Sean Couturier, who downplayed the severity of his offseason core surgery, labeled Tortorella’s skating test as “probably a little more mental” than anything, as it’s something they all think about in the summer months, forcing them to come to camp in top shape.

Philadelphia Flyers head coach John Tortorella enters his third season with the orange and black. During his short time in Philadelphia, the team has undergone many changes with their rebuild. Today was the first day of training camp,

"It’s just as much of a physical grind, as it’s a mental grind," said veteran defenseman Erik Johnson of the Flyers coach's infamous skating test.

Whether Matvei Michkov is an elite-level talent that the Flyers can build around for the next decade is still up in the air. Michkov’s arrival has generated buzz ahead of Flyers training camp, which begins on Thursday, even if it’s still much too early to determine what the 19-year-old’s celling might be.