Philadelphia Flyers: Previewing positional training camp battles

Centers

A few weeks back we discussed the battle for the third line center spot and the possible contenders for that position. Besides the goalie battle, this will be the position most watched by fans and the media. The argument could be made that there are young defensemen that deserve that level of recognition, but we’ll get to that.

The Flyers need to find a competent center to play on the third line with Wayne Simmonds and most likely Lindblom or Michael Raffle. This battle will be hotly contested between several players, most notably Jordan Weal, Frost, Scott Laughton, Vorbyev, and Jori Lehtera.

Lehtera doesn’t figure to be much of a contender, as he seems best fit for a fourth line role at this stage of his career. The real battle should come down to Frost, Vorobyev, Laughton, and Weal.

Weal was a name that was thrown out a few months back by Hextall, who mentioned that Weal could be a darkhorse candidate for the open 3C spot. Weal, despite playing center for most of his career, has spent nearly all of his time as a Flyer on the wing.

Frost is the guy to watch in this situation. he’s the Flyers’ other highly coveted prospect next to Hart. He also will probably get a long look in this camp, and has a decent chance to force the Flyers’ hand in keeping him here should he be that much better than everyone else. Vorobyev is another interesting player to watch, as he possesses some dynamic skills of his own and has been impressing the coaching staff thus far.

Between Weal, Frost, Laughton, and Vorobyev, the Flyers have a nice group of players that they can choose from. It stands to reason that all four players have a good chance of obtaining a bottom six role somewhere, even if it’s not the 3C.

Laughton is a guy that seems to have been groomed for this position for years but has never been able to take a stranglehold over it. He’ll get his chance, and it very well could be his last opportunity to prove his worth to the organization.

Whichever player ends up landing the role should ultimately be a better option than anyone the Flyers have had over the past two-three years. The Flyers can’t afford to get any worse here, and it looks like they’ll have a solid group of players from which to choose from.