No Staffing Issues Here

The on-ice staff working this week's Development Camp is passing along expertise gained at all levels of the game in a dozen or more leagues around the world. The staff brings close to 5,500 games of NHL experience to the camp, as well as hundreds of games in other professional leagues and time spent coaching some of the best players in the world.

Riley Armstrong was named the Flyers' Director of Player Development on June 2. He spent the last two seasons as an assistant coach with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Prior to that, he was the head coach of the Maine Mariners, the ECHL franchise owned by Comcast Spectacor that Danny Briere ran from 2017-2022.

While the Phantoms coaching staff combines game preparation with developing the roster's Flyers prospects for the NHL, Armstrong moves into a role that focuses full-time on player development at all levels. He has lived the life that the Flyers prospects are currently navigating - he turned pro in 2004 with the San Jose Sharks organization after finishing his junior career and played more than four AHL seasons before finally making his NHL debut in November of 2008. While he only played two NHL games, both that season, he went throught he entire process of getting there and then began to help others do the same as an AHL veteran. His older brother Colby played 476 NHL games for four different teams.

Nick Schultz continues in player development for the Flyers, something that he first took on upon his retirement in 2017. He was promoted to Assistant Director of Player Development in June. Schultz brings 1,069 games of NHL experience to the role, and naturally works primarily with the defensemen on the fundamental concepts of the position that enabled him to become just the 103rd defenseman in NHL history to hit 1,000 games at the time he did it on January 13, 2016.

Also working primarily with defensemen is Samuel Morin, the Flyers' first-round draft pick in 2013 who fought and clawed to make it in the NHL until his knees would simply no longer allow it. Morin, 27, is the closest in age to any of the players on the entire coaching staff, and served his first full season as a development coach in 2022-23. In addition to being extremely approachable by the group and offering input to not only defensemen, but to forwards learning how to play against huge defensemen, Morin's experience battling back from injuries gives him a unique perspective to offer to any Flyers prospects who may unfortunately find themselves in the same situation.

Cara Morey is working her third consecutive Flyers development camp. Morey is heading into her seventh season as the head coach of Princeton University's women's team, where her teams have posted a record of 88-58-16 in five seasons of competition. She was an assistant coach of the team for five seasons before that. Morey is an instructor at developmental camps of all ages, helping bring players along from young ages right up to her current Princeton roster. Players under her tutelage at Princeton have included Sarah Fillier, the Tigers' current captain who has, among other accomplishments, led Canada to two consecutive World Championship titles and the 2022 Olympic gold medal along with former Tigers defender Claire Thompson. Fillier and defender Kelsey Koelzer have both earned All-American honors under Morey's watch.

John LeClair and Patrick Sharp are two other former Flyers who are starting player development positions for the team this season. Both players are Stanley Cup champions who are entering the roles after working elsewhere within the game since their respective retirements; LeClair was a player agent for about a decade after his retirement following the 2006-07 season and has been involved in the 3ICE summertime 3v3 league, while Sharp worked in broadcasting for the Chicago Blackhawks and also spent time in a player development role at the University of Vermont, which is the alma mater of both players. LeClair played 967 NHL games, including 649 for the Flyers, while Sharp appeared in 939 league contests, 66 of them with Philadelphia.

Sami Kapanen re-joined the Flyers in May of 2022 as a player development coach and scout focusing on the team's interests in Europe. Since retiring from the NHL, Kapanen has become synonomous with KalPa of the Finnish Elite League, where he's been a player, assistant coach, head coach, general manager and owner over the years. Kapanen played parts of five seasons for the Flyers among his 831-game NHL career, which also included time with the Hartford/Carolina franchise. His son Kasperi recently completed his fifth full NHL season.

Chris Stewart is back in his player development role that he first took on in September 2020. Stewart played the final 16 games of his 668-game NHL career in Philadelphia during the 2019-20 season, with the Flyers serving as his seventh and final NHL team. The affable Stewart accumulated 750 penalty minutes in those 628 games and also appeared in 39 playoff games over six different runs with four different teams.

And former Flyers captain Jason Smith is also part of the camp's on-ice staff. Smith is an assistant coach with the Phantoms, a post he's held for the last two seasons. Smith played 1,008 NHL games for New Jersey, Toronto, Edmonton, Philadelphia and Ottawa; his one season with the Flyers was 2007-08, which was the year the Flyers rebounded from a 56-point season the year before to make the Eastern Conference Finals. Smith was an assistant coach with Ottawa following his playing days and then spent several years coaching in the Western Hockey League before re-joining the Flyers organization.