At the point last season that defensive prospect Joonas Lehtivuori asked to be sent home to Europe in the middle of the AHL season, it was clear that he no longer fit in the Flyers' organizational plans. He was soon loaned to KalPa Kuopio and, while his play wasn't awful, it really wasn't much better than his AHL play in his second season.

Now comes news that the 23-year-old Finnish defenseman will travel to Sweden to join Modo Hockey on a tryout basis. According to Modo's press release, the player will join the team on Monday, be in the starting lineup for exhibition game against Skellefteå on Wednesday and then travel with the team for an exhibition game against Finnish team Pelicans Lahti.

Modo general manager Markus Naslund is quoted as saying the preseasons games will be a "good test" and that the club will start to make its evaluation of whether to bring Lehtivuori in for the regular season. The player, who is in the third and final year of his entry-level contract with the Flyers, is still property of Philadelphia. The club would have to agree to loan him to Modo, but it's unlikely they would try to compel him to return to Adirondack, where he was unhappy and unproductive.

Personally, I agree with Gcobb.com blogger Josh Janet's take on the best course of action for the Flyers to take with Lehtivuori. If allowed, it would make the most practical sense to release him and let him sign with Modo (or another team), and for the Flyers to free up a contract space on their reserve list. He's a free agent after this season.

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Over the next month, there will be numerous NHL season preview magazines hitting the newsstands. If you are a Flyers fan, one of the best ones to pick up figures to be the Maple Street Press Flyers Annual 2011-12, which is comprised solely of Flyers-specific content from cover to cover (the book is 112 pages with no ads).

The cover price is $9.99. In the Philadelphia metro area, it will be available at Barnes and Noble bookstores, Wawa convenience stores and other places that sell sports magazines. It is also available by mail order.

The annual was edited by Travis Hughes of Broad Street Hockey. I contributed two feature articles to the magazine, and I look forward to previewing my own copy when I receive it.

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