It was just a half hour of skating and shooting. It wasn't anything incredibly taxing. And, it was an abbreviated practice for the Flyers captain, but Chris Pronger was on the ice with his teammates this morning.

And that, is a bit surprising.

While uncertainty about his timeline for an actual return to game action remains up in the air, Pronger did get on the ice sooner than expected, and that's certainly a positive sign for the Flyers.

In other news that may or may not be pertinent, Peter Laviolette had some crazy line combinations at the first session of practice this morning. They could suggest the grouping that is flying up to Toronto for the first preseason game tomorrow, or they could mean nothing at all.

Here they are for your perusal - in case you put any stock in this sort of thing:

Hartnell-Nylander-Nodl
Schenn-Talbot-Simonds
Shelley-Betts-Mair
Read-Couturier-Voracek

Carle-Walker
Coburn –Lilja
Gustafsson-Timonen
Meszaros-Bartulis

Obviously one of those defensive pairs wouldn't make the trip (if in fact this has anything to do with tomorrow's roster).

Also Bryzgalov and Bobrovsky were with the first group on the ice.

When Pronger did practice, it was with Andreas Lilja.

The Flyers also sent 15 guys packing at camp Monday, returning players to the collegiate or junior squads.

The 15 are:

Etienne Boutet, Ricard Blidstrand, Shayne Campbell, Nick Cousins, Campbell Elynuik, Austin Fyten, Sam Grist, Simon Gronvaldt, Michael Houser, Tomas Hyka, Derek Mathers, Jonathan Narbonne, Marcel Noebels, Brendan Ranford and Colin Suellentrop.

None were under contract, so the team still has 50 contracts. Meanwhile, 55 players remain in camp.