In preseason finale, Foerster and Andrae make final cases as roster takes shape

At long last, the Philadelphia Flyers’ 2023 preseason slate is over. The next time they hit the ice for game action next Thursday, the outcome will actually mean something.

Thankfully.

That’s not to say that the Flyers’ 5-2 victory over the New York Islanders on Thursday night completely lacked meaning. With final rosters not due until Monday, decisions still need to be made regarding the last couple cuts so that the Flyers can reach the 23-man player limit.

Thursday may have been a veteran-heavy lineup for Philadelphia. But a few key prospects did get one last chance to make the case to head coach John Tortorella that they are indeed NHL ready.

1. Foerster makes progress; was it enough?

The Flyers could have chosen to let Tyson Foerster and Bobby Brink “battle” one more time in the preseason finale on Thursday night, if as assumed, there is only one spot available in the top-nine for the two of them.

Instead, Brink sat, depriving him of one final chance to impress. Foerster, on the other hand, wasn’t merely in the lineup — he started out alongside Sean Couturier and Joel Farabee on Line 1.

Is it possible that Brink had already won an NHL roster spot, and Foerster’s inclusion was less an endorsement and more a sign that he still had more to prove? Sure. But given the fact that Tortorella noted earlier in the week that the preseason finale would be close to a dress rehearsal for Game 1, it seems more likely that Foerster simply needed to avoid a total flop on Thursday, and he’d be in the opening night lineup.

There was no flop. It wasn’t the big offensive breakout game that Foerster surely wanted, but never did have at this camp. But it was a measurable step forward for him. Foerster was significantly more active on the PP than during his other preseason appearances, even if he didn’t score a goal. He won battles along the boards, forechecked well, and even picked up a secondary assist, his second helper in four preseason games.

“I thought tonight was my best game so far,” he said.

Tortorella agreed.

“I thought he played really well,” the Flyers head coach said. “See, I know he doesn’t have the points. But I thought he had a good camp, and did a lot of the little things that I’m looking for, too.”

Tortorella spoke of Foerster on Thursday night as if he was a player not going anywhere anytime soon, even noting that “if he scores a goal or two” he’ll be able to relax more. It sure seems like Foerster is going to get the opportunity to score those goals up at the NHL level, rather than be asked to do it in the AHL first, but we’ll find out for certain come Monday.

2. Players missing on the outside looking in?

Foerster sounds like he’s going to be on the final 23-man roster. But does that mean that Thursday truly was a dress rehearsal, an early preview of the Game 1 lineup, and if a player wasn’t included, he’s not long for the roster?

“Now, if you’re going down the line of you think this is our starting lineup, I’m not sure,” Tortorella contended on Thursday morning. “I still don’t know what it is.”

Brink was the most surprising absence, given his clear momentum following his extremely productive weekend. On the strength of his work from Friday of last week through Monday of this one, Brink has a compelling case for a roster spot. But if Foerster makes the club and the Flyers keep their fourth line of Nicolas Deslauriers, Ryan Poehling and Garnet Hathaway together, it’s difficult to see where Brink fits in the Game 1 starting lineup — and if he’s not playing nightly in the NHL, then it makes little sense to keep him around.

Egor Zamula also proved unable to crack the lineup, even after Rasmus Ristolainen was a late scratch due to a minor injury. Instead, Emil Andrae got the call, raising a legitimate question as to where Zamula truly stands with the coaching staff entering the final days of camp. Still, Tortorella’s comments on Zamula from Wednesday — that they don’t want him to be a “practice player” (a regular healthy scratch) and did worry about the possibility of losing him on waivers — hint that Zamula does have a real shot of not only making the roster, but starting Game 1. Zamula’s status truly is a wild card at this point.

As for Wade Allison, he unsurprisingly did not dress for the final preseason game, but unless the Flyers have designs on having both Bobby Brink and Emil Andrae make the team in addition to Foerster and Zamula, there’s little reason to waive Allison and risk losing him for nothing. The best guess here is that Allison begins the season on the NHL roster, but serving as a healthy scratch, waiting for his shot.

3. Andrae continues to progress

Emil Andrae didn’t have a perfect camp or preseason. Not by a longshot.

That’s part of what Tortorella likes about him, though.

“I thought he made a bunch of mistakes, but right after he makes a mistake, he makes a good play,” he explained on Thursday night. “I don’t think he’s afraid of anything. I don’t think he’s afraid to make a mistake. I like a lot of things about him.”

Like Foerster, Andrae didn’t have the full-fledged breakout game that he surely wishes he had — Saturday night against the Devils was probably the closest to it. But he regularly showed flashes of brilliance: a slick outlet pass, an accurate stretch pass, a timely offensive zone activation, a zone entry denial. He apparently did enough to remain in the roster mix as camp nears its end.

Andrae’s biggest recurring issue throughout camp was his struggles in dealing with pace. When Andrae had the puck — particularly behind his own net on the breakout — he was occasionally flummoxed by how quickly opposing forecheckers would challenge him. When he didn’t have it, he sometimes took bad angles to try and chasing down opposing puck carriers, and instead watched them blast by him instead.

“I think sometimes he struggles with some of the quickness and the sticks that are used in the National Hockey League,” Tortorella agreed. “I think it has a little bit to do with the size of the building, that they’re on you quicker.”

Andrae isn’t a burner, so he’s going to need to perfect his angles and speed up his decision-making process to take full advantage of his other impressive tools. Whether the Flyers will let him do that here in Philadelphia, or task him with cleaning up the rough edges of his North American game in Allentown first remains to be seen.

4. Fourth line looks set in stone

The reason why it’s so difficult to imagine both Foerster and Brink making the final roster in the top-nine roles that they’ll need? Because that would necessitate either scratching a player assumed to be a lineup lock (such as Scott Laughton or Joel Farabee) or benching one of the three members of the team’s projected fourth line, dropping someone like Laughton down to replace him.

After their work on Thursday night, however, it’s pretty hard to imagine Tortorella breaking up the Deslauriers/Poehling/Hathaway trio.

Hathaway in particular shined against the Isles, directly creating a goal first with a fantastic forecheck to separate his man from the puck, and then shortly thereafter, feeding Deslauriers with a slick pass from the below the goal line. Poehling showcased his speed — as he has all camp — and Deslauriers was Deslauriers, throwing his weight around constantly and crashing the net. In a little over eight minutes together at five-on-five, the trio racked up 11 shot attempts and allowed just a single one. Not bad for the final game of preseason.

5. Cates with low-key stellar preseason, finale

Last training camp, all eyes were on Noah Cates. It made sense — in 2022, he was the intriguing young prospect trying to build off an impressive late audition the season before and nab a roster spot.

Cates, of course, cruised to a spot, with Tortorella even giving him “best player at camp” honors. And even though Cates didn’t receive nearly as much attention at this year’s camp, he yet again was a standout — even when he had little to prove.

Thursday night was his best game of the exhibition slate. His first period goal was classic Cates — he blocked a shot up at the point, sending the puck the other way, and then made himself a target for a Travis Konecny pass on the ensuing counter-rush, easily beating Varlamov to the far post. But it went beyond the goal — Cates drew a penalty, did creative passing work below the goal line on the power play, and looked the part of the dangerous offensive weapon that Tortorella believes he can become.

“The thing I liked about his camp and especially tonight, I thought he made some really good offensive plays,” Tortorella pointed out. “I’m looking forward to seeing him play again this year.”

Cates, as Tortorella noted once again on Wednesday, scored 38 points last season despite being a rookie trying to master an unfamiliar position while taking on top-line matchups. How many might he score with an increased comfort level at the center position and in the NHL on the whole? Torts can’t wait to find out.