Bobby Brink was one of the numerous Philadelphia Flyers players who stayed in the area during the summer to work out with the team’s training staff and spend the offseason improving their game as much as possible.
And three days into training camp, Brink’s performances during scrimmages has made his progress truly undeniable.
He’s more humble about the improvements, saying, “I’m just trying to not let guys beat me up the rink and just try to finish a couple of hits. Everyone’s trying hard out there…but I’m just playing the game.”
His goals over the summer weren’t unlike most other hockey players’ when they’re not in season, but Brink’s evident uptick in speed and power show how seriously he took his training regimen.
“I wanted to get stronger and faster,” he said. “A lot of emphasis was in the gym and off-ice, so I think I made some strides there. I stayed here all year and the training staff here did a great job and I feel like I had a good summer.”
As preseason games are scheduled to kick off against the Washington Capitals on Sunday, Brink is well aware of the kind of player he has to be in order to help the Flyers be as successful as possible during the season.
“I just keep trying to make plays out there, keep trying to produce offensively,” he explained. “I try to take on a two-way role and just have as big an impact and helping the team win the game as much as I can. To do that, I have to be a two-way player, I have to be better on both sides of the rink, and the more [I] can improve, the more [I] can help the team win.”
Related: Bobby Brink Is Proving Why He Deserves To Stay Up With The Flyers
Brink’s first season in the NHL saw him go up and down between the Flyers and the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, and while it may not have been the ideal way to spend his rookie year after having an impressive rookie and training camp, he’s found the value in what he had to go through.
“I learned a lot last year that it’s not an easy league to be in in your first year, and there’s ups and downs and learning to deal with that sort of thing,” he told reporters. “Everyone’s gone through it. It’s ups and downs, but I think I’m better off because of a lot of the stuff I learned last year.
“It’s just trusting your abilities. You go down [to Lehigh Valley] and you have success and they call you back up and you know that you have it in you to play at this level. It’s just kind of translating that belief from the AHL to the NHL and just trying to be confident and doing whatever you can to help the team.”
Megan DeRuchie-The Hockey News
Phantoms head coach Ian Laperriere cited Brink as an inspiration for current AHL players who are trying to impress the coaches and get their names on the NHL roster, highlighting how Brink wasn’t expected to do so well that he forced the Flyers to make room for him, but that’s exactly what he ended up doing.
And for Brink himself, he doesn’t feel the need to overcomplicate the work ethic that helped him accomplish that.
“I help [the AHL guys] out,” he said. “I’ve told them it’s not easy and it takes a lot of hard work, [but] just to grind through it—whether it’s ups and downs in the NHL or just trying to improve each and every day and doing whatever you can to try and get to the next level.”
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