With Mike Vecchione, Mikhail Vorobyev Cut, Flyers' Opening Night Roster Near

The Flyers on Wednesday afternoon sent forwards Mike Vecchione and Mikhail Vorobyev to AHL Lehigh Valley as their opening night roster begins to take shape.

With Vecchione and Vorobyev cut, the Flyers' roster now stands at 28 players. Forwards Cole Bardreau and Colin McDonald and goalie Anthony Stolarz are injured. They're expected to begin the season on injured reserve.

What Vecchione and Vorobyev's demotions mean is that the Flyers now have to trim two more players to get down to their 23-man roster by Oct. 3. Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol said Tuesday he expects the final roster decisions to come down to the wire.

It appears Nolan Patrick and Oskar Lindblom have shown enough in training camp and preseason to secure spots. The Flyers' current roster has 15 healthy forwards, eight defensemen and two goalies.

Patrick has two assists in five preseason games, while Lindblom has a goal and an assist. Lindblom scored Tuesday against the Rangers. Both have shown a commitment to a 200-foot game, which the Flyers preach.

Flyers general manager Ron Hextall is not expected to carry eight defensemen, so it's safe to say the final cuts will be one defenseman and one forward. Taylor Leier, Matt Read and Jori Lehtera are all competing for spots as a fourth-liner and an extra forward. Leier had another solid showing Tuesday against the Rangers.

There are two open spots on the blue line. Defensive prospects Robert Hagg, Sam Morin and Travis Sanheim are competing for those two spots, and it remains possible all three could break camp with the team.

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Hagg, Morin and Sanheim are still here after the latest round of cuts. Hagg has been steady all camp, Morin had a big game Tuesday with a goal one night after Sanheim sent a statement Monday with a two-goal game.

While it remains a long shot all three will be here, it's still a possibility. Brandon Manning and Andrew MacDonald haven't been great, and Hextall has repeatedly said he'd make room for prospects if they prove they're ready.

Some may be surprised that Vecchione didn't make the roster, or even argue that he wasn't given a fair shake in preseason. The former Hobey Baker finalist played in just two preseason games, and he was the 13th forward Tuesday.

That was another sign Vecchione wasn't going to make the team. To be fair, Vecchione was trying to make the team as a right winger, not at center, which the Flyers signed him as in March.

"Obviously when they draft Nolan, it's going to be a little tougher, but it's nothing I haven't seen before," Vecchione said recently. "They're going to take whoever is the best fit for the team. Right now, I'm on the wing, so it's a little different perspective. But, yeah, that doesn't change my mindset, what I'm going to do. I knew coming in it wasn't going to be easy, they didn't guarantee me anything and I knew I had to work for it, so, like I said, nothing new for me. I'm just looking forward to the challenge."

Vorobyev was recalled from the Phantoms for Tuesday's game after previously being sent to Lehigh Valley. He'll begin his first season in North America in the AHL, but he could be in the conversation for a roster spot next year.

On Tuesday, Vorobyev centered Lindblom and Travis Konecny. The trio clicked, and Vorobyev again showed the playmaking ability he flashed at the 2017 IIHF World Junior Championships with Team Russia.

"I thought he played a heck of a hockey game," Hakstol said of Vorobyev. "I thought every situation that we put him into, I thought he went out and did a good job. He went out and made a couple of high-end plays offensively, and then up and down the rink."

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