Via multiple onlookers in Voorhees, here’s how the Philadelphia Flyers lineup looks as training camp officially kicks off today:
Brayden Schenn – Claude Giroux – Jakub Voracek
Matt Read – Sean Couturier – Wayne Simmonds
R.J. Umberger – Vincent Lecavalier – Michael Raffl
Jason Akeson – P-E Bellemare – Zac Rinaldo
Braydon Coburn – Andrew MacDonald
Nicklas Grossmann – Mark Streit
Luke Schenn – Michael Del Zotto
Nick Schultz – Brandon Manning
For now, Scott Laughton is not even skating with the NHL group.
In my opinion, this is one of the better lineups the Flyers could potentially break camp with this year. There’s much to be desired on defense, and ideally one of the young kids plays so well that the team can’t send him down, but there are weeks for that to play out. Otherwise, this is basically as good as we’re going to get.
Up front, this is just about perfect. I’d probably make Rinaldo the 13th forward, bump Bellemare to the wing and have Laughton center that fourth line, but that doesn’t seem all that likely. It’s certainly worth keeping a close eye on if Laughton moves from the prospect group to the veterans group in the coming days, but right now, with Lecavalier and Bellemare both lined up as centers, Laughton appears to be the odd-man out.
That LW1 spot occupied by Brayden Schenn is still very much up for grabs, too, and we shouldn’t be surprised if we see a bunch of guys cycle through there as camp progresses. The fact that Schenn’s there on Day 1 is probably enough to indicate that he’s the front-runner to win that job, though.
