There has been a flurry of news recently regarding current Flyers collegiate prospects, future prospects, and potential future prospects in the last week. I decided to collect all the news in one post.
- Michael Parks, drafted by the Flyers in the 5th round in 2010, is nearing the end of his freshman year at the University of North Dakota. He was the subject of a recent UND affiliate program that can be found here. After a slow start to the year, he now has 9 goals and 18 points in 37 games played, ranking him 5th on the team in scoring. Per UND,
“Michael Parks scored his ninth goal. If he hits 10, he joins some pretty good company. The list of 10-goal rookie scorers since UND moved into the new building: Brandon Bochenski, Zach Parise, Brady Murray, Travis Zajac, Drew Stafford, Chris Porter, Rastislav Spirko, Ryan Duncan, Jonathan Toews, T.J. Oshie, Brett Hextall, Jason Gregoire and Danny Kristo. Eight of those 13 guys have played in the NHL already.”
It’s a great start for Parks, who may very well just find a place with the Flyers in a few years.
- Petr Placek, drafted in the 6th round this past June, has not had as much success. Hampered by injuries, he played just 16 games this season and only earned one point for the year (an assist). Placek was a bit of an outside selection for the draft, but his 6’-4” frame and decent production in High School suggested he was worth a late rounder. Hopefully he has better success next season.
- The Flyers signed Ohio State University goaltender Cal Heeter last week to a two-year, $925K per year contract. Heeter, 23, has a 28-29-9 record over the last two seasons with an average 2.37 goals-against-average and 0.92 save percentage.
Aside from Ilya Bryzgalov and Sergei Bobrovsky, the Flyers have just Niko Hovinen signed beyond this year. The organization usually maintains at least three goaltenders in the system (with perhaps one on an AHL deal in case of call-ups), so it’s unknown whether Heeter will play for the Adirondack Phantoms or the Trenton Titans of the ECHL. While nobody expects Michael Leighton or Johan Backlund to be re-signed, this signing puts the futures of Jason Bacashihua and Brad Philips in the Flyers organization in doubt.
- The Daily News and Broad Street Hockey have reported that the Flyers are interested in sophomore forward J.T. Brown from the University of Minnesota-Duluth. This is actually old news if you follow Julie Robenhymer, the collegiate hockey expert at HockeyBuzz. She responded to a question of mine via twitter before this post that she believed the Flyers were interested in Brown.
It’s worth noting that just because the Flyers are interested doesn’t mean Brown will sign here. Collegiate free agents not only have to look at the level of interest from the organization and the money offered, but whether or not they’ll actually have an opportunity to make the roster.
The Flyers were interested in Stephane Da Costa last year, but he signed with the Ottawa Senators instead because it appeared like he would have an easier shot of making the jump to the NHL there. Of course, nobody know the Flyers were going to blow up the team last March.
- Finally, in somewhat unrelated news to the Flyers, the college season has ended for top prospect of the Anaheim Ducks, junior defenseman Justin Schultz. The 21 year-old, projected by Hockeys Future as a top four defenseman, may sign with the Ducks now or continue at the University of Wisconsin for another year.
Where this gets interesting is that, according to TSN’s Bob McKenzie, Schultz is considering a third option- waiting until July 1, when he would become a free agent and have the option of choosing where he wants to play (for more money as well). If he chooses the third option, I would highly expect the Flyers, along with most teams in the NHL, to get involved in a bidding war.
For the latest Flyers news and updates, you can follow me on twitter (@JoshJanet).
Note: Photo courtesy of John Stennes of the Grand Forks Herald.
