John Tortorella and "The Rope" kick off Flyers training camp

Day one of training camp and not a puck to be found. Welcome to John Tortorella's rope skate. And if you aren't aware of what that is, then boy are you in for a journey.

In year three, most players are familiar with what the skate entails. "The Rope" is brought out and tied to the goals at each end. The objective for the players is to skate laps around the ice without crossing over the rope that lies in the middle.

Nobody likes the rope. Some have threatened to hide it or even burn it the next time they see it. The rope has no friends but has been with Tortorella for years. So maybe Tortorella is its only friend.

Some, like Jamie Drysdale, experienced it for the first time. And like most, he gutted it out to finish.

I’d say it lived up to everything that I’ve heard about it. It was a grind, it was really hard," Drysdale said after his first rope experience. "Definitely a mental and physical battle, but I can say I left it out there so that's nice. But yeah, it was real tough.

The grinding and grueling test isn't something you can prepare for. Couturier mentioned he tried to simulate the skate for a few reps during his offseason training. But nothing you do is going to prepare you for that first day. It's such a demanding skate that it can mess with your training so you just come in ready to get it done and over with.

Leading up to it, you just want to get through it. It's physical, it's mental, probably a little more mental honestly," Couturier said. "I almost feel like I might've done better last year a little bit. Maybe better technique, I feel like I gassed myself a little bit early.

Couturier took a few friendly pushes from Travis Konecny on the way. But overall felt the day was good and was happy that no one lapped him.

Is there a method to get through the skate? Rasmus Ristolainen had an....interesting way of sharing his strategy.

I just go balls out the first rep, and then we'll see what happens after. Try to finish.

The purpose of the skate isn't to burn players out or make them race against the clock. Tortorella has spoken about what he is looking for in these skates and what they can help with during the season.

When he first introduced the Flyers to his skating test, the goal was to help them prepare for the grind of late-season play. If you can keep up now, your body will be in better shape to push through the pain when the games get tougher.

And for Tortorella, it's not about who can skate the fastest or who can make it through without struggling. He is more than okay with players struggling, no matter how ugly they look when they do it. Take Massimo Rizzo as an example.

You see Rizzo at the end? His strides were this big. Like I tell them before the skate, I don't care what it looks like. I really don't give a s*** about the times. I just want you to finish the skate. I don't want you to give in. And I watched Rizzo out there...Cam Atkinson was one of the worst for me, but Rizzo was even worse for me because his strides were about that big. But he finished, so that's high marks for me.

Tortorella also commended Cam York for being able to gut it through the skate despite barely making it. And Matvei Michkov pulled up short in the beginning but straightened up after a few words from his coach. That's the kind of effort Tortorella is looking for. It's not about how you get through it, it's about getting through it.

The real work will begin as the Flyers aim to take another step toward rebuilding. But at least they can all come together on how much they hate the rope test. Even if they can admit it does bring everyone together.

It's a good day to get out of the way," Couturier said "It's good bonding, though. You see everyone grinding through the pain and it's something to kind of build off day one.