Despite clear interest by the Flyers’ organization, prospects Mario Kempe and Denis Bodrov will not attend any sort of training camp this season.
From what I have gathered from the murky situation involving Kempe, the Flyers still own the Swedish speedster’s NHL rights. However, according to a source, Kempe has selected to play in Europe over playing in the AHL. This situation is something the Flyers’ organization didn’t really want, but will have to deal with, due to the lack of an international transfer agreement.
As far as defenseman Bodrov goes, the Russian blue liner still has a year on his KHL contract and will not sign a contract with the Flyers until he is an official free agent. Flyers’ General Manager Paul Holmgren said the team had a deal with Bodrov last season, but due to his contract with the KHL, the deal with the Flyers went south. As rumor has it, Bodrov is making decent tax-free money in the KHL and won’t want to come to the NHL unless he is fast-tracked to the Flyers’ roster. That would make for a tricky situation for Holmgren, who has yet to see Bodrov play the North American game. But according to some players who have played against Bodrov in Russia, he may be close to NHL-ready.
Phila.Bright 