VOORHEES, N.J. — With two preseason games to go and the regular-season opener just 10 days away, the Flyers had their roster construction come into focus Tuesday.

The club sent Alex Bump, Emil Andrae, Aleksei Kolosov, Carson Bjarnason, Alexis Gendron, Hunter McDonald, Helge Grans, Devin Kaplan, Denver Barkey and Ty Murchison to AHL affiliate Lehigh Valley. It placed Anthony Richard on waivers for the purpose of having him report to the Phantoms if he goes unclaimed.

Excluding four injured players in camp (Oliver Bonk, Karsen Dorwart, Lane Pederson and Ethan Samson), the Flyers’ roster is at 25 players. It needs to be down to a maximum of 23 by Monday at 5 p.m. ET.

What jobs are up for grabs? How will the final decisions shake out? Let’s get into what we’ve seen and know.

Up front

The Flyers have 15 healthy forwards. They could keep 13 or 14 to open the regular season, depending on how many defensemen they decide to carry (more on that below).

Here were the Flyers’ line combinations Tuesday at practice:

Nikita Grebenkin-Sean Couturier-Travis Konecny
Owen Tippett-Trevor Zegras-Matvei Michkov
Tyson Foerster-Noah Cates-Bobby Brink
Nicolas Deslauriers-Christian Dvorak-Garnet Hathaway
Rodrigo Abols-Jett Luchanko-Jacob Gaucher (extra line)

Abols has been the Flyers’ biggest camp standout. He’s the only skater to have played in all five preseason games so far, putting up two goals and an assist. His effectiveness really hasn’t dipped much at all.

The 29-year-old profiles nicely as the Flyers’ 12th or extra forward. He could compete for games with Deslauriers. As a 6-foot-4 guy who moves well for his size, Abols can play center or winger, he can kill penalties and he has the potential to provide secondary offense.

While Grebenkin may still need to nail down a job, his outlook seems promising when you consider he was on a line with Couturier and Konecny. It tells you the Flyers have liked Grebenkin’s camp and feel he can possibly start the season there.

The 22-year-old came to the Flyers last season in the Scott Laughton trade. He has a good blend of skill and competitiveness, which has been on display since rookie camp.

“I think he’s a guy who likes to make plays, hold onto the puck,” Couturier said Tuesday. “He works hard, works hard for the puck. He’ll jump on those loose pucks and compete hard. He has got some good skills, can make plays, can do a little bit of everything. Just trying to build some chemistry with him.”

The Flyers could give Luchanko another audition like they did last season. But the 19-year-old speedster hasn’t popped offensively through four preseason games.

It wouldn’t be bad for Luchanko’s development if he eventually returned to the OHL for his final season and played for Team Canada again at the IIHF World Junior Championship.

“I think he has got to get a little more aggressive in his thinking offensively,” head coach Rick Tocchet said Monday. “You like the intelligence of thinking, but you can’t think too much. I think he has got to have a mentality of a pass to him and a shot; I think he’s looking to pass all the time.”

On the back end

The Flyers have eight healthy defensemen. They could keep all eight if they decide to carry 13 forwards.

Tocchet said he typically prefers two extra defensemen for the quality of practices, but that doesn’t mean the Flyers will definitely go with eight. Health at other positions, the Luchanko decision and cap space will all come into play.

Here were the Flyers’ defensive pairs Tuesday at practice:

Cam York-Travis Sanheim
Nick Seeler-Jamie Drysdale
Adam Ginning-Egor Zamula
Dennis Gilbert-Noah Juulsen (extra pair)

Ginning essentially edged out Andrae, who played 42 games for the Flyers last season and was very good offensively for Lehigh Valley. But Andrae is 5-foot-9 and the Flyers already have a couple of smaller puck-movers.

With Ginning and the bottom-pair role he could play, his size and defensive-minded game clearly appealed to the Flyers right now.

“He has been pretty steady in certain situations,” Tocchet said. “I think there’s some more there for us, but there’s enough to be like, ‘Hey, this guy has a shot.’ There have been some details from the meetings and the practices, he’s doing them in the game. I like that.”

The Flyers won’t have Rasmus Ristolainen at the start of the season as he recovers from surgery on a second triceps tendon rupture. The Flyers are hoping to have him back in the first month and a half to two months of the season.

Without Ristolainen, the Flyers are likely looking for some added physicality and penalty killing. Zamula, Ginning, Gilbert and Juulsen could be in a competition for the final two lineup spots on the blue line.

“Hockey and lineups are a puzzle,” Tocchet said. “If Zamula’s the fifth — we don’t know quite yet — but if Z holds the fifth, usually that sixth spot has to be a penalty killer, it has got to be a guy that can defend.

“If he’s big, yeah, that’s even better. But in saying that, that doesn’t mean a smaller guy couldn’t go in; it’s just that you’ve got to be really good at something in those situations.”

The tandem between the pipes is set with Samuel Ersson and Dan Vladar.

“I expect the goaltending to be better, no doubt about it,” general manager Danny Briere said two weeks ago. “I think also the system might protect them a little better, that Rick Tocchet and his staff are going to put forth. … I think Vladar will come in and probably be a little bit more support for Sam.

“But we do believe in Sam still. He has shown some flashes. I think with Sam, having a guy there to protect him and not expecting him to play three games a week should probably help Sam in the long run, that’s my feeling. But Sam is still developing and we still believe in him.”

Power play units

Drysdale, Michkov, Zegras, Konecny and Tippett were on the Flyers’ first power play unit Tuesday, with Dvorak rotating in for Tippett.

York, Couturier, Brink, Foerster and Grebenkin were on the second unit, with Cates rotating in for Grebenkin and Sanheim rotating in for York.

The Flyers focused a lot on special teams Tuesday. Tocchet will want the power play to be versatile and assertive.

“You beat pressure, we have to attack the interior,” the head coach said a week and a half ago. “I didn’t see that much last year. You have to be able to take those shots from the middle of the point to open up power plays. You’ve got to take that shot, so we’ve got to make sure whoever’s up there, he’s going to bomb away if that’s what the team’s going to give us.

“Whatever the team gives you and it’s a Grade A, you take it. We’re not looking for tic-tac-toes. If they’re there, take it. To me, be aggressive. The best power plays are the teams that break pressure and they attack, so that’s what we’re going to do.”