Flyers prospect Egor Zamula set to make NHL debut

Claude Giroux didn't forget when he first saw the lanky, 18-year-old Egor Zamula in training camp on an amateur tryout in September 2018.

The Flyers' captain went over to Ivan Provorov.

"I remember telling Provy how I thought this kid's going to be a player," Giroux recalled Monday. "He's got a lot of poise with the puck, he's very smart, good stick — he just does everything right. Personally, I'm very excited to see him play tomorrow."

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Zamula has developed and climbed to his NHL debut at 21 years old. He'll play his first NHL game Tuesday when the Flyers visit the Devils (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP). The defenseman will become the fifth Flyer to make his debut this season, joining Maksim Sushko, Tanner Laczynski, Wade Allison and Jackson Cates.

"Make no mistake about it," Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher said last July, "this kid is a top prospect and is going to have a very good career for us."

Zamula is a long, skilled, smooth-skating defenseman that has gone from undrafted to anticipated prospect.

"There’s a lot to like about him," Flyers assistant coach Mike Yeo, who oversees the team's blueliners, said last July. "If you like really big defensemen who are smart, can skate and can move the puck, then you're probably going to enjoy watching him play."

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Zamula, who was on the club's 31-man roster for the NHL's return-to-play 24-team tournament last summer, had played well over his last 10 games with AHL affiliate Lehigh Valley this season, a span of a month and three weeks. In that stretch, he had four assists and a plus-6 rating.

"Chuck told me that for the last stretch — three to five games there — that he has been playing better and has been moving the puck well," Flyers head coach Alain Vigneault said Monday. "So we figured that it was an opportunity for him to get a game in and see how he does."

Here's how the Flyers looked at Monday's practice: