QUICK HITS: OCTOBER 10, 2016
1) The National Hockey League's Department of Player Safety announced yesterday that Flyers defenseman Radko Gudas will have a supplementary discipline hearing today regarding his hit on Boston Bruins center Austin Czarnik in Saturday's preseason finale at TD Garden. Gudas was offered an in-person hearing but waived it in favor of a phone hearing.
Under the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between the National Hockey League and the Players' Association, players have a right to an in-person hearing in cases in which the NHL considers an offense serious enough to potentially merit a suspension of six games or more. It is the player's right to either go to the NHL offices in New York to plead his case directly or else to bypass the hearing. The ensuing suspension -- not a single player who has ever faced a potential in-person hearing has ever gotten off with no suspension at all -- cannot be harsher if the player waives the in-person hearing.
About the best Gudas, who had a three-game suspension last season and has had multiple other tapes up for DOPS review that the department declined to pursue supplementary discipline including one earlier this preseason, can hope for is that he gets five games. Officially, DOPS can ONLY consider the merits of the incident in question along with past history of supplementary discipline -- suspensions, fines and formal written warnings -- and not the player's reputation; however, the reality is reputation and pressure to "throw the book" at a particular player often does weigh into decisions.
My opinion of the hit on Czarnik is that the hit was delivered a little too late and was unnecessary with the puck already gone by the time Gudas locked in on the body check. There was head contact made -- which is probably where the DOPS is going to nail Gudas -- but that was primarily because the 5-foot-9 Czarnik had his head down during his follow-through and his head was at Gudas's shoulder level. The league will say that under the illegal check to the head rule, the onus is still on the hitter to avoid or minimize contact, especially when the puck is gone (although that rule was not applied last season when Zac Rinaldo delivered a late and high hit that concussed Sean Couturier with less than 1/10th of a second left in the period and the puck a good 15 feet away by the time of impact).
The on-ice call of boarding was not accurate. It was also not charging. Gudas' elbow was tucked and the check was delivered with the shoulder. But the head contact, the resulting concussion and the puck being gone will be what drives the bus here.
Gudas will learn his fate later today. Depending on how the Flyers shape their opening night roster cap-wise (specifically in terms of the timing of when Michael Del Zotto is placed on long-term injured reserve) AND depending on whether Brandon Manning (upper-body injury, week-to-week) is ready to play on opening night -- I wouldn't be surprised if he's miraculously feeling much better this week -- the Flyers may have to recall a player to account for their absences on the blue line.
While the Flyers ideally would prefer to have a natural right defenseman step into Gudas' spot so as to disrupt the pairings as little as possible, Samuel Morin would be the best available option assuming the roster would be constructed in a way to allow for it cap-wise. Morin is more accustomed to playing the left side, though, so we shall see what happens.
2) On Sunday, the Flyers placed Jordan Weal on waivers for purposes of assigning him to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. It would be a mild surprise if Weal is claimed by another NHL team, as it not permitted to claim a player and then immediately assign him to the AHL.
Most organizations have similar skilled NHL/AHL bubble players already in the organization. Right now, the undersized Weal likely does not bring a diverse enough set of NHL-caliber abilities to hold a regular NHL lineup spot. In today's NHL, it is very hard to stay in the league as an offensive specialist only. Weal is talented and creative with the puck but not to the point of being an elite scorer. Truthfully, he's a borderline top nine/ second power play unit player on a relatively shallow NHL roster and an NHL/AHL swingman on a deeper roster. He's a fine AHL player and an above-average fill-in depth fill-in option, which every organization can use.
Right now, though, he's probably not a full-time NHL roster player which was why he had such a tough time getting into either the LA or Philadelphia lineups last season. Weal is, however, still young enough to work up to that level if he continues to diversify his game. If he does clear waivers, he will make an already formidable (if undersized) Phantoms attack even more dangerous.
3) Over on the Flyers' official website, I took a detailed look at
how the original Flyers roster was built ahead of the 1967-68 season. In that era, the NHL did the new expansion teams few favors in providing access to building a competitive roster in short order. The first-year Flyers were the best of the expansion teams during the regular season -- lowest GAA in the new Western Division (consisting entirely of the six expansion teams) and third lowest in the 12-team NHL. They also were the only expansion team to beat each of the "Original Six" at least once their first season.
How did the Flyers do that and how did they manage to acquire so many future members of the team's Hall of Fame right off the bat? The article traces the process in detail as part of the organization's 50th anniversary celebration.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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