Previewing Flyers rookie camp -- Who could make the NHL roster?

After five long, hot months, Philadelphia Flyers hockey returns this week. Well, in a sense.

The first game of the regular season is still a full month away. But starting Thursday, members of the organization will hit the ice at the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees for formal activities, as the rookie portion of camp kicks off.

So what is rookie camp? Basically, it’s a time for the Flyers’ prospects and young players to perform without the pressure of competing against the NHL veterans, who will start main camp next week. In addition, it gives the prospects an early chance to impress key members of the organization, both in practices and in the two rookie games this weekend in Allentown, where they’ll be facing the New York Rangers and their youngsters.

And for a few key attendees, it’s an opportunity to make an early statement: I’m here to earn an NHL job right now.

Not every player who will hit the ice on Thursday has a real chance of grabbing an NHL opening night roster spot. In fact, the vast majority know full well that it’s an impossibility. But a select few understand that standout performances in the rookie games could go a long way towards giving them an advantage over their competition entering main camp.

So which of the 25 rookie camp attendees deserve the most attention this week? Let’s break them up into six distinct groups, from those just happy to be here, to those truly gunning for an NHL job.

Camp invites

Five of the six of the rookie camp invites also attended development camp in the summer (goalie Nolan Maier is the only exception), and there are a few interesting potential prospects in the group. Fouchon is still just 19 and scored 65 points in 53 games in the QMJHL last season, though he has been passed over in two straight drafts. Brown is Devin Kaplan’s teammate at BU, and racked up 47 points in 39 games, though he is already 24 years old. Sedley has some backers in the scouting community as an undersized but skilled RHD, though he’s been passed over in three drafts.

Most likely, there isn’t a Philippe Myers or Egor Zamula at this camp, who gets signed to an entry-level contract on the strength of his work in front of the Flyers’ brass, and then turns himself into a quality NHL prospect. But the camp invite group isn’t completely devoid of upside.

Here for the lessons

Denver Barkey

Alex Ciernik

Alexis Gendron

Oliver Bonk

Matteo Mann

Carter Sotheran

Carson Bjarnason

All seven in this group will have short stays at Flyers camp — the six Canadian junior players are locks to be returned to their CHL clubs, and Ciernik will return to Sweden’s Allsvenskan in short order as well. No one in this group has a realistic chance of making the big club, or even taking a longshot run at an NHL roster spot.

That said, it’s still an intriguing group. Bonk is one of the team’s top prospects. Barkey and Ciernik are talented mid-round picks from this summer that barely had the opportunity to participate in the on-ice sessions at development camp due to injuries. Bjarnason is one of the organization’s best goalie prospects. While none of them will be reaching the NHL anytime soon, it’s far from impossible that one or more could make a strong positive impression in the rookie games this weekend and open the eyes of future-focused fans.

Aiming for a good start

JR Avon

Samu Tuomaala

Zayde Wisdom

Mason Millman

Ethan Samson

Will Zmolek

This group is filled with players who also enter camp without a realistic shot to make the big club. But the difference between these six and the previous seven is that this group won’t be heading back to juniors, or to Europe. They’ll be ticketed for Allentown, at least to participate in Phantoms training camp and try to earn their ways onto the Lehigh Valley roster.

For them, it’s not about winning an NHL job. It’s about building momentum for their looming seasons. Samson and Avon are kicking off their first professional campaigns. Tuomaala is about to begin his first full year in North America. Wisdom is trying to bounce back after a severely disappointing 2022-23 campaign, and put himself back on the prospect map. Zmolek has just one season to convince the organization that he’s worthy of further investment after being signed as a college free agent out of Bemidji State back in March. Millman has just one more year left on his ELC and has yet to become even an AHL regular; he needs to take a big step this year or else his time with the organization will come to an end as well.

Winning a spot in the NHL lineup isn’t the focus for this crew — not yet. For now, it’s about putting themselves on the path to earning that coveted job down the road.

Serious longshots

Bobby Brink

Helge Grans

It’s not completely out of the realm of possibility that Brink or Grans secures an NHL roster spot. Brink made his NHL debut back in 2021-22, after all, and Grans has two full seasons of AHL hockey to his credit. If either (or both) has a dominant camp from start-to-finish, he’ll be in the mix.

That said, it would take a perfect storm for Brink or Grans to make it. Brink didn’t even get a late-season NHL audition in 2022-23, hinting that the organization wasn’t exactly thrilled with his play for the Phantoms despite solid production (28 points in 41 games). He’d also have to overcome a stacked RW depth chart to battle his way onto the 23-man Flyers roster, jumping players like Tyson Foerster and perhaps even Wade Allison as well. As for Grans, he’s a new face in the organization, sent to Philadelphia as part of the Ivan Provorov trade. Not only might it take him time to adjust to his new surroundings, he’s also coming off a thoroughly disappointing 2022-23 campaign. He’s not exactly entering rookie camp flush with career momentum.

Grans is physically ready for the NHL, however, and Brink certainly has the raw offensive talent to have a preseason scoring surge and rocket up the organizational depth chart. Both players would have to dramatically exceed expectations to lock down a spot, but they’re at least on the outskirts of the realistic mix.

Truly battling for spots

Elliot Desnoyers

Emil Andrae

Adam Ginning

And now, we reach the players at rookie camp legitimately in the mix to nab NHL roster spots.

Out of the group, Desnoyers probably has the best shot. His versatility — he can play both center and wing, and projects as a bottom-sixer, at least to start — helps his case, as does the fact that he made a strong impression on the entire organization last season, both in the AHL and during his NHL stint. However, he won’t be handed a spot, especially with all of Nicolas Deslauriers, Garnet Hathaway, Ryan Poehling, Wade Allison and Tanner Laczynski fully capable of taking on the fourth-line roles that Desnoyers will be looking to win.

If Desnoyers excels at camp, the Flyers will find a spot for him. But he’s going to have to break down the door, not simply walk through it.

The two Swedish defensemen also are facing fierce competition. Right now, the Flyers have six clear-cut NHL defensemen on their projected roster — Travis Sanheim, Rasmus Ristolainen, Cam York, Marc Staal, Sean Walker and Nick Seeler — and then a seventh in prospect Egor Zamula who is no longer waiver-exempt, meaning that they’d risk losing him for nothing if they try to send him down to the minors at the end of camp. In other words, there aren’t any obvious spots available for Andrae or Ginning. And that’s not even counting Ronnie Attard, who won’t be attending rookie camp but will be trying to make a big push at main camp for a spot.

That said, both Andrae and Ginning appear very close to NHL readiness, with Andrae the higher upside player of the two. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that the Flyers begin the season with eight defensemen on their roster if one of the Swedes stands out at camp, pushing a vet like Seeler or Walker to the bench for Game 1. There’s also the threat of camp injuries, which could open the door for one or both of them. They’re right on the cusp, and rookie camp is huge for them to begin to make their cases for NHL jobs.

The favorite

Tyson Foerster

Is Foerster a lock to make the Flyers out of camp? Of course not. Look at Cam York last year, who was seemingly penciled into a third-pair role alongside Justin Braun and ultimately didn’t even make it to final cutdown day. A tentative performance from Foerster over the next few weeks, and the Flyers won’t hesitate to send him back to Lehigh for more seasoning. They proved as much last year with York.

But if Foerster looks anything like he did during his eight-game NHL stint at the end of 2022-23, he’ll cruise to a roster spot.

Yes, the Flyers’ NHL depth on the wing is deceptively strong. But even with Cam Atkinson back from his neck injury, it’s not difficult to slot Foerster into the team’s top-nine at RW, as long as one of Travis Konecny or Owen Tippett moves over to the left side, as they’ve both done in the past. Sure, Foerster will have to beat out other top-nine wing contenders like Brink and Wade Allison, and that won’t be easy. But the organization is going to give him every chance to do just that.

Now, it’s on Foerster — who has been training in the Philadelphia area most of the summer — to seize that opportunity. It all starts this week at rookie camp.