As the 11th overall pick in 2013, Sam Morin has dealt with more injuries than a 25 year old should have to deal with this early in his career. Morin has torn his ACL twice, the second time on November 6th of 2019. Having to deal with two ACL tears in an 18-month span is incredibly tough to deal with. Not only the physical aspect of things but mentally.

FLYERS DEFENSE

• Provorov – Myers
• Sanhiem – Gustafsson
• Braun – Hagg/Ghost??
• Friedman

With training camp right around the corner starting on January 3rd, I think this is a solid guess as to what we’ll possibly see to start out training camp. Provorov is your #1. Myers is your hopeful #2. He’s confident in himself to step up and help fill the void left by Matt Niskanen retiring. A huge step for a player who just played in his first “full season” (50 games).

Sanheim as your #3, who we see flashes of great play from in spurts, especially late last season when he was permanently paired with Myers. He played well in the MTL/PHI series as well, arguably the best pair in that series. But, we did watch Sanheim struggle against the Islanders in the second-round. Having to deal with the heavy forecheck and speed of the Islanders, forced Sanheim into some bad mistakes. He was second guessing, back on his heels and choppy on breakouts.

Gustafsson is your #4, who we just signed to a 1-year deal. He isn’t as known for his defense as say a Matt Niskanen was, but it isn’t as big a liablity as some may say. He’ll get some PP2 time this year as well, looking to possibly replicate that 2018-2019, 60 point (17G-43A) season.

Braun as the #5 who was brought back because the front office refused to lose another veteran defenseman after the Niskanen news. The #6 spot next to him is where things get weird. Hagg deserves the spot in my opinion, he played well last year and the boys love to play with him. If you play Hagg then you have to sit Ghost on the bench, that’s $4.5 million currently on your cap, eating popcorn in the press box. You need that kind of contract on your team contributing in this salary cap league.

Does Ghost get traded? Do they try to pair him with Provorov and re-kindle the spark they had while they were together a couple season ago? If that happens that it most likely means the Myers experiment didn’t work. Ghost playing on a bottom pair with Braun isn’t ideal either, they were awful when paired together last season. Hagg’s game just better suits what a bottom pairing defenseman needs to bring to the lineup. We’ll see, should be fun.

Mark Friedman as #7, he played 6 games (7 career) in the NHL last season. He picked up an assist vs Boston on January 13th, playing very well in his limited time with the club last year. He’s another defensive prospect that has outlived his playing days in the AHL, he will contribute this year. You have Egor Zamula, who played in the round-robin vs Penguins in the bubble, with Chuck Fletcher giving the 20-year old some high praise. He looks to make some noise this training camp.

We have so much depth in this organization on defense without even` mentioning Cam York or Emil Andrae, who are currently playing in the world juniors. York cashed in a 3 assist game against CZE and Andrae picked up an assist last night against Russia.

There was just no room for Morin to make an impact from a defensive level, too many players that are in front of him. Now, the newest LW of the Philadelphia Flyers, is looking to come back from another gruesome rehab and make his mark. You can’t deny this guys heart, he loves the game and wants to be out there. How can you not root for him?

HE’S READY TO GO.

We officially have another storyline to keep our eye on. Rooting for you Sam!

MANDATORY CREDIT: Zach Hill