Flyers sit Morgan Frost, reveal more COVID-19 protocol updates

The Philadelphia Flyers announced a couple injury/COVID protocol updates and formulated a new set of lines going into Thursday’s game. Tonight’s game against the Hurricanes was postponed due the ongoing COVID issues with the Flyers.

Claude Giroux has returned from protocol this morning and thank goodness. Giroux makes Philadelphia a watchable hockey club and without him it’s hard to even tune in for a full game.

Claude Giroux is out of COVID protocol.

— Jordan Hall (@JHallNBCS) January 11, 2022

Patrick Brown is looking to miss approximately four weeks of action due to a MCL sprain that we were made aware of this morning.

Injury update: Flyers forward Patrick Brown will be out approximately four weeks with an MCL sprain. pic.twitter.com/FErZvwNIol

— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) January 11, 2022

As of today the Flyers’ inactive list is as follows:

Not at Flyers practice today:

Travis Konecny (COVID protocol)
Ivan Provorov (COVID protocol)
Justin Braun (COVID protocol)
Rasmus Ristolainen (undisclosed)
Patrick Brown (lower body)
Derick Brassard (hip)

— Jordan Hall (@JHallNBCS) January 11, 2022

Rasmus Ristolainen wasn’t at practice and has now entered COVID-19 protocol officially. The Brassard situation is puzzling to me because he has came back and promptly gotten re-injured multiple times this season.

The status of Konecny and Provorov and unknown for Thursday’s contest. Both are still in protocol as of now.

The Flyers’ lineup at practice:

Flyers lines/pairs in practice

Farabee-Giroux-Atkinson
van Riemsdyk- Hayes-Mayhew
Willman-Laughton-Lindblom
Cates-Bunnaman-MacEwen

Sanheim-Zamula
York-Seeler
Yandle-Connauton

Frost the extra forward

— Olivia Reiner (@ReinerOlivia) January 11, 2022

Uh, what is Morgan Frost doing at extra forward? It appears on the surface head coach Mike Yeo may have scratched Frost heading into Boston on Thursday.

There’s about 4 players that make me still tune in to watch this slop and one of them is Morgan Frost. This organization has already dragged on calling him up all season but decided that Thursday is Gerry Mayhew’s time to shine.

I truly want an explanation as to why Mayhew is on our second line while Frost queues up for a game of Warzone; it’s unacceptable. Willman, Cates, Mayhew, Bunnaman are playing and they have the guts to do this with a straight face. Yeo pointed to his consistency on the puck as the reasoning. I’m watching Connor Bunnaman, Mike. Take a lap please.

Frost was an extra forward today. Yeo said Frost is trying to apply things staff has talked to him about. He’s been more physical, using his feet to check. Consistency in other areas the team needs from him is a work in progress. (Likely more puck touches and playing quicker).

— Bill Meltzer (@billmeltzer) January 11, 2022

While I’m ranting, have another look at those defense pairings. We’d be better off with a couple large traffic cones out there. Yandle-Connauton is a guaranteed 16+ minutes of chest pain every night and I feel for the goaltenders. Between COVID, injuries, and the stupidity of the Flyers I have no expectations anymore and am starting to see the writing on the wall. It’s looking grim, folks.

Mandatory Credit: Zack Hill