Debating Flyers’ Biggest Positive From 2019-20 Training Camp, Preseason

Going End to End today are NBC Sports Philadelphia's Brooke Destra, Katie Emmer and Jordan Hall.

The topic: After touching on the disappointments, who was the Flyers' biggest positive during training camp and the preseason?

Destra

He has been an underdog for most of his career, but not anymore. Heading into this training camp, it seemed like many forgot this prospect made it to the final cut in 2018-19 before coming up just a tad short. But this time around, Carsen Twarynski made sure to hit the ground running (or should I say hit the ice skating) and put his name on everyone's radar for 2019-20.

With the game constantly advancing, teams can no longer play and succeed with having only two solid lines that can produce. Every line needs to contribute, every player. Twarynski has the capability to solidify the bottom half of the roster. And the best part is? He hasn't even reached his fullest potential yet.

Twarynski netted two goals, tying him for most scored in the preseason on the Flyers. But something stood out with his play on every shift he took - his refusal to quit.

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The 21-year-old decided to stay in the area during the offseason, training in Voorhees, New Jersey. It may seem like a cliché - but hard work truly does pay off.

Emmer

From the first day the orange and black hit the ice for training camp in Voorhees, New Jersey, Joel Farabee made a name for himself on the Flyers' roster.

He was put to the test on Day 1, filling in on the first line for a then contract-less Travis Konecny, and as the preseason games began, his role continued to grow.

"He's a real smart player," Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher said last week. "For a 19-year-old player, I think he's ahead of the curve with a respect to awareness of the game away from the puck, his defensive understanding of the game."

Though he never played lower than the third line in five preseason games and didn't make it on the score sheet once, that "awareness of the game away from the puck" still impressed head coach Alain Vigneault.

"If he's not in the lineup that first game, it would be a surprise," Vigneault said last Thursday. "He's played extremely well. In my mind, if we would start tomorrow, he would probably be in our lineup."

He turned heads in the preseason, but was it enough? As the regular season begins Friday, the major question is when will he fit into the Flyers' lineup?

"He's obviously a highly competitive kid," Fletcher said last week. "Very intelligent kid. But it's a tough league for a 19-year old player. What we do with Joel will be what's right for the team, but also what's right for him in the long run."

Regardless of what happens before the opener, Farabee has a future with the Flyers, whether it's now or later.

Hall

A bit of an outside-the-box pick: Justin Braun.

Before his arrival, we didn't know much about the 6-foot-2, 205-pound defenseman because he played out on the West Coast in San Jose, where Brent Burns has long been the man along the blue line.

However, there's a reason why Braun played nine years for the Sharks, has put up 20:43 minutes per game over the past six seasons to go with a plus-32 rating and sports 84 career playoff appearances on his résumé.

He understands defense and the intricacies of goal prevention.

"If you want to end plays in this league, you've got to have a good stick and then you've got to get body," Braun said on Day 1 of training camp. "If you're soft out there, you're going to be in your D-zone all night. You've got to end those plays quick and try to get it going north, otherwise you're going to have a long night. Every shift I try to do that so I don't have to spend too much time in my D-zone."

San Jose has been one of the NHL's top teams since the 2015-16 season, when it went to the Stanley Cup Final.

"Harped on gap all the time - like, we didn't want guys crossing the blue line with the puck," Braun said. "We wanted them to dump it, get it back, turn it over."

The 32-year-old is an underrated upgrade for the Flyers' defense.

Justin Braun against Mikhail Vorobyev. Chuck Fletcher extolled Braun the other day for his active stick. pic.twitter.com/YxfwwAotic— Jordan Hall (@JHallNBCS) September 15, 2019

"Braun isn't going to win any contests for artistic merit on the ice, but he competes and he has a great stick," Fletcher said on Day 1 of training camp. "I went back and watched 20 games of clips just the other day again, he is unbelievable stick on puck. He is hard to play against. It's like seaweed, he's out there, there's arms and he's battling and pushing you and poke-checking and he brings a real veteran savvy to the defensive part of the game."

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