Nick Piccone
The Flyers are flying under the radar it seems heading into the 2016-17 season. The Sixers and Eagles have stolen all of the headlines, but the Flyers are in a great position in the league, and in a really tough Metropolitan Division, to make some noise this season other than barely squeaking into the playoffs.
I’m excited for the season to start, even though the Flyers won’t have a home game until October 20. And I’m even more excited because Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol gave me a lot of hope that we’ll see Ivan Provorov in a Flyers jersey on October 14 for the season opener.
Hasktol joined SiriusXM NHL Network Radio with Boomer Gordon on Wednesday as part of the station’s NHL preview series. Here are some highlights, followed by the audio.
On Ghost:
“One player doesn’t make any one team go. But he, for sure, made a difference with us … I think when he came in, he added a boost. He added a jolt. Especially from the back end. You know how important it is to have some offensive production from the back end. I’d say it’s a combination, I think it was the right time for our team but also obviously he’s a highly talented young player and he likes to make a difference in the game.”
On scoring balance:
“I think we improved. I really do. I do. That’s one area I think we improved in … We have to continue to grow and develop. As we continue to grow here from within, we continue to improve as a group, you know, we got to do a better job. And a little bit of that is from the forward group and a little more balance and also some of that is from the back end as well and becoming a little more active and generating a little bit more from the back end which I think we did the last couple months of the year.”
On 3-on-3 overtime:
“That first 3-on-3 was chaotic. I can remember that first one [Tampa Bay] – it felt like it was absolute chaos. No matter how much you try to prepare for it. I think one of the things that we found as we went through the year is that you don’t have to win that 3-on-3 in the first shift. You have to have a little bit of patience to your game. You obviously got to be in attack mode, but there’s gotta be some patience and intelligence to the way that you go about it. We’re a pretty good 3-on-3 team and I give all that credit to the group of players. We have some very talented players that are competitive and they went out and got the job done.
“On the flip side, the shootout is something I heard a lot about coming in last summer. We still got a ways to go. We gotta be a little bit better there. Hopefully we can move in the right direction.”
On the goaltending:
“With Mason and Neuvy, they developed into just a great tandem … They want the net. They want to be in there. They’re very, very competitive. Both Steve and Neuvy are very competitive in that way but they also were good teammates … If one went through a bit of a tough time, it seemed like the other was there to pick him up. And ultimately as we went through the year, we had outstanding goaltending. Especially when we went through that stretch run and Neuvy had given us some great games and went down with the injury. Mase stepped in and played a dozen games in a row and ultimately helped us get into one of the last playoff spots. So I hope that’s something that will continue as we get to camp and into the early part of the year.”
On Brayden Schenn:
“He’s a guy that works very hard at his game. I don’t know if you know that about Brayden. He does, he works hard and studies his game and he’s a proud young man. There was some ups and downs through the early part of our year. I think as he and I got to know each other a little bit better, certainly I learned a lot about him. Just seeing him – he’s a young guy that’s played a lot of games in this league – yet, he pushes hard every day to improve. I think there’s still another step for Brayden to take in terms of his overall game, and I think we’re going to continue to see that.
“Our team didn’t score much in that playoff [series] against the Washington Capitals. But one of the guys who led the way in terms of the intensity and the level of his play is Brayden Schenn. To me, that was another step in his maturation and another step towards becoming a leader for our group.”
On the recent draft picks as a whole:
“Everybody is in development camp. Obviously, German [Rubtsov] was not here. He’s the one guy that was not. We really like the mix, not only in this year’s draft, but if you add that to the last couple of years, I’ll tell you what, our development camp this year was impressive. Seeing the growth of the young guys from last year and the year before, seeing this year’s group and the mix that they bring, there is a distinct plan that’s in place. There’s a lot of good people that are working hard at it. There’s a group of draft picks that know they’re not all gonna be here, but from within that group, there’s a lot of quality people and players that are going to push over the next couple of years.”
Was he impressed with Ivan Provorov’s season in the WHL [with the Brandon Wheat Kings]?
“Yes. Absolutely. I think it was the ideal spot for him. Most importantly, his mentality and his attitude towards going in and having a tremendous year in the Western Hockey League, I think that was the real catalyst. He had a tremendous year, he had some great experiences, and no question, it was a great developmental year for a very mature young man.”
Integrating the young prospects into the Flyers’ lineup sooner than later:
“Training camp’s gonna tell us a lot about that. Is Ivan Provorov ready to be the guy that steps in? Ivan’s the guy that probably receives the most discussion. But you can throw in [Travis] Sanheim, [Robert] Hägg, [Sam] Morin, you know, there’s a lot of young guys that had a pretty good year last year. Obviously, they can’t all be here at the same time, but training camp will tell whether one of them is ready to step into the National Hockey League and help our team win.
At the end of the day, that’s where the decision will be made. It will be made in camp. And is it the right thing for our team? Are they ready to help us? And is it the right thing for the player?”
You can listen to the entire interview below. At the 12:45 mark, you can hear bonus audio with Brayden Schenn after he signed his extension with the Flyers.
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