Emil Andrae stepped onto the ice for the first practice of Flyers rookie camp and looked a whole lot quicker.
He knew he had to be.
The promising young defenseman made the Flyers out of training camp last season, but only hung in there for four games before the call was made to send him down to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in the AHL. The NHL level was just too fast at the time, Andrae was overwhelmed, and head coach John Tortorella realized that fast. He needed to get minutes elsewhere.
"I didn't feel like I was really on my game," Andrae recalled Thursday after practice of the conversation he had with Tortorella before he was sent down. "And he felt like it was a little bit too fast right now. He was happy, he was positive, and he told me if you try to develop and be better, you'll probably be up there again."
But to get back there, Andrae knew he needed to be faster and much more consistent to match.
The 22-year old spent the rest of last season with the Phantoms, completing his first full year as a pro in North America playing by far the most hockey he ever had (71 games in total with the Flyers and then Phantoms into the playoffs), then went into the summer working with a personal trainer off-ice on a program that emphasized speed and explosiveness.
It was effective, because when Andrae arrived for camp in Voorhees this week, Phantoms head coach Ian Laperrière immediately noticed.
"They went home and put the work in," Laperrière said of Andrae and his Phantoms teammate Samu Tuomaala, who is also at camp this week. "I know it's one practice, and I don't want to get too, too excited, but I noticed a difference in their speed and their quickness. And Andy (Andrae) looks like he lost a little bit of weight, put a little bit more muscle on, and it shows on the ice.
"For me, it's great maturity. You realize that after one year pro, you better yourself in the summer, and again, it shows today."
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As a second-round pick in 2020 out of Sweden, Andrae was drafted by the Flyers on the strengths of a puck-moving defensive game that the organization one day hoped would help get the team regularly moving up ice.
He put more of the pieces together as he skated more and more with the Phantoms last season, producing five goals and 27 assists through 61 regular-season games, and with a shot that could thread its way through traffic once in a while, too.
Emil Andrae rips one high blocker side 🎯@LVPhantoms | #CLTvsLV pic.twitter.com/vCNKUDB0JV
— American Hockey League (@TheAHL) December 14, 2023
Still, if Andrae was going to get back to the NHL and the Flyers, he needed to be a quicker skater, and he'll be looking to make sure that his work over the past few months in becoming one shows – both in camp and with the exhibitions against the New York Rangers' prospects on Friday and Saturday up in Allentown.
"For me, it's maturity," Laperrière said. "It's easy – like he had a good year last year – it's easy to go home and say 'I figured it out,' you know? 'Next step, I'll go into the NHL,' but usually those guys don't make it. Andy went back home and worked on his weakness, which was his quickness a little bit. And again, I'm excited to see him play tomorrow."
Set the intensity
It's rookie camp, but 6-4, 235-pound defenseman Hunter McDonald wasn't about to let anyone off easy if they tried to move in front of the net.
During Thursday's drills, McDonald got into it with AHL signing Jacob Gaucher, who is 6-4, 220 pounds himself, in a fight for positioning at the top of the crease and sent him straight down to the ice, with a shove or two exchanged after.
Later on, McDonald sent forward prospect Massimo Rizzo straight into the boards in a battle for the puck, and even Matvei Michkov got aggressive with the checking in front.
Laperrière was all for it.
"That was my message to them," he told the media after practice. "I want intensity. I don't want any fighting, but I know you're talking about McDonald there. I know we all saw that. Guess what? We did, and so did the guys in the box too – [GM Danny Brière] saw it, Torts saw that, and that's part of his game. I enjoy it."
McDonald joined the Phantoms out of Northeastern University in the NCAA late last season and has been a defensive prospect that the Flyers are increasingly high on. He's built in the mold of a big, stay-at-home style defenseman, but he brings some pretty solid skating, too, and of course, he can throw a hit.
"I enjoyed him last year when he came to us in the playoffs and down the stretch," Laperrière said. "He brings the intensity. He's in your face. He's physical. He put weight on this summer. He looks great, and that's his role and that's why he was intense today, and I didn't talk to Torts yet, but I'm sure he really enjoyed that."
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And as for Michkov, who is very much the face of the Flyers' future, showing some early fight, Laperrière agreed with the thought that an effort like that from someone like him can do wonders for the strength of a camp.
"For sure, and you know, I don't think I played with young, special players like that, but I'm sure when you do have a guy like that in Michkov and even McDonald in camp, for those veterans, it just shows where the organization is going and how exciting it is," Laperrière said. "It brings the intensity, you know? And I'm sure those guys are gonna go next week – we have to worry about a rookie camp right now – but next week when main camp starts, when you see that kid jump on the ice, maybe, probably, those guys are gonna crank it up to another level."
So hit away.
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