Flyers' final roster decisions appear to have been made

In the penultimate game of the preseason, the Flyers are icing what appears to be their opening night roster. With only about a week left until the games mean something, teams will use these final games to iron out the kinks in their lineup.

While Rick Tocchet wasn't ready to commit to this group being his final one, it's as close as things are going to get. Some tweaks may be made between now and next week, but the group playing together at Xfinity Mobile Arena has spent the last few days working together.

Teams must have their rosters down to 23 players. Including injured players, the Flyers roster sits at 27. But including only the healthy ones, the team is down to 24. This means that they only need to make one more cut to have a compliant roster for opening night. Seems easy enough, right?

Well, it depends on which direction the Flyers lean in. They could make that cut on offense and start the season with 13 forwards and 8 defensemen. Or, another player on the backend could be the final cut, and the team enters the year with 14 forwards and 7 defensemen.

The players on the outside looking in appear to be Rodrigo Abols, Jett Luchanko, Noah Juulsen, and Dennis Gilbert. The only other two skaters who took part in the non-game group skate were Lane Pederson and Karsen Dorwart. Both had been recovering from injuries and have been sent to the AHL.

Based on previous comments, Tocchet appears to want to carry eight defensemen to begin the season. And that could be because none of the players on the bubble have stood out enough to make a decision. So he wants to roll with the ones he has now in hopes that everything will work itself out. It's not the best move in the grand scheme of things and forces a tougher and maybe unfair decision to be made.

That specific decision will come on offense. Abols had previously appeared in every preseason game, a sign that Tocchet and the staff were taking a close look at what he could do. For someone who played five games in nine nights, he rose to the occasion more than a few times. But that may not be enough. Even though he has done a solid job in the opportunities he has been given, Tocchet isn't fully sold to this point.

Whether or not this is a fair criticism of Abols' game could be argued. If this is Tocchet's way of justifying why he's keeping eight defensemen on the roster, it's unfair to what Abols has done this preseason. He deserves to make the final roster.

That brings us to the Luchanko of it all, though. The Flyers are in another situation where they must decide if Luchanko is ready to step into the NHL. If not, they are forced to send him back to Guelph in the OHL. The rules allowing a team to send a 19-year-old to the AHL will not kick in until next season. While the Flyers may not directly admit it, that is certainly playing a role in this decision.

Wanting to have a closer eye on his development, the organization is likely wary of sending him back to Guelph, which is still not expected to be a contending team. Not to mention the Storm have already named a new leadership group, leading to an assumption that they don't expect Luchanko back. That may be nothing, but it's interesting nonetheless.

It's also possible that Luchanko potentially making the roster is coming from someone other than Tocchet. That is also speculation, but it wouldn't come as a surprise either.

There is one game remaining so the decision may not be final. Abols and Luchanko could get one more game to battle it out. But context clues lead us to believe that the Flyers have made their call on who will start the season in the NHL.