Flyers opening game roster set: Sbisa makes team

The Flyers have set their opening day roster. There are two surprises, one being that 18 year old Luca Sbisa made the team and other is the return of Antero Niittymaki to the Flyers roster.

Sbisa made the club partly due to injuries to Randy Jones and Ryan Parent's upcoming surgery and partly due to how well he played in the preseason. The Flyers have the option of keeping Sbisa up to 9 games before he must return to his junior team or he must stay with the team the whole season. He is not eligible to play with the Phantoms at all this season due to his young age.

Niittymaki has been dealing with injuries and wasn't expected to be ready at the start of the season, but he is on the opening night roster and the Flyers will go with 3 goalies. Niitty appeared healthy as he led the Phantoms to a win over the Flyers, but the team is keeping J.S. Aubin around as insurance, at least for now. As soon as Niittymaki is healthy, Aubin will be dropped into the minors.

There really aren't any other surprises on the roster:

Forwards (12): Arron Asham, Danny Briere, Jeff Carter, Riley Cote, Steve Downie, Simon Gagne, Scott Hartnell, Mike Knuble, Joffrey Lupul, Glen Metropolit, Mike Richards, Scottie Upshall

Defensemen (7): Braydon Coburn, Steve Eminger, Randy Jones, Lasse Kukkonen, Luca Sbisa, Kimmo Timonen, Ossi Vannanen

Goalies (3): J.S. Aubin, Martin Biron, Antero Niittymaki