to return to a normal 12/6 roster against the Hurricanes. Tanner Laczynski remains out of the lineup for now so Bellows will just simply shift into the lineup in that regard. Tortorella didn’t know at the moment which defensemen would come out.

It’s tough to use a situation like the one against the Panthers to determine that. When you’re playing seven defensemen, ice time is going to be all over the place for some players. Egor Zamula was a causality of that, only skating a total of 6:41 after appearing in just over 17 minutes the previous game.

Tortorella has talked about his excitement in regard to working with Zamula and what he’s able to bring so it would be tough to see him come out of the lineup. But he did make quite a few mistakes against the Panthers that also may have led to his limited ice time. Florida outchanced the Flyers 11-0 with Zamula on the ice.

In fact, Philadelphia didn’t have any offensive opportunities in the limited time he was on the ice. Tortorella did say that it seemed like some players were getting overwhelmed against Florida, potentially eluding to Zamula’s lack of ice time.

The player coming out of the lineup could also be one of your bottom-pair defensemen who may not exactly deserve it. Justin Braun continues to be as advertised, a steady and reliable player who you tend to not notice much. Nick Seeler gave the team a huge boost when his blast from the point was tipped in by Zack MacEwen. He has also played well enough to keep his spot in the lineup.

It may come down to Zamula simply being the odd man out this time around. After a rough game, it could also be a quick chance to reset and watch things from above. Having that chance to breathe isn’t necessarily a bad thing for a young player like Zamula. That was only the 19th game of his NHL career. So there is plenty of time for him to continue to develop and learn what is going to make him successful at this level.