If TK Injury is Long Term, Which Prospect Would You Prefer To See?

Despite the injury occurring on Monday evening and having two days in between to evaluate, there's still no update on the severity of the injury according to media who was told by the organization there was no update forthcoming today(Thursday). The saying says "no news is good news", but with the Flyers medical staff's whoas over the last several season it's fair to be skeptical about things. It's also fair to wonder if the longer it takes to get an answer the more likely it is that things are more "long term" than "day-to-day".

If that does indeed end up being the case, should the Flyers start checking into their AHL scoring prospects and giving them a look at the NHL level? It's no secret - or at least it shouldn't be at this point - that the Flyers aren't going anywhere. Their offense has struggled over the last several games and their defense has no been good at holding up in front of Carter Hart. They're clearly in the "mediocre" realm at this point because they're not "Connor Bedard sweepstakes" bad, but they're also not "knocking on the playoffs door" good, either.

That makes it understandable for fans to want to see what the prospects can do, and those they have tried so far, like Olle Lycksell, aren't quite "top of the NHL-lineup" caliber and have struggled mightily when inserted into the NHL lineup in a much lesser role.

With no Konecny it's reasonable to believe it's time for the Flyers to try out some prospects. Three prospects with high potential that could come in and potentially help out offensively are Tyson Foerster, Bobby Brink and Elliot Desnoyers.

Tyson Foerster:

The 21-year-old Forward prospect has played in 51 games in the AHL for the Phantoms thus far this season. In his 51 appearances he has racked up 17G, 17A for 34 points. His shot can be lethal. His biggest question mark, as is the case with most of the prospects in the Flyers pipeline, is skating. His skating has improved since he was drafted back in the 2020 draft, but can he keep up with NHL talent and would he be able to effectively use his shot are questions that could be answered if the Flyers choose to take the TK injury as an opportunity see where he stands.

Bobby Brink:

The 22-year-old Forward prospect who was draft in the 2nd round of the 2019 draft missed the first 2 1/2 months after hip surgery, and is probably the least likely to see a re-call during whatever duration of time Konecny is out, however despite the hip injury that cost him the two months and - like Foerster - having skating questions especially after the hip injury, Brink has played in 20 games in the AHL for the Phantoms racking up 6 goals, 10 assists for 16 points thus far. That's quite impressive when you consider the fact he missed all off-season training as well as all the pre-training camp and training camp activities. He did appear in 10 games for the Flyers after they conclusion of his college season last year, and held his own against NHL talent in those games, but with the injury chances are Flyers will leave him in the minors and let him work out any kinks he may have from the significant time missed. However, while that seems like the most likely choice, given his impressive return it wouldn't necessarily be appalling to see them give him a couple games at the NHL level just to see where he currently stands.

Elliot Desnoyers:

The 21-year-old forward is the Phantoms current goals and points leader has played in 48 games for the AHL club racking up 19 goals, 17 assists for 36 points. He and Foerster have had a healthy competition for the lead in goals and points all season long withy Desnoyers currently edging out Foerster for the lead. It would be interesting to see the 2020 5th round draft pick get some NHL time in Konecny's absence to see if he can hold his own against NHL talent.

If Konecny is out long-term I think it can be agreed on that whichever was the organization goes, Olle Lycksell is not the greatest option for a long-term scenario.