Flyers top prospects providing plenty of optimism

Travis Konecny showed the organization that he can get up and down the beach pretty quickly while lugging along an ice cream truck. Likewise, Travis Sanheim has an exquisite ability to sell ice cream to beachgoers and Ivan Provorov can build a sand sculpture with the best of them.

Wait, that was the Trial on the Isle on Tuesday.

Prior to their getaway to Stone Harbor for the fan-friendly event, 34 prospects participated in five days of on-ice drills that reinforced fundamentals and culminated in the development camp’s 3-on-3 tournament on Monday.

As Ron Hextall reiterated throughout the week, there’s no evaluation at a development camp, it’s about teaching the prospects the basics of hockey, proper nutrition and getting them on a workout regimen.

“I want them to walk away better players in a week, but probably more realistically walk away with some fundamentals to work on the rest of the summer,” Hextall said.

What can be taken away from something like this are impressions, and for a few of the Flyers’ top prospects, there’s a lot to be excited about.

Take Provorov, for example. Among those 34 prospects, he may be the only one that cracks the starting lineup come opening night. It’s known that his skill set will translate well at the next level, but watching him take part in the drills, it’s clear that he’s head-and-shoulders above his counterparts on the blue line.

“I am going to have another good summer and [if] I’m ready, I’ll play,” Provorov said. “If not, then I’m not.”

Hextall preaches patience with his younger guys, “they have to come in and beat someone out.” With Provorov’s talent, there’s a good chance he does just that.

Then there’s Konecny, who may very make the Flyers this season if the organization can’t find scoring help from now until October. The only thing that may be holding him back is his size, but the 5-foot-10, 183-pound right winger has packed on some strength since being drafted in the 2015 first round. He’s added approximately 10 pounds of muscle.

He’s hoping that with his knack for scoring — 91 points in 60 games between Ottawa and Sarnia — and his size increase, he’ll land a spot in the orange and black.

“I want to be on the Flyers and that’s my goal,” Konecny said. “It’s been my goal since last year when I came to camp and I want to be on the team as quick as possible.”

The same can be said for Sanheim, who Hextall used as a prime example of someone benefiting from hard work. The defenseman came in around 175-pounds when he was drafted in 2014 and has since gone up over 200-pounds.

“He’s stronger on the stick, defends better, boxes guys out,” Hextall said. “It’s amazing how quickly it happens.”

Between those three top-tier guys, along with the likes of Sam Morin, Robert Hagg and an array of highly-picked goalies, the Flyers’ future is in good hands from the looks of it.