VOORHEES, N.J. \u2014 In your average non-Olympic season, highly regarded prospects like Carson Bjarnason and Oliver Bonk probably wouldn\u2019t get in-season experience in the Flyers\u2019 locker room.<\/p>\n
But the current Winter Games are speeding along like an ice boat on a blustery day. So with a pair of Flyers\u2019 defensemen \u2013 Canada\u2019s Travis Sanheim and Finland\u2019s Rasmus Ristolainen \u2013 in the semifinals in Italy (and goalie Sam Ersson hurt), that opened the door for up-and-coming stars like goaltender Bjarnason and defenseman Bonk, plus defenseman Hunter McDonald.<\/p>\n
All three have taken part in past Flyers\u2019 training camps and seen preseason action. This, however, is the real deal.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a win-win situation. That trio gets to workout and practice with veteran players at NHL speed. Flyers coaches and talent evaluators get a chance to see where some of their high draft choices stand.<\/p>\n
Flyers assistant coach Todd Reirden, overseeing practices while head coach Rick Tocchet is an assistant for Team Canada, liked what he saw when Bjarnason and Bonk hit the Flyers Training Center ice for the first time on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor both Carson\u2019s and Oliver\u2019s situations, we thought this was a great opportunity for them to be involved in some spirited practices,\u201d Reirden said after the workout at the Flyers Training Center. \u201cIt would introduce them to the group a little bit more in that type of setting to see where they\u2019re at in terms of their own development.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bjarnason, 20, hails from Manitoba. The Flyers selected him in the second round (51st overall) of the 2023 NHL Entry Draft.<\/p>\n
He was in good spirits on Wednesday as his native country eeked out a 4-3 overtime win over Czechia.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a comfortable setting for Bjarnason to be around Bonk, McDonald and another Phantoms product, Denver Barkey, who\u2019s up with the big club for a couple months already.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been here for training camp,\u201d Bjarnason said. \u201cThat\u2019s nice. But this is definitely a different pace of play. Having some familiar faces here helps you ease into it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Hockey News recently rated Bjarnason eighth among all Flyers\u2019 prospects, a signal he\u2019s a little ahead of schedule on the career progress chart.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope so,\u201d Bjarnason said. \u201cI\u2019m not looking like there\u2019s a timestamp on it. I just want to be the best I can be right now. Doesn\u2019t matter how old I am, I just want to be the best in the world, be able to play at this label. Not only play at this level but succeed. I think they have a good plan in place for me. I want to push that envelope a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bjarnason lists poise, hockey IQ and reading plays as his key attributes. Nearby in the locker room, Bonk, 21, was fielding questions from a rather large media contingent. He was the Flyers\u2019 first-round pick (22nd overall) in 2023. Plus, his father, Radek, was a star for many years in the NHL.<\/p>\n
Those are some lofty words and numbers to live up to but Bonk looks and sounds like he\u2019s taking a low-key approach to all the hoopla.<\/p>\n
After overcoming a significant injury early in the season, he\u2019s come back to be a top defenseman with the Phantoms. This after winning two straight Memorial Cups with the London Knights.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is where you want to be all the time,\u201d he said. As for his first season, he added, \u201cI think it\u2019s gone pretty well. I feel like I\u2019m just getting better with every game, trying to improve every time I\u2019m on the ice. That\u2019s all you can really ask for.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"VOORHEES, N.J. \u2014 In your average non-Olympic season, highly regarded prospects like Carson Bjarnason and Oliver Bonk probably…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":463996,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5112],"tags":[1468,5,4,1467,56,5205,43,11211],"class_list":{"0":"post-465269","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-flyers","8":"tag-flyers","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-philadelphia","12":"tag-philadelphia-flyers","13":"tag-philadelphiaflyers","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-top-stories-dln"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116106315942935139","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=465269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}