UPDATE 12:15 PM EDT
Both
Adam Hall and
Bruno Gervais have cleared waivers, per TSN's Bob McKenzie.
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FLYERS REDUCE ROSTER
The Flyers further reduced their roster yesterday, in preparation for submitting their opening night roster to the NHL on Monday.
The team released
Chris VandeVelde from his NHL tryout and assigned the AHL-contracted player to the Adirondack Phantoms. VandeVelde put in a good showing early in camp but faded as the preseason progressed. The former Edmonton Oiler's fate was probably sealed with a poor performance in the penultimate preseason game, followed by a nondescript showing in very limited ice time in exhibition finale.
The club also placed veteran defenseman
Bruno Gervais and veteran checking center/winger
Adam Hall on waivers. If the players clear waivers, they can be assigned to the Phantoms.
Assuming they are not claimed off the waiver wire by another team, both players are eligible to be recalled to the NHL team if and when the team decides to bring them back. Keep in mind that recall waivers (in which a waived-and-demoted player was eligible to be claimed at half price before he could rejoin the team that waived him) were eliminated in the new Collective Bargaining Agreement.
If Hall is sent to the Phantoms, it would save the Flyers $600,000 on the salary cap. It also opens the door for
Scott Laughton to open the season as the team's fourth-line center for at least the first nine games of the campaign. After that, the Flyers would have to decide whether to keep the player in the NHL all season (using up the first year of his entry-level contract) or have his contract slide back for the season to the OHL's Oshawa Generals. If Laughton ultimately ends up back in the OHL, Hall's spot would be re-opened.
As things currently stand, the Flyers have exactly 12 forwards on their roster. Thus, as of this writing, enforcer
Jay Rosehill would be an every-game starter as the team's 12th forward and one of
Max Talbot or
Zac Rinaldo will be the club's third-line left winger, with the other playing with Laughton and Rosehill.
However, chances seem good that this is going to change by the time rosters go in on Monday. Even with Gervais being waived, the team currently has eight defensemen, including tryout player
Hal Gill. Rumors swirled yesterday of a possible trade sending sixth defenseman
Andrej Meszaros to Colorado in exchange for versatile forward
John Mitchell.
Frankly, the Meszaros-for-Mitchell trade sounds almost too good to be true from a Flyers standpoint. While the Avalanche are said to be looking for a veteran NHL defenseman and Meszaros is a good player when healthy and on his game, a swap of the two players would check all of the remaining items off the Flyers' to-do list before the start of the season.
Mitchell would be a nice on-paper fit for the Flyers' need for a third-line winger and the 28-year-old's contract ($1.1 million cap hit, unrestricted free agent after the 2013-14 season) is also attractive. He is a natural center but versatile enough to play any forward position; Mitchell played mostly on the wing last season. He is a grinding forward with some size and, while far from an elite scorer or a speedster, can pop double-digit goals if he plays with sufficiently talented linemates. On paper, his game would be a good fit with
Sean Couturier and
Matt Read.
Secondly, Meszaros-for-Mitchell swap would save the Flyers $2.9 million on salary cap (deduct Meszaros $4 million and add Mitchell's $1.1 million). That would give the Flyers a little bit of breathing room -- and bankable space -- below the salary cap ceiling, without having to rely on a long-term injury reserve allowance for
Chris Pronger (and
Marc-Andre Bourdon).
Lastly, the Flyers have five starting blueline spots sewn up between
Kimmo Timonen,
Braydon Coburn,
Mark Streit,
Luke Schenn and
Nicklas Grossmann. They would like to move the soon-to-be 28-year-old Slovakian veteran to another team in order to open the final starting spot for
Erik Gustafsson, while also increasing their salary cap flexibility. Doing so would also allow the team to sign Gill as their seventh defenseman.
If the Flyers are able to trade Meszaros and add a third-line player, Rosehill would once again become the team's 13th forward.
We'll see what happens, though. Trading Meszaros without either eating some of his cap hit or including an additional asset and getting an NHL roster player in return still sounds to me like a bit of wishful thinking.
Other NHL teams know full well of Meszaros' recent injury history, unrestricted free agent status after the season and $4 million cap hit. Despite some past NHL success, including a Barry Ashbee Trophy winning season in 2010-11, he's a bit tough to trade unless Colorado or another team is convinced that he's a) poised for a strong season in his contract-drive year, and b) is past his various medical issues (wrist, back, Achilles tendon, and rotator cuff surgeries in less than two years) and no more likely than the average NHL defenseman to sustain a major injury.
The Flyers CAN get cap-ceiling compliant without trading Meszaros or anyone else. However, creating some cap space rather than making an on-paper move and then relying on LTIR money simply to start the season would be preferable.
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AHL PRESEASON: PHANTOMS LOSE TO ALBANY
Playing the first of two games in the AHL's abbreviated preseason schedule, the Adirondack Phantoms dropped a 3-2 decision to the Albany Devils last night at the Glens Falls Civic Center.
Albany goaltender Maxime Clermont and forward Harri Pesonen were the difference-makers in the game. Rookie netminder Clermont turned back 29 of 31 shots, including a highlight reel glove save on a one-time by
Kyle Flanagan from good shooting range in the circle. Pesonen scored a pair of goals for the Devils, including a breakaway tally that opened the scoring and a power play slap shot tally from the right circle that proved to be the game-wining goal. In the second period, Ben Thompson notched the middle goal for Albany on a deflection in front of the net.
Phantoms goalie
Cal Heeter stopped 17 of 20 shots in a losing cause. Most notably, he helped his club survive a two-minute, 5-on-3 penalty kill. Forward
Jason Akeson (one goal, one assist) and defenseman
Brandon Manning scored for the Phantoms. Newcomer
Kris Newbury notched a pair of assists.
Manning got the Phantoms on the board in the opening period, pinching in from the right point and blasting a set-up pass home past Clermont. Akeson and Newbury drew the assists. In the third period, Akeson hid out from the defense in the slot and converted a setup feed from Newbury.
Apart from the two goals they helped to create, the top Adirondack line of Akeson, Newbury and
Tye McGinn generated a lot of forechecking pressure for the Phantoms, especially in the first and final periods.
Today, the Phantoms are in Rome, NY, to take on the Utica Comets. Game time 4 p.m. and
live radio feed is available for free online.
The Phantoms open the regular season in Hershey on Oct. 5.
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EUROPEAN/JUNIOR PROSPECT UPDATES
* SHL:
Robert Hägg has spent most of the last two games for Modo on the team's third pairing after opening the SHL regular season on the top pairing. Yesterday, he did not have any points or penalty minutes and was even (+0,-0) in Modo's 2-1 regulation loss to Färjestad. I was unable to catch the game, so I don't know the particulars yet of Hägg's performance.
* KHL:
Valeri Vasiliev skated 16:29 of ice time yesterday in Spartak Moscow's 3-2 shootout win over Avangard Omsk. Skating on Spartak's third defense pairing, Vasiliev was credited with one shot on goal and was even in plus-minus while not recording a point or penalty in the match.
* OHL: Coming off an opening-night shutout last week,
Anthony Stolarz stopped 36 of 39 shots in the London Knights' 6-3 win over the Saginaw Spirit on Friday. The Knights are back in action today against the Guelph Storm.
* WHL: The Portland Winterhawks clobbered the Seattle Thunderbirds last night by a 10-4 count, with
Taylor Leier joining the fun by scoring his team's third goal. In four regular season games to date, Leier has two goals and four assists.
* USHL: The Youngstown Phantoms downed the Green Bay Gamblers by a 3-2 count on Saturday night. Defenseman
Fredric Larsson was minus-two in the game, and took a third-period holding minor. He was credited with a pair of shots on goal. In four regular-season games to date, Larsson has no points, six penalty minutes and is minus-three.
* USHL: Defenseman
David Drake had no points, penalties and was even in plus-minus in the Des Moines Buccaneers' 4-0 shutout loss at the hands of the Omaha Lancers. He had one shot on goal.
* USHL:
Terrance Amorosa was sidelined by an upper-body injury earlier this month and has yet to appear in a game for the Sioux City Musketeers.
* NAHL: Although he was initially announced as bound for the Des Moines Buccaneers this season, goaltender
Merrick Madsen has begun the campaign with NAHL's Minot Minotauros. In his first start of the season, he turned back 18 of 20 shots in a winning effort. Madsen is the back up goalie to Brandon Wildung, who has started five of the team's first six games.
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SUNDAY QUICK HITS
* Congratulations go out to Flyers defenseman
Braydon Coburn and his wife, Nadine, on the recent birth of their second child. Already the proud parents of a daughter born in late 2011, the couple now has a baby son named Blair.
* Today in Flyers history: On this date in 1976, the colorful Flyers career of enforcer
Dave "The Hammer" Schultz came to an end when the team traded him the Los Angeles Kings for a 1977 fourth-round and 1978 second-round pick. On this date in 1988, the Flyers traded oft-maligned defenseman
Doug Crossman to the Los Angeles Kings for tough-guy defenseman
Jay Wells. On this date in 2000, the Flyers traded defenseman
Mark Eaton to the Nashville Predators for a 2001 third-round pick (which was used to select
Patrick Sharp).
* Alumni birthdays: Original Flyer
John Miszuk celebrates his 72nd birthday today. Born in Poland, Miszuk emigrated to Canada as a young boy with his family. He was the first relatively offensive-minded defenseman in Flyers history, leading the blueline in points (five goals and 22 points in 74 regular season games, three points in seven playoff games) in the team's inaugural season. He spent two seasons with the Flyers before moving on to the Minnesota North Stars. In addition to Miszuk,
Jon Sim celebrates his 36th birthday today.
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