Flyers Practice Notes: Compete Over Systems

A Light Skate With a Point

Today was my first Flyers practice of the year, and thanks to some of the writers I’ve gotten to know, I got to watch from the media room. It was a typical light skate. Nothing flashy and nothing new in the system.

But how a staff spends a light day tells you what they care about. Today the answer was compete.

How Practice Ran

It opened with simple puck touches and down low breakouts, one defenseman with a forward line. From there the D fed passes through the neutral zone while players came in and shot to get the goalies going.

After warmups, most of the day was spent in two places:

• 2 on 2 rushes from the neutral zone
• Battles below the goal line. A puck went down low and two on two battled right away. On the whistle it turned into a 3 on 3.

The rest was 3 on 0s and rush chances, more compete drills, and 5 on 5 play to finish.

Man on Man Reps for a Box +1 Team

Those down low 3 on 3s were played basically man on man. That’s not how the Flyers defend. They run a tight box +1 in the defensive zone, so it felt weird at first to see them rep a look they don’t play.

That’s when it clicked that these drills weren’t about structure. They were about competing. Once the puck goes below the goal line and guys start cycling out of the corner, every system breaks down into short battles. Who wins net front position, whose stick is on the puck, and who picks up the right man.

That job is the same in a box +1 as it is in man coverage. Watching in person how they ID who to pick up in front was the most interesting part of the day for me.

The Best Drill of the Day

The 5 on 5 neutral zone drill was the one worth watching. All ten skaters started in one third of the ice. On the go, it was an immediate battle for possession. The team that won it got the puck back to the D and regrouped quickly up the ice.

Once they got their scoring chance, the whistle blew. A puck went back into the zone and it was right into a neutral zone forecheck.

Both sides got real reps. One team practiced moving the puck through traffic. The other worked on forcing a turnover in the neutral zone. If you want to know what this staff is drilling into the group, it’s that.

Seeler Teaches McDonald to Fight

The best moment came at the end. Nick Seeler started working with Hunter McDonald on how to fight and protect himself. Then Rick Tocchet jumped in and gave him some pointers too.

In the post practice press conference, Tocchet talked about wanting McDonald to protect himself so he isn’t even taking those shots. Brian Boucher and Jim Jackson said it best. If you’re going to play this physical and throw these hits around in the NHL, you need to learn how to fight.

That’s a veteran handing down part of the job, with the head coach right there backing it up.

Injury Notes

• Rasmus Ristolainen is out about two weeks with an upper body injury. The team didn’t give much beyond that.
• Cam York skated with David Jiricek. I think his injury is coming to an end here shortly.

I’m planning to get down to more practices this season, so expect more of these notes.