* David Kase is dealing with upper-body injury and is considered day-to-day in camp. He will most likely not skate with either group on Day 1, but is present at camp and will be a part of meetings and some skating sessions.

* Samuel Morin (ACL surgery rehab) did some light skating before the first session. He was soon joined by Andrew MacDonald (lower-body injury).

* Although the team took to the ice at 9:15, players reported for camp much early to be a part of meetings and off-ice warmups.

We are underway! ... But first, some pre-ice news to take note of:

When Group 1 did take the ice:

* With 50+ players in camp, lines are way too early to read into the combinations, especially early in camp with a split group format. Even so, some of the forward combos were intriguing:

Orange: Claude Giroux- Sean Couturier - Jordan Weal/ Wayne Simmonds

Gray: Scott Laughton - Mikhail Vorobyev - Travis Konecny

Green: Greg Carey - German Rubtsov - Carsen Twarynski

Yellow: Connor Bunnaman/Pascal Laberge - Radel Fazleev - Isaac Ratcliffe

Blue: Taylor Leier - Corban Knight - Cole Bardreau

* D pairs are now taking reps. The Group 1 pairings are as follows:

Ivan Provorov - Christian Folin

T.J. Brennan - Philippe Myers

Yegor Zamula - Reese Willcox

David Drake - Frank Hora

* Sean Couturier has looked very good all week, both in the run-ups to the opening day of camp and in Group 1 today. Although he won't participate in contact/battle drills at the outset, he is skating all out with no discomfort.

* There will be a lot of line combination experimentation in camp and day one combinations really do not mean much. Even so, it will be interesting to see if Scott Laughton plays more at left wing or at center throughout camp.

* Group 1 has featured 2-on-1 drills at one end with the defender then jumping into the rush the other way to create a 3-on-2. Five on Five drills skating goalline-to-goalline sprints end the first session.

* Just as he did on Day 1 last year, Philippe Myers stood out among the pack during the "end-to-end sprints" portion of practice. He is in phenomenal condition.

* Scott Laughton (LW/C) and Jordan Weal (RW/C) are splitting reps between the middle and the wing. Combos are being mixed and matched by this point of practice. All par for the course early in camp... Laughton separated Taylor Leier from the puck with authority. The two were frequent linemate on the Phantoms before last season and then played together frequently on the Flyers in the first half of last season.

* Anthony Stolarz made the best save of the Group 1 session, picking Sean Couturier cleanly with a glove save from the bottom of the right circle - he continued to look sharp in goal during the 5-on-5 portion

* Cole Bardreau has brought the same sort of in-your-face competitiveness that is his bread-and-butter on the Phantoms.

Some quote-worthy items to come from the group of players in the morning session:

GIROUX: "We pretty much have the same team as last year and adding JVR is great. We got those young guys with another year under their belt. It's definitely exciting."

KONECNY (on Day 1 of camp): "Just getting my timing and legs back under me. Getting back in the pace of things. Making plays isn't as easy as I'd thought it would be. It just takes time."

PROVOROV (on the way last season ended): "It sucks losing. I hate losing. A few weeks, but on the other hand, you got to learn from it, move on and flip the page. Prepare for this season and that's what I did."

LEIER (on battling for roster spot): "We've talked about systems. There are never any guarantees. I know that and they know that I know that. There are no spots guaranteed for anyone. That's what the preseason is for."

In addition, a trio of Flyers injured at the beginning of this season or end of last season spoke after their session of on-ice activity:

COUTURIER (on his timeline): "We're right on schedule, probably another week of limiting myself. Trying to get the game shape going, and be ready for whenever I play."

Player locker room video coming shortly...

* The Group 2 sessions, naturally, ran in the same sequence as the Group 1 session. The following lines took the ice:

FORWARD LINE RUSHES

Orange: James van Riemsdyk - Nolan Patrick - Jakub Voracek

Green: Michael Raffl - Morgan Frost - Dale Weise

Gray: Oskar Lindblom - Jori Lehtera - Nicolas-Aube Kubel

Yellow: Danick Martel - Mike Vecchione - Matthew Strome

Blue: Tyrell Goulbourne - Phil Varone - Colin McDonald/ Maksim Sushko

White (non-contact): David Kase

DEFENSE PAIRINGS

Robert Hagg - Shayne Gostisbehere

Travis Sanheim - Radko Gudas

Mark Friedman - James de Haas

Zach Palmquist - Wyatte Wylie

* Oskar Lindblom was engaged in a positioning battle in front of the net with a defenseman Zach Palmquist, who was unable to budge him from the spot.

* ATO (Amateur Try Out) goaltender Liam Hughes flashed the leather to snag a Jori Lehterä shot out of the air from center slot.

* At the far end of the ice, Morgan Frost slid a slick pass through a defenseman's skates for a tap in goal by Michael Raffl.

* Nolan Patrick, after a full summer of preparation, is moving effortlessly and making plays with linemates Jakub Voracek and James van Riemdsyk. Although all players are working to get back their "season-ready" timing, Patrick is has much more quickness than he did early in his rookie camp.

* In a 5-on-5 drill, Travis Sanheim deftly rode Michael Raffl off the puck and stayed with man into the corner.

Video: Hear from Simmonds, Couturier and Provorov

Quote-worthy items from Group 2...

PATRICK (on line chemistry): "Obviously I'm comfortable with Jake. We played together quite a bit last year. JVR's an unbelievable player. You can just tell from one skate. He sees the ice so well. The short passes he can make and the plays he makes, it's going to be fun to get a chance to play with him."

van RIEMSDYK: "There are some new adjustments and things you've got to get used to after playing in one place for six years and basically have the same linemate [Tyler Bozak] for all six of those years."

VORACEK (on recovery this summer): "I think that's the most I needed that [mental break]. I look at a long break to recover and rest up. I think it helped me. I've played a lot of hockey over the last few years."

Finally, Dave Hakstol addressed the media and talked for approximately 10-15 minutes...

HAKSTOL: "We touched on 3 or 4 different areas of systems right away today. We're going to try to work that in as we go. We only have two days of practice, so we'll try to touch on each major area of systems through a little bit of video. Whether you can see it or not from up above, there is systems work that's mixed into most of the drills. On a day like today, there a lot of emphasis on competition and conditioning. But in several of the drills, there are elements of systems work that we talked about in the meeting before practice."

Video: Training Camp Day 1: Coach Hakstol