Watching Flyers rookie defenseman Phil Myers on the ice, he seems like a traditional high-end draft choice. He combines properly above-average skating capability and ranginess, length (6-foot-5, two hundred-plus kilos), incredible cardiovascular conditioning, poise, and manner upside with the ability to be an all-situations player righthanded shot. Myers grew to become 22 on January 25. His overall performance on the ice — the performance and consistency with which he seals off the forums, his first-bypass potential, the mobility that lets him jump into the push, a heavy shot, and the poise to recover after he makes a mistake — is at a more advanced level than maximum second-year execs and NHL newcomers.
It is almost unfathomable now to recall that Myers went unselected in the 2015 NHL Draft and, some weeks later, completed Development Camp with the Calgary Flames without being invited to their rookie/full group camp in September. The relaxation of the NHL’s loss has been the Flyers’ advantage. Hard work bred self-belief and success. From the time Myers performed his draft-eligible 2014-15 season within the Quebec League and his July camp appearance-see with Calgary, his development each bodily and talent-wise took off like a rocket over the next four years. Myers recalled. “That’s in which it started for me.
I, without a doubt, think the offseason is a large aspect for me.” Myers committed himself to an intensive conditioning routine. He polished his skating. He installed endless hours in the gym and focused on eating the proper ingredients. In September 2015, he attended Flyers rookie camp as a tryout player and received an entry-degree NHL agreement before returning to his junior group, the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. During the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons, Myers’ ice time with the Huskies turned into particularly restricted relative to excessive-profile potentialities, although he dressed in a combined 106 games (2g-10a, 12 pts., -four).
In his draft-plus-one season in 2015-sixteen, he surged out of the gates and earned more ice time across all game conditions. The result: 17 goals, forty-five factors, and a staggering +52 score in sixty-three video games; almost four times his mixed output from his first seasons. Part of it turned into the improved possibility, part of it becomes the skills surrounding Myers on his team, and the relaxation got here from inside the participant himself. “I think I simply commenced to play with greater self-assurance, and that is a massive element.
Myers stated. By 2015-16, Myers becomes a shoo-in for Team Canada’s World Junior Championship roster. He had a dominating first half inside the Q for Rouyn-Noranda and opened the WJC as a fixture on Canada’s top protective pairing. Unfortunately, an excessive hit from Team USA’s Luke Kunin (now a Minnesota Wild) concussed Myers and knocked him out of the match. He overlooked the post-WJC part of the season but returned to dress in 13 playoff games.
Navigating the Pro-Game Transition, Myers spent the subsequent season-and-a-half of within the American Hockey League with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Year one often noticed him overcome the first half of injuries even as acclimating himself to the adjustments from junior hockey to the extra structured nature of the pro sport. The 2d 1/2-yr became approximately doing some minor pleasant-tuning and demonstrating a better degree of basic consistency. Now the Flyers’ interim head train, Scott Gordon, changed into Myers for much of the method. “When Phil first was given to Lehigh, he became used to the junior recreation, wherein he turned into larger and stronger than almost everybody he performed in opposition to. He could make plays on nearly every shift.
A large part of it turned into studying whilst you may try to make a play — or look for success — and if you have to make the simple play and live to fight the next conflict,” Gordon recalled. Myers improved hastily — arguably at a slightly quicker than Travis Sanheim had in his rookie AHL season of 2016-17 — however, and he then needed to begin from scratch while he missed the better part of months because of a nagging injury. Once he eventually was given healthy, Myers loved a strong second 1/2 of the season.
There had been still instances wherein Myers could try to perform a little too much, but the good shifts commonly outweighed the difficult ones on the give up of the nighttime. When Sanheim — suffering defensively and then hardly ever gambling at all for a long stretch for the duration of his NHL rookie marketing campaign — became sent down to the Phantoms for an 18-recreation stint, Gordon and then-assistant coach Kerry Huffman paired him with Myers. The effects were top-notch—the pairing dominated in many games. Sanheim became recalled to the Flyers with his self-belief restored and appeared like a distinct participant, a hint of what would come because the 2018-19 season has stepped forward.
Myers, in the meantime, commenced taking his very own recreation to the subsequent stage. He finished his AHL rookie campaign with ten desires, 37 factors, and a +7 score. Myers’ most marvelous accomplishment came at some point of the Phantom’s run to the Eastern Conference Final of the Calder Cup playoffs. In the Phantoms’ OT win to clinch their first spherical collection towards Providence, Myers performed over 30 minutes. That became nothing compared to the marathon 5-time beyond the regulation game in Charlotte in Game Four of the second one round. With the Phantoms gambling with the best five defensemen — Samuel Morin suffered a torn ACL inside the first period — Myers logged astonishing 60-plus minutes of ice time.
Yeah, I changed into the quite tired day after today, but I wasn’t thinking about how much I changed into gambling that night. It becomes a big recreation inside the series,” Myers recalled. Final Steps to the NHL Like most hockey players, Myers is short of crediting his teammates and coaches — junior coaches, Flyers development instruct Kjell Samuelsson, Huffman, and Gordon — for the function they performed in his development towards the NHL. However, the biggest share of the credit goes to Myers himself. Myers had a window of possibility throughout the Flyers schooling camp this past September to win an NHL process.
Veteran Andrew MacDonald became out due to damage at first slated to keep him out for six weeks (he was back in three. However, he struggled early in the season and wound up scratched numerous times). Unfortunately, Myers had an inconsistent camp and preseason. He turned into the cut from the NHL roster and despatched again to the Phantoms. Fellow second-12 months pro Mark Friedman wound up being the last to reduce some of the defensemen in camp. Despite the frustration, Myers quickly picked up where he left off ultimate season. Within a few weeks, he becomes always gambling right hockey on both sides of p.C.
“I might say, via the center of November, I felt like Phil changed into geared up to play up here in Philly and would do an amazing job. He needed to look ahead to his opportunity, but I felt quite confident. The consistency in terms of the matters we labored on his first yr changed into genuinely at that next level to wherein I thought he’d be geared up while the decision got here,” Gordon said. Gordon was named Flyers interim headteacher on Dec. 17, changing Dave Hakstol.
The name comes Myers changed into recalled to the Flyers on Feb. 9. All of the reports from Huffman (who took over as Phantoms intervening time head train) continued to be nice, as have been the ones using Flyers scouts to new preferred supervisor Chuck Fletcher. After Huffman happily handed along with the excellent information to Myers, the younger player had to strike a balance among jubilation and readying himself for the following challenge handy: entering into the Flyers lineup and proving that he deserved to stay.
