Isaac on Flyers: Dave Hakstol Preaching Patience to Rookies

ALLENTOWN, Pa. Dave Hakstol coached nearly 500 games at the University of North Dakota, yet he and first-round picks Travis Konecny and Ivan Provorov are all rookies in the NHL.

Hours before all three took part in their first games as Flyers, the coach’s message was clear: don’t do too much.

“I’m sure they’ll have maybe a couple of jitters,” Hakstol said before the Flyers’ split-squad games against the New York Islanders, “but I want them to go out and play with their natural instincts, try to get within some of the basic systems, but just go play the game at a high level.”

In the first three days of camp before exhibition play began, Hakstol kept all the lines and defense pairings the same. Both of the first-round picks were with Group B, mostly rookies and minor-league players.

Reach Dave Isaac: disaac@gannettnj.com