There appears to be some discrepancy of interpretation over whether Flyers defenseman Oskars Bartulis is subject to waivers if the club decides to send the 23-year-old to the Phantoms this season.
Last month, a Flyers source told me last month that Bartulis still had one season of waiver exemption left. This was based on the facts that he has only played three professional seasons to date and suited up in just 60 NHL games (combined regular season and playoffs).
However, this does not appear to be the case under the NHL's sometimes confusing
waiver rules.
According to the NHL's waiver rules, a young player's draft eligibility or exemption status depends on the age at which he signed his entry-level contract and the lesser of a defined number of professional games or elapsed seasons since signing his first pro contract. Bartulis, who was born on Jan. 21, 1987, signed his entry-level contract on September 26, 2006.
For players who sign their first pro contract at age 19, waiver exemption ends when the player has subsequently played 160 pro games or four seasons have elapsed. Here's where the gray area of the definition comes into play.
Upon signing his entry level contract, Bartulis (who was drafted in the 2005 Entry Draft) was returned for additional seasoning to his QMJHL club, Cape Breton, where he played the entire season. The next year, he turned pro. While there have been only three elapsed
pro seasons since Bartulis signed his entry-level deal, there have been four
total seasons.
Likewise, for the games played criteria, the term "professional games" is typically defined as a player's combined NHL regular season and playoff games. However, for players older than age 20, the definition expands to include minor league regular season and playoff games. While Bartulis played just 53 regular season games and 7 playoff tilts as a rookie for the Flyers last season, he played a combined 153 games (149 regular season and 4 playoff games) for the Phantoms in the two-plus minor league seasons he played before being recalled to the Flyers.
For waiver purposes, it makes no difference whether a young player is on a one-way or two-way contract. That only determines how much a player would make if he plays in the American Hockey League rather than the NHL. Bartulis is on a one-way deal that will pay him $600,000 for each of the next three seasons.
Bartulis currently projects to be the club's eighth defenseman on the depth charts, so unless recently acquired Matt Walker ($1.7 million) is waived or either Matt Carle or Braydon Coburn are traded, the Latvian blueliner appears likely to be sent to the minors. If he does, in fact, have to pass through waivers, another NHL team can claim him for his full salary. If he is unclaimed, sent to the AHL and subsequently recalled, he would then be subject to recall waivers at half his cap hit.
With the trade of Simon Gagne to Tampa Bay and barring other roster moves that would eat up cap space, the Flyers have enough room under the cap to carry eight defensemen. However, it doesn't make much practical sense to do so.
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Last Friday marked the 11th anniversary of the tragic boating accident that took the life of young Flyers defenseman Dmitri Tertyshny. The 23-year-old defenseman, who was coming off a promising rookie NHL season with the Flyers, took a boating trip on Okanagan Lake along with Philadelphia Phantoms players Mikhail Chernov and Francis Belanger.
When the boat unexpectedly hit a wave, Tertyshny fell forward overboard. With his friends watching in horror as they unsuccessfully tried to rescue him, the boat ran over him and its propeller slashed his neck and his jugular vein.
For all intents and purposes, the Flyers lost three prospects on that day. Chernov, who was coming off a fine rookie season on the Phantoms and was part of the NHL club's long-term plan on defense, was never the same hockey player again. Tertyshny was his best friend, and the accident haunted Chernov and all but destroyed his passion for advancing his hockey career. He eventually worked through some of the grief and has gone on to a respectable career in the RSL/KHL where he is still an active player. Belanger, a power forward who later played briefly in the NHL for Montreal, was also traumatized. The tragedy may have played a role in off-ice issues that included substance abuse problems.
The saddest part of all in the whole situation was the fact that Tertyshny's wife was pregnant with the couple's first child. A few weeks after learning he would be the father of a baby boy, he was dead.
Today, EuroFlyers posted a translation of an
interview with the late defenseman's first cousin, Alexei Tertyshny. One year Dmitri's junior, Alexei is still a pro player in the KHL. Unlike his cousin, Alexei is a winger.
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Today on Versus.com, I take a look at the
increase in fighting in the NHL over the last four years. Enforcers are no longer on the endangered species list, as evidenced by the recent free agent contracts the Flyers paid to Jody Shelley and the Rangers gave to Derek Boogaard.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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