Travis Sanheim way more confident in return to NHL

PHILADELPHIA — His confidence shot from sitting in the press box for nine out of 10 games in the NHL, Travis Sanheim got a big role when he returned to the minors.

Last season he cut his teeth with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms and it appeared as though his days in the AHL were over when he made the NHL out of training camp. After 35 games with the big club, GM Ron Hextall sent Sanheim back down.

He was a shut-down defensemen playing alongside Phil Myers and still nearly had a point per game. Now he’s back in the NHL thanks to an injury to Robert Hägg, who is out two weeks after blocking a shot with his left heel.

“I just went down motivated,” Sanheim said. “I wasn’t happy with how my play had been up here the last few games that I was in. To get back up here, I wanted to prove that I belonged here.

“Playing in all situations allowed me to develop all aspects of my game. I played so much defensively against top lines down there that could easily be third or fourth lines in the NHL, so I was getting to play against some top guys and try to shut them down defensively.”

Sanheim, 21, hasn’t had the smoothest rookie season. Toward the end of his NHL stint, he had trouble in his defensive zone and sometimes made the wrong reads on plays for the opponents.

He cleaned that up with the Phantoms while adding to their offense and had been playing like an NHLer the whole time. He certainly looked like he belonged in Saturday’s win over Winnipeg, his first game back with the Flyers.

“Any reports that we heard (from the Phantoms) were all good,” coach Dave Hakstol said. “He went down and he embraced the opportunity to play a specific role there. He did that I think day in and day out. I was asked about what’s different with Sandy since he came back, I think he went there and recaptured his confidence and was playing the exact same game he was playing for a good portion of the year here. As things got a little tight and a little tense, some of those characteristics left his game. For him to be able to go back there and reset was really good for him.”

Sanheim is up with the Flyers on an “emergency recall,” meaning without him they’d have fewer than six healthy defensemen. Johnny Oduya is skating but is still considered day-to-day with a “lower-body injury.” If he or Hägg returns the Flyers will have to either send Sanheim back or make him a normal recall, of which the Flyers have three left before the playoffs.

If he performs well, they’ll keep him.

“The main message coming up here was to not try to do too much,” Sanheim said. “The way I was playing down there is something they wanted me to bring up here and play that style of game. I was finding success down there with the way I was playing and if I am able to come up here and do the same thing I was doing down there, I’ll help this team win hockey games and that’s the main goal.”

Bellemare returns with Vegas

The upstart Vegas Golden Knights have had somewhat of a ritual before every game. Because they’re an expansion team, each game is a revenge match for at least one of their players who was cast off that team.

Monday they were all fighting for Pierre-Edouard Bellemare in his return to Philadelphia. The Frenchman started his NHL career with the Flyers when they signed him out of the Swedish Hockey League in the summer of 2014. That doesn’t mean there’s any bad blood, though.

“They had no choice and if they would have protected me it would have been ludicrous, I’ve got to be honest with you,” he said. “I’m 32. They have young guys. How long am I going to be in this league? How long are they going to be in the league? They made a choice. It’s Vegas. You make a choice. You play. You gamble.”

Elliott on ice

It looked like another coach out on the ice for the start of Monday’s morning skate because he was in a track suit. The goalie stick was a giveaway that it wasn’t. It was Brian Elliott, his first time on the ice since having abdominal surgery on Feb. 13.

The goalie was one of the Flyers’ MVPs in the first half of the season and one of their more reliable veteran voices. Even seeing him out there offered a boost.

“Moose is such a big part of our dressing room,” Hakstol said. “It’s tough. When a guy is injured it’s tough for him to continue to have that type of presence, but Moose certainly has that presence with us. We know that we’ll get him back at some point in time and to see him in the room and around the guys is a step in the right direction.”

Dave Isaac; @davegisaac; 856-486-2479; disaac@gannett.com

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