5 players to keep tabs on during Flyers development camp

For the first time since the summer of 2019, the Flyers are able to hold a development camp.

The club's 2021 gathering of prospects will be held Saturday, Aug. 28, through Wednesday, Sept. 1, at Virtua Center Flyers Skate Zone in Voorhees, New Jersey.

The camp schedule will be released at a later date and fan attendance for any sessions is to be determined.

For fans wondering, Flyers development camp will be closed to the public. On-ice work begins Sunday. Let’s hope next summer, fans can be back at Skate Zone.

— Jordan Hall (@JHallNBCS) August 27, 2021

While this year's edition is much closer to training camp compared to past summers, development camp does not revolve around evaluation. The five-day session will be about providing younger players with NHL training habits and the opportunity to get better ahead of the 2021-22 season.

The Flyers have a good majority of their top prospects in this year's development camp, players with NHL experience who will be knocking on the door this season. Wade Allison is a guy who has an inside track to grab a spot in the Flyers' season-opening lineup on Oct. 15. There will also be four prospects in camp from the club's 2021 draft class, which you can read about here. The camp is too late for the college prospects.

Below is the Flyers' full 2021 development camp roster.

Now let's get into five players to keep tabs on during camp.

Morgan Frost

Frost is always a must-watch player in development camp because of his immense skill and offensive ability. The 22-year-old playmaking center will be raring to go after enduring a shoulder injury that required season-ending surgery in February.

Frost opened last season as the Flyers' 13th forward but suffered the injury in his second game. This season, he'll try to show in training camp that he can help the big club down the middle in their bottom six.

"Tons of potential," Flyers head coach Alain Vigneault said last September. "If he can put it together and figure it out, he’ll be a real good player for us."

Cam York

Like Frost, York is one of the Flyers' top prospects in their system. The 2019 first-round pick is a slick-skating, point-producing defenseman with endless skill and advanced smarts.

The 20-year-old got a three-game taste of the NHL at the end of last season. In 2021-22, he's set for further development at AHL affiliate Lehigh Valley, but he'll be pushing for the Flyers' roster from the get-go.

"He's a smart player, skates extremely well, has the vision, moves the puck well," Ivan Provorov said in May. "This is where the game's going — you have to be able to skate, you have to be able to move the puck, and he's got all the tools."

Samu Tuomaala

Tuomaala will be one of the most interesting players to follow in camp given it's the first glimpse of the 18-year-old Finnish winger.

The second-round pick is the headliner of the Flyers' 2021 draft class. With time, he'll need to develop into a more well-rounded player, but his big-time speed will be fun to see.

"We kind of thought he would probably go at the end of the first or somewhere in the 20s and he fell," Flyers assistant general manager Brent Flahr said in July after the draft. "A real talented winger, great speed, real dynamic speed, he loves to shoot the puck and score goals. Talented kid. He's going to take a little time to get stronger and put on a little weight, but a talented kid that has real good offensive upside."

Egor Zamula

Zamula, also among the Flyers' top prospects, saw a two-game audition near the end of last season. The 21-year-old defenseman boasts a smooth game predicated on his length, vision and composure.

The undrafted product is slated for Lehigh Valley, where he played 25 games last season, but it wouldn't be surprising if he gets a call-up to the Flyers at some point in 2021-22.

"I remember telling Provy how I thought this kid's going to be a player," Claude Giroux said in April about when he first saw Zamula. "He's got a lot of poise with the puck, he's very smart, good stick — he just does everything right."

Tyson Foerster

Foerster, the Flyers' 2020 first-round pick, opened eyes last season as a teenager at the pro level.

With the 2020-21 OHL season canceled because of COVID-19, the shot-seeking winger played with the Phantoms. He scored 17 points and finished second on Lehigh Valley with 10 goals over 24 games as a 19-year-old.

"He’s got a lethal one-timer, sets up on the left side there, the big right shot and he hammers it," Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher said last October. "He gets a lot on it, he overpowers goaltenders. He also has quick hands, he can make plays in around the net, I think he sees the ice really well. He’s a pretty complete offensive player."

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