There’s a reason that the Flyers’ rookie game on Wednesday "sold out" of its free tickets almost immediately and it’s not just the rabid fan base.

After years of patience, perhaps too much in some cases, the Flyers have a prospect group with many players ready to take the leap at the same time. Monday is the start of rookie camp and there are spots left open for some of the guys starting camp early (veterans are required on the ice Friday, but most have been around already).

WHO'S WHO:Rookie camp roster

MORE:Flyers’ veterans know rookies will push hard for jobs

Before last season, when the Flyers had Travis Konecny and Ivan Provorov make the team out of camp, the last time the team had two teenagers on the roster was in 2000-01 when Justin Williams and Maxime Ouellet made it.

This prospect group is different.

No. 2 overall pick Nolan Patrick is the youngest player with a serious chance to make the roster and he’ll turn 19 in less than two weeks. The maturity of the rest of the group, the fact that most of them have played pro, makes it a little different so the Flyers could have a high number of rookies.

Here’s the top five players to watch this week and there’s a slight chance that all of them make it.

Nolan Patrick, C, 2017 first-round pick

There was a ton of hype about Patrick, who had last season shortened to 33 games due to injury and the fact that he couldn’t suit up for July’s development camp beats that drum a little more. Monday will be the first chance he’ll be on the ice in any meaningful situation since the Flyers drafted him, but his talent is unquestioned and there’s certainly enough of it for him to make the club out of camp despite his inactivity.

Patrick touts himself as a two-way center, which perhaps downplays his offensive talent. He has the defensive mindset of a Sean Couturier with better hands. He might make the roster as the third-line center, but don’t be surprised if he overtakes Couturier for the second-line spot at some point this season.

“There is a pretty good body of work behind him,” general manager Ron Hextall said on a conference call with reporters over the weekend.

“They come in with a certain amount of evaluation from our staff and that leaves us to put them in the positions we believe they can handle as players. Nolan’s going to have to come in like Travis Sanheim or Sam Morin or Robert Hagg or anybody else and he’s gonna have to come in and play well and prove to us that he can earn a spot and make us a better team.”

Oskar Lindblom, LW, 2014 fifth-round pick

The Swedish winger might benefit most among the prospects from the front office using last season in its evaluation. He was only one off the league lead in goals in the Swedish Hockey League and the Flyers desperately need scoring.

Lindblom came overseas to Voorhees well early of Monday’s camp to get himself used to the staff and facilities and he’s hoping he won’t have to do it again in Allentown, Pa. He signed his entry-level deal in May so he’ll either be a Flyer or Lehigh Valley Phantom. His ascent skyrocketed from a fifth-round pick who had trouble skating when the Flyers drafted him and now is potentially a goal scorer they can rely on in the NHL.

Sam Morin, D, 2013 first-round pick

Two years ago he was the last pick sent home and nearly thought he made the roster. Now he feels his best, even better than he did when the Flyers drafted him.

Morin is now 22 years old and had double wrist surgery in the offseason. The pain had been bothering him since his junior days and he had played through it so long they actually found a broken piece of bone in his forearm that no one knew about, “because of punching and cross-checking and stuff like that,” he said.

The hulking blueliner brings an element of physicality that the Flyers only really have in Radko Gudas. His one game in the NHL late last season may give him a push as he enters yet another rookie camp.

“I’m way more mature than my first camp when I was 18,” Morin said. “I’m ready to go. I’m ready to compete for that spot and prove to Ron and his staff that I can be a really good NHL player.”

Travis Sanheim, D, 2014 first-round pick

With one year of pro experience, and understandably with its ups and downs, Sanheim may be a little bit of an outside shot to make the roster even though he is a better puck mover than both Morin and Hagg — who has already played three years pro, thus isn’t in rookie camp.

“Sanheim, he’s a really good skater,” said Scott Laughton, who spent nearly all last season with Sanheim and the Phantoms. “I think he makes a lot of plays, has his head up all the time and jumps into the rush so he can create a little offense.”

Sanheim had 10 goals and 37 points in 76 games as a rookie in the American Hockey League.

Phil Myers, D, undrafted free agent signed in 2015

This defenseman has the longest odds of making it so if he does it may because of two things: he might have the best offensive upside of any of the defense prospects and, unlike the others, he’s right-handed.

Myers, 6-foot-5 and 213 pounds, certainly has the size of an NHL blueliner, he just doesn’t have as much experience as the other defensive prospects.

A concussion suffered in the World Junior Championships kept him to only 34 games last season with Rouyn-Noranda of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

“Hopefully good things will happen for me in camp,” the 20-year-old said at July’s development camp. “I’m gonna try my best and whatever happens, happens. I have trust in Hexy and the coaching staff and management here. I know they’re gonna put me in the right spot. Wherever I go next season I’ll be happy with it.”

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