Down to the Nitty "Gritty"

The Flyers returned to practice on Wednesday after a team day off in preparation for Thursday's preseason game at the Wells Fargo Center against the New York Rangers. Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol indicated that the team was unlikely to have a full lineup of regulars appear in the game against the Rangers.
But before we get to the X's & O's, a few members of the team got to meet the club's official mascot, Gritty, today after practice ... and needless to say they are fully "embracing" him into the Flyers family.

The captain even weighed in on his presence...
GIROUX: "I don't really know him so I was excited to meet him and get to know him a little bit more. He's funny... he's got a lot of things going on and he's got momentum now and we're loving it."
That being said, here are a few things to expect after a round of roster cuts yesterday and the line combinations at practice:
* Hakstol said after practice that everyone who is still in camp in there for a reason, and he'd like to get the remaining "bubble" players into one more game if possible.
HAKSTOL: "We have some answers -- we don't have all of them -- We have to get to the end of camp first... It's still preseason, so I don't know if we'll get the full consistent effort of a regular season game but we have to take another step closer towards that. We can't just hope to flip a switch when we get to a real game eight or nine days from now."
* Defenseman Mark Friedman may be one of the players to get an extra game in the preseason. Hakstol said Friedman "has done everything we've asked of him in camp" and has steadily settled in and trended in an upward direction. Friedman took reps on Wednesday with Robert Hägg as his defense partner.
* Regarding defenseman Philippe Myers, who was assigned on Tuesday to the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms, Hakstol said that Myers held his own in camp but did not demonstrate the necessary progression as a young job-seeker whereby he'd take a job from an incumbent.

* Scott Laughton has primarily played left wing in practices and games, except for a three-assist game as a center in the Flyers' win at Madison Square Garden last Wednesday. Today, he was back in the middle, centering Claude Giroux and Travis Konecny.
* Hakstol said of veteran starting goaltender Brian Elliott that the number one objective as this point is for him to continue working on sharpening his game.
* Robert Hägg has dressed in five of the six preseason games to date. He said that he feels like he is on the right track in his game -- he's worked on some gap control issues and with "cleanness with the puck" in camp -- and felt that things were starting to click in the Allentown game last Friday and then improved further in Monday's game
* The Flyers placed winger Tyrell Goulbourne on waivers on Wednesday, although Hextall stated that doesn't necessarily mean he will be sent to the AHL for assignment with the Phantoms if he clears. He is merely eligible to do so.
* In other injury news, Hextall stated that there is still no definitive timeline for Michal Neuvirth's injury (lower-body). Hextall also added the following with regards to Sean Couturier and Wayne Simmonds.
HEXTALL: "We're being a little conservative. It's not the time to put anybody at risk, so the time that they need right now, they're getting."
on Couturier: "We're hoping he plays Saturday. Thats the plan, but we're not going to put him at risk. If it's Vegas [when he first plays], it's Vegas, so we'll go day-to-day and make sure everything's good."
on Simmonds: "Simmer's doing well. He's had six or seven real good days... so we expect him to play Saturday. I'd be surprised if he doesn't."
PRACTICE LINE COMBINATIONS
Giroux-Laughton-Konecny
Van Riemsdyk-Patrick-Voracek
Lindblom-Vorobyev-Simmonds
Raffl-Weal-Weise
Twarynski/Leier-Knight-Goulbourne.
Provorov-Gostisbehere
MacDonald-Gudas
Sanheim-Folin
Hägg-Friedman
Elliott/ Stolarz/ Hart