Dave Isaac

@davegisaac

It's been a while since preseason hockey, which is usually a bland preamble to the games that count, offered an exciting glimpse at the Flyers' future.

This September a few new faces gave reason to be hopeful about a farm system that had been ranked among the worst in the NHL for the past five or six years.

Wednesday the Flyers took a step toward their final roster and said goodbye, for now, to a few exciting prospects. The team returned 2014 first-round pick Travis Sanheim to his junior team, the Calgary Hitmen of the Western Hockey League. Going with him is 2014 sixth-round pick Radel Fazleev, a teammate with the Hitmen.

Same goes for second-round pick Nicolas Aube-Kubel, who was returned to Val-d'Or Foreurs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

Both players were very impressive in their first pro camps. Sanheim looked incredibly poised for an 18-year-old blueliner, making a couple mistakes in his own end, but owning the speed to make up for them. He was paired with Mark Streit Monday in a win over the Washington Capitals. Even within the game, Sanheim seemed to get more comfortable.

"I think it was just a little more patience," Sanheim said, "just, you know just like rushing things and I found when I have a little more patience there's a better option and I started making better plays with the puck."

Aube-Kubel played on a line with Blair Jones and Taylor Leier Monday and continued to show his puck-controlling skills.

"Kubel looked impressive to me," coach Craig Berube said after the game. "You're talking 18 year old kids playing against men out there."

For now, Aube-Kubel will go back to playing with the boys. Since he and Sanheim aren't 20 yet, they're not eligible to play in the American Hockey League where the competition would be greater. It's either juniors or the NHL, where they'd have to burn the first year of an entry-level contract if they played more than five games.

Aube-Kubel actually played one game for Val-d'Or before heading out to Philly for rookie camp and scored a pair of goals in the first game of his third season in the Q. Sanheim has not yet played a game this season for the Hitmen, where his twin brother Taylor will join him this year.

The Flyers also assigned 19 players to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the American Hockey League. Not among the group is 2013 first-round pick Sam Morin, 2012 first-round pick Scott Laughton and 2012 third-round pick Shayne Gostisbehere.

If that list looks like it's missing a few names, it is. Some players that are still in camp with the Flyers require waivers to be sent down to the AHL and the waiver period doesn't begin until Friday.

Among players in that situation are Jason Akeson, Brandon Manning, Blair Jones, Oliver Lauridsen, Andrew Gordon, Chris VandeVelde, Zack Stortini, Rob Zepp and Ryan White, although White is likely to stick with the big club when he's healthy enough to return from surgery on a torn left pectoralis muscle.