Quick Hits: December 6, 2023
1) The Flyers are in Arizona preparing for the start of their three-game, eight-day road trip. Today, the team is slated to practice at the Mountain America Community Iceplex in the Mullett Arena complex. Tomorrow, the Flyers will play the Arizona Coyotes (9 p.m. ET) at Mullett.
2) On Tuesday, the Flyers assigned defenseman Louie Belpedio to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms after Belpedio cleared waivers. The 27-year-old veteran played well in 12 games with the NHL club, including a pair of goals, four points and a traditional plus-six at even strength. He was used effectively in a third-pairing role, being put into situations where he could succeed (56 percent offensive zone starts) with a reasonable workload (13:12 average ice time).
While both Rasmus Ristolainen and Marc Staal were out with injuries, Belpedio was called up to the Flyers for his first NHL action since playing one game for the Minnesota Wild during the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season. Belpedio had a solid training camp for Philly and was playing well for the Phantoms over the AHL season's first five games. The preference would have been to recall a younger defenseman: Ronnie Attard, Adam Ginning or Helge Grans were top candidates after Emil Andrae struggled in his first NHL action. However, none of the younger D got off to good starts, while Belpedio did.
Belpedio made the most of his time with the Flyers. He only had four previous games of NHL experience (all with Minnesota, spread over parts of three seasons. This time, he stuck around for awhile and showed he was a viable candidate to fill in for a couple weeks if there's a need for a recall. The right-shot defenseman is a power play regular at the AHL level and has a bit of sandpaper to his game, too.
At present, with Staal and Ristolainen both having returned to NHL action, Belpedio was relegated to the eighth spot on the Flyers' blueline depth chart. Rookie defenseman Egor Zamula, who has played inconsistently in 18 games (but with some solid games and assorted good plays mixed in with moments of indecision or misreads), would require waivers to send to the Phantoms.
3) The transaction to send to Belpedio to the Phantoms opened a roster spot to recall a 13th forward for the road trip. The Flyers opted for 24-year-old winger Olle Lycksell, who is leading the Phantoms in points production (12 goals, 19 points in 21 games) so far this season and earned an AHL Player of the Week selection back in October. Lycksell has been especially good on the power play during his two seasons with the Phantoms.
In lieu of an injury to a winger -- and with Noah Cates out with a broken foot until mid-to-late January -- I am not sure where Lycksell would fit in the Flyers' lineup if he were to dress during the road trip. He dressed in eight NHL games with the Flyers last season but received very limited ice time (10:34 average, 10 shifts or fewer and less than 10 minute of ice time in three of the eight games) until a three-game opportunity on the third line in three late-February games. During the latter span, he recorded his first NHL point, an assist in Edmonton.
Tanner Laczynski, who is centering the Phantoms' top line as has been their most consistent all-situations player this season (including six goals and 18 points in 19 games), was another recall option. However, while he's been able to play through it, Laczynski has been dealing with a minor injury and was not talking faceoffs over the last several games. Lycksell, who had some centering experience in Sweden, or rookie Samu Tuomaala were taking draws instead. Laczynski can also play right wing.
Another option with some NHL experience, veteran center Rhett Gardner, has been out of action due to injury. Veteran winger Cooper Marody, 26, has been offensively productive for Lehigh Valley and has had previous short-term NHL recalls (while with Edmonton) but has been spotty defensively and has always to work around questionable feet for an NHL candidate.
4) Later today, the Flyers will have a roster update regarding the Alumni Game on January 26 against the Bruins Alumni at the Wells Fargo Center. As a reminder, tickets to the Alumni Game and pregame VIP reception are
available here.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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