Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
For all intents and purposes, it is basically NHL hockey season. Well, almost.
The Philadelphia Flyers are currently in the heart of rookie camp, but full team training camp is set to begin on Wednesday, September 12. The Flyers will even play their first preseason game this Sunday. It’s almost the most wonderful time of the year for hockey fans, which means time to delve deeper into which rookies to watch out for during camp.
It’s clear that Scott Laughton is one of the top rookies on the team, but with the Flyers’ pending signing of Dan Cleary, it is likely he won’t get a spot on the roster this season — at least not right away.
Defenseman Mark Alt and winger Petr Straka are also two rookies to watch as they come up in the system. Alt being a defenseman will have a greater impact because the Flyers may have to call him up earlier than expected due to how injury-prone the blueline is.
These three are by no means the only rookies that the team needs to watch out for. Among other top rookies coming into camp this year are Nick Cousins, Marcel Noebels and Maxim Lamarche.
Cousins’ name might be familiar due to his past trouble with the law, but that is behind him now and he wants to really prove himself to the Flyers this year. He is a projected top-nine forward in the NHL, and he is likely to get a start with the Adirondack Phantoms this season.
Noebels is a familiar name to Phantoms fans, as the forward was called up from the Trenton Titans last year and moved to the AHL team. Noebels will be a good call-up that the Flyers should utilize as an injury replacement. In 43 games with the Phantoms last season, he logged 23 points, 13 goals and 10 assists. He also only had six PIMs, which is impressive since the Phantoms were really penalty-prone last season.
Lamarche is a relatively new face to the organization as he recently signed with the team this summer, but he comes from Baie-Comeau, where he played with fellow prospect Straka. The Flyers see a lot of potential in him as two-way defenseman, and he is likely to go to the Phantoms this season.
The Flyers have a lot of potential in the young players they currently have in the system, and they will have options this season to call up a few key players if injuries plague their roster.
Deanna Vasso is a Flyers writer for Rant Sports. You can follow her on Twitter, like her on Facebook and join her Google network
