Line-by-line look at Flyers after signing James van Riemsdyk, likely keeping Wayne Simmonds

Dave Isaac | The Courier-Post

VOORHEES — James van Riemsdyk just so happened to be in town Wednesday so the Flyers formally re-introduced the winger the drafted in 2007, traded in 2012 and signed to a five-year, $35 million contract earlier this month.

He’s not the only one around as the players are in full swing for their offseason training regimens. One member of the team who isn’t is Robert Hägg, a restricted free agent defenseman who has yet to ink a new contract with the Flyers.

“We’re looking at a two-year deal,” general manager Ron Hextall said. He expects a deal to be done before August. “Where Hagger’s at in his career, it seems to be a fair term. If he decides to sign his (qualifying offer of $874,125), that’s up to him.”

Once the Flyers re-sign Hägg, Hextall assumes, they’ll likely be done for the summer. Perhaps a trade offer comes up and perhaps the Flyers make one — Hextall did say he’d like to add a penalty-killing forward, but thinks he’s done with free agency — but for the most part the assumption is they have all the pieces they’ll go with in the fall.

So where do those pieces go? Ultimately that’s up to coach Dave Hakstol, but there’s plenty of educated guesses to make so here’s a look at what’s likely when the Flyers open training camp in September.

WATCH: Notable Flyers offseason moves Here's a look at how the 2018-19 Flyers are different from last season's squad.

FIRST LINE: Claude Giroux, Sean Couturier, Travis Konecny

It worked very well last season after the trio was put together on Dec. 23. Konecny exploded offensively for the remainder of the season, Giroux had a career year and so did Couturier, who finished second in Selke Trophy voting. There was some question as to whether Giroux would go back to center with the addition of van Riemsdyk as a left wing. It doesn’t look like that will be the case

“I guess wisdom would probably tell you that G and Coots will start together,” Hextall said. “So is (van Riemsdyk) with (Nolan Patrick)? It kind of makes sense, but I’m not the coach and we’ll see where things play out.

SECOND LINE: James van Riemsdyk, Nolan Patrick, Jake Voracek

If the Flyers are done in free agency and Giroux is staying on the wing, it makes all the sense in the world that Patrick would be the No. 2 center. He played there for parts of last season and was one of the best performers in a six-game playoff series against Pittsburgh.

The fact that Patrick is right-handed seems to work well for van Riemsdyk, who had a career-high 36 goals last season for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

“Being a lefty it’s fun playing with right-shot players,” van Riemsdyk said. “I think it comes a little more naturally with that sort of stuff. There’s lots of different things that I’m sure we’ll go through in training camp and to start the season and see what works best. Certainly there’s lots of different things that can be tried.”

THIRD LINE: Oskar Lindblom, Jordan Weal, Wayne Simmonds

Here’s where some of the intrigue begins. The Flyers have an opening in the center spot on the third line since they didn’t re-sign Valtteri Filppula, who moved on to the New York Islanders. There are some prospects like Morgan Frost, Mike Vecchione and Mikhail Vorobyev that may be able to fill the void.

Hextall seems to have an idea of his own.

“Jordan Weal too is a guy that I’ve mentioned. No one else seems to want to, but he’s played center and he’s a good centerman,” the GM said. “He’s good on faceoffs. He’s good defensively. He makes plays. I suspect Jordan’s gonna bounce back.”

Weal had only eight goals and 21 points in 69 games last season and wasn’t very strong defensively. At times he struggled to get in the lineup at all. He could use a big year and so could Simmonds.

Things are a little hazy with the right-winger who is now in the last year of his contract. The Flyers have always wanted to keep Simmonds, but if he asks for some of the prices that other 30-goal scorers have gotten around the league they probably won’t be able to afford him.

“Whether we can or not, I don’t have the answer to that,” Hextall said. “Long-term, we’ll find out in the future whether we get something done before training camp or going into the year. I don’t have the answer to that.”

One thing to keep in mind: the Islanders getting nothing in return when John Tavares left in free agency was a huge opportunity blown and Hextall doesn’t like letting things go by the wayside like that. Simmonds isn’t Tavares by any means, but don’t expect Hextall to let Simmonds just walk. A scenario like this probably wouldn’t play out until, at soonest, the trade deadline.

FOURTH LINE: Michael Raffl, Scott Laughton, Dale Weise

The Flyers need more from Weise, who has been wholly disappointing since inking a four-year, $4.9 million deal two summers ago. He probably thought he’d get more opportunity than fourth-line minutes, but hasn’t earned that opportunity either.

Raffl has potential to play higher in the lineup, but with how things look on the wings he’s forced down to the bottom group. If he can play the power-forward game he’s capable of, and Weise does the same, that could be an effective fourth line.

IN THE MIX: Taylor Leier, Jori Lehtera, Cole Bardreau, Nicolas Aube-Kubel

Typically the team will carry two extra forwards. Leier played that role mostly last season, unable to get into the lineup and make an impact. Lehtera’s speed was a blatantly obvious deterrent last season and the Flyers will have plenty of cap space to bury him in the minors if they so choose. They could hide $1.025 million of his $4.7 million salary-cap hit by putting him with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

Bardreau and Aube-Kubel both have shots at making the roster after being with the Phantoms, but the Flyers would probably prefer they be in the lineup than be extras. Bardreau would have had an opportunity already but he’s been so injury prone. Aube-Kubel took big steps forward last season and both could be candidates for the penalty kill if they make the final squad.

Check back tomorrow for a look at the Flyers’ defense and goaltending ahead of the 2018-19 season.

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