Voracek, Raffl’s statuses a secret as playoffs loom

When Flyers head coach Alain Vigneault hasn’t been allowed to disclose information about his players’ health, he usually substitutes an explanation that the NHL’s restart agreement with its players association won’t allow him to.

That’s why Michael Raffl’s leg injury, which occurred against Boston in the first round-robin game last week, remained a nontalking point two days before the Flyers were to enter their best-of-7 first-round playoff series with the Montreal Canadiens (Wednesday, 8 p.m.).

Essentially, with COVID-19 still on everyone’s mind inside the NHL playoff bubble in Toronto,

such things as injuries and illnesses are not to be publicly discussed.

That even goes for top-line stand-up man Jake Voracek, who missed Saturday’s roundrobin finale against Tampa Bay for undisclosed reasons. But Voracek wasn’t publicly hobbled, and it was less than a month ago that he missed a scrimmage during the so-called “summer training camp” that launched a media speculation fest.

As it turned out then, there was a problem with a COVID test result for Voracek, who was more than a little miffed that the media speculated that it might be more than that. Of course, when no information is allowed to be released ... what could anyone expect?

For now, Voracek was expected to skate Monday, but Vigneault would not commit to him playing in the series opener.

“He’s still a game-time decision,” Vigneault said on a video chat Monday. “I will say that my policy throughout the season ... I’m very open about who’s playing with who and line combinations, etc. But I think everybody understands once playoffs come, we’re a little bit more private in that matter. Our lines will be kept to ourselves here moving forward.”

So the Flyers’ privacy department now is deeming all health and line combination questions to be off limits. So be it, since it’s the playoffs and all. Consider Voracek’s status as unclear, and Raffl as probably hurt but hey, who knows?

For his part, Vigneault has a tough enough job talking about how he’s going to help his suddenly “top-seeded” Eastern kingpins avoid being blindsided by the Habs.

“We had, in my recollection, some really challenging games against Montreal,” Vigneault said, referring to the pre-pandemic days of the 2019-20 season, in which the Flyers won a pair of overtime contests between the teams in November, then dropped a 4-1 decision on Jan. 16 at home.

“They are a good, quick team,” Vigneault added. “They just beat a (Penguins) team that obviously has got a couple of superstars, a team that finished one point behind us. We’re expecting a real tough opponent, a real tough series.”

In those three games the Flyers and Habs played, Nate Thompson was a member of the other guys. The fourth-line middle man had four goals and 14 points in 63 Montreal games, and but one assist in seven with the Flyers after joining Philly at the trade deadline.

Of course, at 35 and with a varied NHL resume, Thompson should make for a good spy, no?

“I don’t know,” he offered. “I think teams do so much video and coaches are so prepared, especially at this time, that I think we just have to worry about us. For me, nothing changes. My game is the same. I’m going to go out there and do things I do.”

Check, grind, the whole fourth-line works.

Whatever is going on with the Flyers, though, it really is working. They had won nine of 10 games before the pause, finishing that one point ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins and thus finding out later that it would be enough to qualify for the so-called roundrobin tourney along with the Bruins, Washington and Tampa.

Then they swept those supposedly superior teams, capturing the East’s top seed for the playoffs. Makes you wonder what these guys were doing during all those weeks supposedly locked up in their houses like everybody else.

“If somebody would have told me three months ago that my team, the Flyers, would have a chance to compete for the Stanley Cup, I would have serious doubts,” Vigneault said. “Now we’re one in sixteen teams, thanks to the great job the NHL has done to have the opportunity to compete for the Cup.”

And thanks to performances from a lot of players like Kevin Hayes, Travis Konecny, Claude Giroux, Carter Hart and ... yes, Voracek, too.

But Vigneault isn’t talking much about what has already been, either. It’s playoff time, after all. Time for funny, outgoing head coaches to turn serious.

“There’s no friends in coaching and there shouldn’t be any friends as far as players,” Vigneault said. “There’s a lot of respect, obviously, on both sides, but it’s time to play. It’s time to bring it. That’s what both the Flyers and Montreal are going to try to do.”