Tortorella’s ‘biggest battle,’ York eats a hit but shows poise and more on Flyers originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
VOORHEES, N.J. — The Flyers held a pair of scrimmages on Day 2 of training camp Friday.
John Tortorella wasn’t putting much stock into them.
After all, there are 60-plus healthy players in the Flyers’ camp and Tortorella didn’t see any of them touch a single puck on Day 1.
He’s even just getting to know some of their names.
The head coach’s real roster evaluation will begin with exhibition action, which kicks off Saturday when the Flyers welcome the Bruins to the Wells Fargo Center (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP+).
“I’m not going to base decisions on intrasquad scrimmages like this,” Tortorella said Friday, “but it gives them a chance to play.
“That’s my biggest battle right now, is just getting familiar with the team and the personnel.”
Let’s get into three observations from Day 2 at Flyers Training Center.
The preseason plan
Tortorella will not be behind the bench for the Flyers’ first four preseason games. He’s going to watch from the team’s management suite up top.
The plan is to have AHL affiliate head coach Ian Laperriere and his staff coach the first two exhibition matchups, then Flyers assistant coaches Brad Shaw, Rocky Thompson and Darryl Williams will coach the following two. Tortorella, along with his assistants, will coach the final two.
“That gives us an opportunity, at least for me, to really take a long look from upstairs,” he said. “Because I like looking at intangibles, I like looking at things that go on away from the play. And the only way you can see that is upstairs.”
Tortorella was not keeping an eye out for intangibles during the scrimmages.
“I want to wait until it’s against another team that they didn’t just have a breakfast with,” he said. “But I get to familiarize myself with the people.”
General manager Chuck Fletcher and his staff will put together the lineup for the first three preseason games.
“I give them the first three games because I think it’s important for them to see some of the kids,” Tortorella said. “Chuck’s in charge of the whole organization, he needs to kind of put pieces together as far as where they sit and give people opportunities. Chuck has done that. We’ve got three games, there may be some changes, but I like the management group to put those together.”
You can find the Flyers’ camp and preseason schedules right here.
Skating doesn’t stop
Each scrimmage was a little under an hour. The two…