Update, 11/27: The Flyers confirmed the move via Twitter on Friday morning. Original post below.
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While no official announcement has come from the Flyers on this yet, it looks like they’ve made a slight tweak in the bottom of their forward ranks on this fine Thursday evening. The AHL’s transaction listings state that the Flyers have called up forward Nick Cousins while sending Taylor Leier back down to Lehigh Valley.
Leier was called up about two weeks ago following an injury to R.J. Umberger, and played in each of the team’s six games since his recall. He had mostly been getting just fourth-line minutes in his time with the Flyers, as he only topped 7:38 in ice time just once in his six appearances, and he had no points in that time. He’ll head back down to the Phantoms to work with more minutes in a more offensive role.
Taking Leier’s place, apparently, is Cousins, who made his NHL debut last season and played 11 games for the Flyers. In 15 games for the Phantoms this year, he’s put up a whopping 18 points (5 goals/13 assists), and is among the AHL leaders in points per game. Some were surprised a couple of weeks ago that he wasn’t the one getting the call-up in the first place, but it appears — at least for now — that the Flyers want to see what he can do in his second NHL stint.
Again, this is not yet confirmed by the team, but it appears to be a matter of time. It’s likely that Cousins would slot right into the lineup on Friday against Nashville if this was the case.
