The Flyers submitted their roster to the league office by 5 pm this afternoon as required which included 21 players. They were also required to be under the salary cap and reports have them with $25,000 or $36,000 remaining in cap space as of right now. NHL teams are allowed to carry 23 players on their roster during the season.
They are expected to use their LTIR on Chris Pronger tonight when it is permitted by the league which will free up additional space. The specific amount is not known until the player receives the designation but it should be up to 4 million at least. Once they are able to use the designation, they are expected to make at least one move by opening on Wednesday which would be to bring up center Adam Hall who was sent down to the Phantoms along with defenseman Bruno Gervais in order to get under the salary cap.
The General Manager Paul Holmgren reportedly said he expected to carry 22 players on opening night. Whether they decide to add a 23rd player by then or at some other point during the season is unknown. There have been various rumors that they would sign defenseman Hal Gill who's tryout contract expires at midnight tonight. Some rumors have said they wanted him under minor league contracts. Some have said they expected Gill to be signed to an NHL contract once the shell game and paperwork went through. Reportedly Holmgren is saying that he has not made any decision about Hal Gill.
We don't know if the Flyers want to sign him on a minor league contract (I don't know if there's room on Adirondack and I don't intend on trying to crunch what options they have there) and Gill is amiable to that or not. We don't know if they will sign Gill to an NHL contract. One thing to keep in mind is that will take some of the LTIR allowance and the Flyers may want to keep as much as possible of that available for an unspecified period. Injuries both on the Flyers and possibly even on other NHL teams (which would present a trade opportunity potentially although it is a longshot)could be a factor.
The primary reason the Flyers may want to add Hal Gill is for emergency depth on defense.
With all that said and this is obviously subject to change, here is the expected lineup with line combinations and pairings:
Lines 1-4 (As always subject to change by Laviolette who does change things up during the season but this is what he has been going with lately and it makes sense also for now)
Left Wing Scott Hartnell, Center Claude Giroux, Right Wing Jake Voracek
Left Wing Brayden Schenn, Center Vinny Lecavalier, Right Wing Wayne Simmonds
Left Wing Max Talbot, Center Sean Couturier, Right Wing Matt Read
Left Wing Jay Rosehill, Center Adam Hall or Scott Laughton, Right Wing Zac Rinaldo
Note: The decision to play the rookie Laughton vs veteran Adam Hall on opening night especially may be difficult. It's at home also and they obviously want to get off to a good start. One of the factors is Scott Laughton made the team and can only be sent back down to his junior team Oshawa in the OHL. If you are going to look at Laughton, you obviously do want to play him and he did play for up to 5 games at the start of the last season (lockout shortened) but the Flyers also did not have Adam Hall. There also may be some benefit to him practicing up here as well because there are limits
Reportedly he can be here up to 9 games before his entry level contract would begin so the Flyers want to see how he does before deciding what is best for both the team and him. The General Manager Paul Holmgren reportedly discussed that today which I am paraphrasing.
They could go with Laughton opening night no question. My guess is Hall on opening night. I would have guessed they would activate Hall and Laughton and put Hall on the left wing instead of the fighter Jay Rosehill but reports were Laughton and Hall alternated at center at practice today with Rosehill and Rinaldo before Hall was sent down I guess.
Defensive Pairings
Kimmo Timonen, Braydon Coburn
Mark Streit, Luke Schenn
Andrej Meszaros, Nic Grossman
Head coach Peter Laviolette could play Erik Gustafsson instead of Meszaros on opening night. They actually need to get both of them some ice time. Gustafsson because he is a young player who still needs more experience and Meszaros because he is once again returning from injury and has struggled with various injuries so they will need to get him into shape. I am guessing but maybe they alternate them game activations or maybe spell Meszaros with Gus at least for a while.
They want to make sure their young players get ice time so I know Gustafsson will see some action if he is not the primary 6th defenseman over Meszaros. The Flyers did not want to risk exposing Gustafsson to waivers to send him to Adirondack. They no longer have the option of sending him down without waiving him.
Goaltenders
Ray Emery, Steve Mason
I expect Emery to start over Mason opening night but this decision has not been made yet supposedly.
That is 20 players who will probably dress.
I will guess Laughton is dressed opening night but it is a guess. That would mean Hall would most likely not dress although I still think Rosehill should not dress.
I will guess that Gustafsson does not dress for the opener.
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