In a peculiar move from head coach Rick Tocchet, the Philadelphia Flyers are looking like they'll be lining up without one of their most exciting young prospects on opening night.
In a peculiar move from head coach Rick Tocchet, the Philadelphia Flyers are looking like they'll be lining up without one of their most exciting young prospects on opening night.
Based on PHLY's Charlie O'Connor's reporting of Nikita Grebenkin not taking part in line rushes in Flyers practices over the last few days, we can deduce that the 22-year-old isn't going to make his official Flyers debut against the Florida Panthers in Sunrise on Thursday night.
Instead, Tocchet and Co. will continue to roll with Rodrigo Abols and Garnet Hathaway on the fourth line, with either Nick Deslauriers or Jett Luchanko drawing in there.
Virtually everything else remains unchanged at forward from the Flyers' preseason finale against the New Jersey Devils on Saturday, with Christian Dvorak playing with Sean Couturier and Matvei Michkov and Owen Tippett staying with Trevor Zegras and Travis Konecny.
Grebenkin played in a variety of important roles for the Flyers this preseason, including with Zegras and Michkov and jumping in next to Noah Cates and Bobby Brink.
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Strangely, the affable Russian hasn't seen much power play time despite his obvious skills when playing close to the net, and he appears to be out of the lineup entirely for Thursday's game against Florida, even after arguably being the Flyers' most impressive forward this preseason.
At 6-foot-2, 205 pounds, Grebenkin isn't exactly small and should have no issues holding his own against the defending champion Panthers
O'Connor did add that Tocchet expects to get Grebenkin in the lineup at some point, be it Thursday or Saturday, and that he needs to play.
The problem, though, is the Flyers are seemingly going through this daily deliberation process twice now--first with Luchanko, who has to play in the NHL or return to the OHL, and Grebenkin, who has given the Flyers no reasons to pull him from the lineup.
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Based on merit, there is no real rhyme or reason that the former Toronto Maple Leafs prospect should be out of the lineup, which has and will aggravate Flyers fans further as their impatience for improvements and a winning team grows.
Time will tell if Tocchet's choice proves to be the right or wrong move, but Flyers fans have seen this movie before, including as recently as last season. It's an important first test to pass if Tocchet is to build early trust with a disenchanted fanbase.
Category: General Sports
