The Flyers’ opening-day roster is now just a single cut away, as the team announced two more moves earlier on Wednesday:
The #Flyers have placed forwards Colin McDonald and Chris Porter on waivers.
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) September 30, 2015
The more noteworthy among these is Porter, who had drawn some attention for what had been a very solid preseason as the team had seemed to like his speed and physicality. Between that and his North Dakota connection with head coach Dave Hakstol, there were rumblings that he was possibly in line to steal a roster spot (…from Brayden Schenn, apparently?).
Regardless, the odds were always against him making the opening-night roster, and he and McDonald will now head to Lehigh Valley. Porter’s preseason could position him as an call-up option if he continues to perform well at the AHL level and someone in the bottom-6 gets hurt.
For now, the team is down to 24 players — 14 forwards, eight defensemen, and two goalies. Barring a trade, one more cut will be made, and at this point we’ve got no indication whether that cut will be a forward or defenseman. Were a forward to be taken off the roster, one of Scott Laughton, Ryan White, or Chris VandeVelde is likely to be the odd man out. If the team is cutting a defenseman, Brandon Manning and Radko Gudas are probably the guys who should still be looking out for their job.
