Winners and Losers from 2023 Philadelphia Flyers Development Camp
The Philadelphia Flyers’ 2023 Development Camp kicked off on the wrong foot when Cutter Gauthier declined his invite, but plenty of others still impressed.
Development camp is an exciting time for the Philadelphia Flyers and Flyers fans, and especially more so as of late. Plenty of prospects, such as the likes of Tyson Foerster, Bobby Brink, and Emil Andrae, all have legitimate shots at making the Flyers’ NHL roster in 2023.
Bobby Brink and Tyson Foerster are both facing uphill battles to make the NHL roster strictly because of the Flyers’ roster composition. The Flyers already have righties Owen Tippett, Cam Atkinson, Travis Konecny, Wade Allison, Garnet Hathaway, and Tanner Laczynski on the roster. The former three are already established on the Flyers roster, which seems to leave Foerster and Brink competing for Allison’s spot. Laczynski is 26 now and has been in and out of the Flyers lineup and hasn’t earned regular minutes.
Loser: Cutter Gauthier
One player who will have less competition than the rest of his peers is 2022 fifth overall pick Cutter Gauthier. Gauthier made headlines this week when he declined his invitation to the Philadelphia Flyers’ development camp. Gauthier is well within his rights to do so, but it’s a comment that Daniel Briere made in regards to it that sounded some alarms.
In regards to why Cutter Gauthier bypassed camp, Briere said “We’ll find out a little bit more. We’re trying to figure out why he didn’t want to come, but at this point I’m not too worried about that”. This could very well just be politicking to keep things in house, but on the surface, not knowing why your top prospect is skipping camp is a bit concerning.
To this point, there’s been no indication that Cutter Gauthier wishes to leave the Philadelphia Flyers organization. He remains on their reserve list and the team will have until August 15, 2026 to sign him. There’s also an NCAA rule that a pro team can only cover a development camp once, which the Flyers did with Gauthier already last summer. If Gauthier wanted to attend this summer, he’d have to cover his own bases. However, with no competition in his way, it would’ve been nice to see Gauthier at development camp.
There’s been external debate about whether the Boston College talisman is a winger or a center at the pro level. It’s likely the Flyers want to know the same, and this would’ve been a great step towards finding the answer alongside his future teammates.
Winner: Emil Andrae
Out of all players coming to the Philadelphia Flyers’ development camp, Emil Andrae might have had the most to prove, and boy did he shine.
Standing at just 5’9″, Emil Andrae’s size is a major concern as a defenceman. Yet, Andrae’s strength and work ethic allows him to play like he’s 6’9″, a la Zdeno Chara. Andrae has looked mean and physical on the ice during development camp, and prompted development coach Riley Armstrong to say that “He kind of looks Kimmo Timonen out there”. That’s some high praise for Andrae, who is yet to make his NHL debut at age 21.
Emil Andrae also (accidentally) injured center Elliot Desnoyers with a hit during a board battle in Wednesday’s session. Fortunately, Desnoyers was healthy enough to skate Thursday, and participated in the scrimmage finale.
Andrae’s prospects of making the Philadelphia Flyers’ roster are still a bit dim, and carry some implications. If Andrae doesn’t make the Flyers’ roster outright, it will be up to his Swedish parent club HV71 Jonkoping to decide whether Andrae goes to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms or rejoins HV71 in Sweden.
Still, beyond Travis Sanheim and Cam York, there won’t be much competition standing in the way of Emil Andrae. Recently signed Marc Staal and holdover Nick Seeler are veteran options, but shouldn’t block the feisty Swede from making his mark in Philly.
Loser: Egor Zamula
Because Emil Andrae is a winner, someone else has to be a loser as a result, and unfortunately that’s how the cookie crumbled for Egor Zamula.
Zamula, like compatriot Cam York, has quietly impressed at both the AHL and NHL levels. Then, a shoulder injury sustained on March 31 prematurely ended his 2022-23 season. The Flyers saw enough of Zamula to extend him for another year, but now the 6’3″ Russian blueliner has a lot of hurdles to clear to land an NHL roster spot.
The Philadelphia Flyers failed to close on any trades for Travis Sanheim before his full no-trade clause kicked in on July 1. That means that Sanheim and Cam York are penciled in as #1 and #2 on the left side of the Flyers’ defense. At this point, #3 is anyone’s game. Marc Staal, Nick Seeler, Emil Andrae, Zamula, Will Zmolek, and newcomer Victor Mete will all be vying for a position with the Flyers come September, and Zamula’s shoulder surgery already has him behind the 8-ball.
Lastly, the Flyers must be very careful in their handling of Egor Zamula this season. Zamula is no longer waiver-exempt, so once he goes up, he cannot go back down without passing through waivers. On the other hand, Marc Staal’s cap hit is $1.1 million, and the threshold for an AHL burial penalty is $1.15 million. If the Philadelphia Flyers send Staal down, he won’t count against their cap.
There is a path to regular NHL minutes for Egor Zamula, but he’ll have to jump through hoops to get there, starting with beating out Emil Andrae.
Losers: Wade Allison and Tanner Laczynski
Bobby Brink and Tyson Foerster have both looked excellent in the Philadelphia Flyers’ development camp, and that can only mean bad news for the veteran duo of Wade Allison and Tanner Laczynski.
Wade Allison and Tanner Laczynski both played a decent chunk of games for the Flyers last season – Allison played in 60 whilst Laczynski got in on 32. However, a paltry 26 points were scored between the two. The Flyers’ power play finished dead-last in the National Hockey League in the 2022-23 season, and their lack of depth played a huge part in that.
On the flip side, Bobby Brink and Tyson Foerster have flat-out dominated at development camp. Brink produced several highlight reel moves to either create a scoring chance or put the puck in the net himself. Less than a year removed from hip surgery, Brink looks quicker and more electric than ever.
Tyson Foerster, on the other hand, got the runaround this week when he had to change from #18 back to #71 because of the Marc Staal signing. #18 definitely has the look and feel of an NHL regular’s number, but it doesn’t seem like that will hold Foerster back all that much.
Foerster’s shot is as good as it’s always been, and he’s been putting it to work in development camp. Based on some of his practice reps and extensive work with Patrick Sharp, it seems like the Philadelphia Flyers already have an outline of what they expect Foerster’s role to be with the Flyers this year. That role is going to be putting a lot of pucks in the back of the net.
Winners: the Philadelphia Flyers
With the way development camp went this year, it’s difficult to identify any real negatives for the Philadelphia Flyers organization. Even without Cutter Gauthier, the other prospects pulled up their boots, went to work, and impressed.
Players like Bobby Brink and Tyson Foerster proved to the Philadelphia Flyers why they should have a permanent position on the NHL roster. Emil Andrae took camp by storm and put Nick Seeler, Marc Staal, and Egor Zamula on the hot seat. Center prospects Zayde Wisdom, J.R. Avon, and Elliot Desnoyers all took steps forward at a position of need for the organization. Wildcards like Samu Tuomaala and Alex Bump were also very impressive and will be knocking on the door in the near future.
Matvei Michkov and Yegor Zavragin figure to join up with the team at this camp sometime in the future, but fellow draftee Oliver Bonk got to work right away and showed off his defensive skills. Bonk’s play at development camp really showed his NHL lineage, and proved that the moment wasn’t too big for him just a week removed from being drafted.
Almost all the aforementioned names will be seeing NHL ice time in the near future, and it’s only a matter of time before they bring joy back to the Wells Fargo Center as members of the Philadelphia Flyers.