Phil Myers Showed he Belonged During Development Camp

VOORHEES — The Flyers had pared down their roster last fall to the point where everyone fit in one locker room.

Teenagers Phil Myers, Ivan Provorov and Travis Konecny were inside the door, although they had folding chairs instead of stalls because there were still a couple cuts to go.

“Whoa,” Myers remembers thinking, “we’re in the Flyers dressing room right now.”

It was a remarkable story for him to get that far, a huge defenseman who was never drafted and earned an entry-level contract from the Flyers in 2015 as a training camp invitee. A year later he was sniffing an NHL job thanks to three strong showings in preseason games.

That isn’t even the most impressive part.

What made it more remarkable was that the first contest was played on the first day he was medically cleared. Myers had hip surgery, the same one that Shayne Gostisbehere, Claude Giroux and Sam Morin have had, and essentially he had no summer workout.

This time he will.

“I’ve got phases this summer. The first phase was bulking up and gaining a bit of weight,” said Myers, who was 202 pounds at camp last year and now weighs 213. “Now we’re going into a little heavier (power lifting) stuff. There’s gonna be speed stuff coming up. My trainer is really good with what he does so I’m very confident with him. I’m also going to stay here two weeks after development camp to train and I’m gonna come here about 10 days before training camp starts so I can skate with the guys and get going.”

Myers, the 6-foot-5 hulking defenseman, didn’t quite make it to the NHL last season. He might just have what it takes to make it this season, although his season did him no favors.

He was the only player on Team Canada’s World Junior roster not to be drafted and in a game on New Year’s Eve against the U.S., Myers was hit behind the net by American captain Luke Kunin and was concussed on the play.

The 6-foot Minnesota Wild prospect crushed Myers behind the net just after he backhanded a pass. He saw Kunin coming, but not with enough time to avoid having his clock cleaned.