Breaking down the remaining Flyers roster battles: Will Foerster, Brink, Zamula and Andrae make it?

The Philadelphia Flyers may have five more days until their final roster needs to be submitted to the NHL league office. But on Wednesday, they got a jump on providing significantly more clarity on how it will ultimately shake out.

More clarity, but not full clarity.

We now know who will be the the Flyers’ backup netminder behind Carter Hart for Game 1. We know that only two forward prospects still have a shot at nabbing a spot. And the same goes for defense, where just two youngsters will remain in camp along with the six veterans once all of Wednesday’s roster moves are completed.

So who has won a job? Who has probably won one? And which battle is so up in the air that not even John Tortorella knows how it will shake out just yet?

Goalie battle: Ersson wins it

There’s one competition that can officially be called: the backup netminder battle.

On Tuesday, Cal Petersen was placed on waivers with the aim of sending him down to the AHL after he cleared. That seemingly left Sam Ersson and Felix Sandström as the two goalies left standing.

John Tortorella made it clear on Wednesday that there actually was only one.

“Hartsy is our guy, Erss is backing him up. That’s where we’re at,” Tortorella bluntly stated. “They’re 1 and 2. I’ll stop that question.”

Sandström will stick around through the weekend, working with goalie coach Kim Dillabaugh and preparing for the season. But prior to Monday, when the final roster is due, Sandström will presumably be waived, and as long as he clears — which he likely will — he’ll be sent down to the AHL.

So your NHL goalie tandem to start the season is Hart-Ersson. That was simple.

Defense: A bit murkier but coming into focus

At practice today, the defense group was down to eight, as both Ronnie Attard and Adam Ginning were sent down. Neither was a major surprise — Ginning was fine but unspectacular in camp, and Attard probably had about the same quality of camp on average, just with higher highs and lower lows.

In theory, the Flyers could keep all eight defensemen currently still with the big club: Cam York, Travis Sanheim, Rasmus Ristolainen, Marc Staal, Sean Walker, Nick Seeler, Egor Zamula and Emil Andrae.

Will they? That’s another question entirely, with the statuses of Zamula and Andrae in particular still up in the air.

“I don’t know. I’m not sure,” Tortorella admitted when asked if they planned to start the season with eight defensemen on the roster. “We still have a week here before we play. I wanted those two to practice with us, Danny (Briere) agreed.”

Out of the two, Andrae appears the most likely to be demoted. Tortorella and the organization clearly love his upside. But Torts acknowledged on Wednesday that Andrae’s camp has been more mixed than truly outstanding.

“I thought played well in spots in the exhibition games,” Tortorella said. “Thought he had a really good third period — I foget who we were playing the other night — almost scores in the OT. He’s one of those guys that is gonna play a role in this somewhere along the way.”

“Somewhere along the way” doesn’t exactly scream “expect him in the lineup for Game 1.” The guess here is that by Monday, Andrae is in the AHL, with the knowledge that a strong start to his season with the Phantoms could quickly position him to make his NHL debut.

Zamula’s chances appear to be far better. Not only has Zamula impressed in camp despite returning from offseason shoulder surgery, he is no longer waiver exempt (unlike Andrae, who can be sent down to the AHL without fear of losing him to another team).

Had Zamula flopped in camp, the Flyers would have been more likely to write him off as part of their future. After all, he is already 23 years old, and coming off a disappointing AHL campaign in 2022-23. Instead, Tortorella seemed quite happy with his performance over the past few weeks.

“Played well. Still inconsistent in some certain areas, but he’s hard to look by with all his reach,” Tortorella noted. “He sees the ice really well. He sees the ice, but sometimes I think he’s too slow in making that play he sees. I’m not sure if he’s looking for another play or not. But it’s something I’ve talked to him a couple of times about — if you see that play, let’s get going. Just the quickness of it. That’s the key at that position.”

Zamula isn’t a finished product. But Tortorella pointed out that he liked the Zamula-Sanheim pairing that they tried out in multiple preseason games; don’t rule that out as a potential Game 1 duo. Tortorella made it clear that if Zamula makes the team — and right now, it looks like he has a very good shot — he’s going to play quite a lot, not merely serve as the No. 7 defenseman.

“Yeah, we just don’t want a practice player at that age,” Tortorella confirmed. “I believe in playing the kids. I don’t think there’s going to be many situations where we run into…’Well, we’re not playing him enough, let’s try to sneak him down (to the AHL through waivers).’ I don’t think we can go about our business that way.”

If Zamula is part of the final seven, he would have to push a veteran to the press box most nights, at least until injuries start to take their natural toll on the NHL lineup — meaning that one of Staal, Seeler or Walker could find himself as the extra blueliner to begin the year.

Tortorella appears fine with that possibility.

“Not going to forecast anything, but we’re all on the same page, myself, Danny, Jonesy, Dan Hilferty,” Tortorella explained. “We need to find out what these kids are and go with it, and take some lumps with it along the way.”

Forward: Foerster, Brink, or both?

Just as the defense group was cut to a theoretically palatable total of eight by practice on Wednesday, so was the forward corps trimmed down to 14, with Tanner Laczynski placed on waivers Tuesday with the aim of sending him down, and Tortorella confirming that Samu Tuomaala would also be assigned to the AHL once he has gotten over a minor injury.

Wade Allison? Still here. Tyson Foerster? Not going anywhere yet. Bobby Brink? Hanging on as well.

Could they all stay?

Theoretically, yes. Assuming that Sandström and Andrae are both sent down prior to the Monday deadline, the Flyers would have 14 forwards, seven defensemen, and two goalies — a perfectly compliant 23-man roster that fits under the cap.

But will they all stay? That’s a tougher question.

Tortorella implicitly acknowledged that if Foerster and Brink stay in the NHL, they need to be playing nightly, and on one of the team’s top three lines (getting eight minutes a night as a checker isn’t something they want for either of them). But Tortorella did leave the door open when directly asked if the Flyers would consider breaking up the projected fourth line of Nicolas Deslauriers, Ryan Poehling and Garnet Hathaway — perhaps by temporarily moving Swiss Army Knife Scott Laughton down to Line 4 and replacing one of them — to ensure that both Foerster and Brink get top-nine minutes.

“Haven’t even gotten there yet,” Tortorella admitted. “Because I’m not sure if… I’m just not sure what it ends up being Monday. You can ask me that question when we finalize things Monday.”

The guess here is that Foerster — despite the play of Brink over the past week in preseason games — still holds the inside track for a spot. His play in the AHL last season and during his eight-game NHL stint was just too impressive, and it’s not like he’s flopped in camp. Brink is a more difficult fit assuming Foerster makes the club as well. But if they give Brink one more shot in the preseason finale on Thursday and he lights it up, perhaps he forces them into doing something they really don’t want to do — namely, break up the Deslauriers-Poehling-Hathaway line — because he just made it impossible for them to send him down.

“I guess I’m kind of dodging the question, because we haven’t really come up with our answer yet, either,” Tortorella frankly acknowledged. “I’m not gonna give you the answer (when) I haven’t even talked to the kids.”

As for Allison, he would have to clear waivers in order to be sent down, and unlike Sandström, he very well could be claimed by another team looking for a power forward project with NHL experience who just may have gotten lost in the shuffle in Philadelphia. Still, there really isn’t a need to waive Allison, unless the brain trust decides that they want to keep both Foerster and Brink, and Zamula and Andrae. Allison turns 26 on October 14 and has 75 games of NHL experience — it’s not going to kill him to sit for a few weeks and wait for injuries or struggles to open up a spot for him in the nightly lineup.