Five Flyers Prospects That Need to Be Called Up

After the trade deadline, the rest of the season will wind down. The Flyers will have to evaluate where it is moving forward. Coach John Tortorella even said as much when he mentioned that it is time to face reality that this team is not making the playoffs.

It’s not that this is a bad team. The fact that they remained near .500 hockey this far into the season is an incredible testament to Tortorella’s leadership and some outstanding play at times, especially by their goaltending. However, they are in a very tough division, they have had a multitude of injuries this year, and are sorting out which young players can contribute on a daily basis at he NHL level.

With an eye towards the future, the Flyers will be calling some players up as rosters expand after the trade deadline. This will give the playoff bound teams some flexibility so star players don’t get hurt and allows the teams whose season is going to end shortly a chance to bring up some young players to see what they have to offer. With that in mind, here are five players that we should be excited to see come up soon.

Bobby Brink

The Flyers second round pick in 2019 came out with a bang last year. In 10 games, he had four assists, but played with a lot of energy and a physical nature that caused a lot of fans to sit up and take notice. And then this offseason, he got hurt. It happened soon after Joel Farabee was injured and made you wonder if this team was snakebitten from the start.

Brink took a while to rehab and get ready. As a result, he’s played in just 22 games for the Phantoms. However, in those 22 games, he’s scored six goals and notched 10 assists. Not bad for someone who’s missed most of the season. It will be nice to see how that skill level translates to the NHL right now.

Tyson Foerster

2020’s 23rd overall pick was named to the AHL All-Star game to represent the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Foerster has scored 18 goals with 18 assists in his first full season in the AHL. The 21 year old was sidelined last year with a broken leg and appeared in only nine games for the Phantoms.

But his scoring touch is on fire. And with Travis Konecny out right now, the Flyers could certainly use a player of his caliber shooting from the outside.  This is his time to prove he belongs and he could play himself into a spot on next year’s lineup; especially if other young guys like Morgan Frost fizzle out.

Jackson Cates

Noah’s older brother does not have the same upside that he does. But Jackson has his own set of skills. He was an undrafted free agent straight from the college ranks. He is not a natural scorer, but he has scored 10 goals this year for Lehigh Valley.

He tracks out as a Scott Laughton, steady kind of player. He’s not going to dazzle you, but he can read the ice and set up the play that’s coming. That can be dangerous when you factor in young guys like Cam York and Elliott Desnoyers who can do the same, but with a speedy touch. Put him on a line with Foerster and Brink or Owen Tippett and Konecny, you may have the foundation of a formidable line brewing. He’s not as flashy as some of the other prospects in the Flyers organization, but he does have some skills that this team can use right now.

Egor Zamula

He’s been up. He’s been down. He’s been all around. It’s time to see what Zamula has. Is he as good as he has been billed up to be? The undrafted prospect performed well for the Calgary Hitmen of the WHL, scoring 56 points as a 19 year old in 2018-19. In 33 games for the Phantoms this season, he has one goal and 13 assists. He’s also been up for 11 games with two assists.

Zamula has shown a lot of promise in the minors. That hasn’t translated a whole lot at the NHL level, but to be fair, he hasn’t been given a lot of time to showcase what he has to show. Maybe some more consistent time other than an injury call up will prove whether or not he is going to be a star defender for the future or not.

Ronnie Attard

Much like Zamula, there has been much noise about him coming up through the ranks. Attard was a third round pick in 2019. He played three seasons in Western Michigan University. In his final year, 2021-22, he scored 13 goals with 23 assists and then made the jump to the the Flyers where he scored two goals with two assists.

Attard is producing in the AHL right now with eight goals and 16 assists. He also represented the Phantoms at the AHL All-Star Game. Attard could become an impact player, like York has. And if Zamula can join them, they could form the core of a young defensive corps that could make players like Ivan Provorov, Rasmus Ristolainen, and/or Travis Sanheim expendable.