The Flyers are facing an afternoon deadline today on their opening night roster, during which time they need to ensure that they are compliant with salary cap rules.
“Today is about the cap,” said general manager Ron Hextall. “Let’s get as close as we can to the cap and we did the best job that we could.”
So on paper today for the Flyers, there are three big moves that are steered at that goal. We wrote about a lot of the possibilities over the weekend — including the chance that Shayne Gostisbehere could have been sent down, which didn’t happen. But that story by Charlie is a good rundown of how long-term injured reserve works and how the Flyers aren’t technically “under the salary cap” but will be cap compliant because of LTIR. Read that if you want a full understanding of how this all works.
Here’s the breakdown:
- Roman Lyubimov is sent to the Phantoms. (He is waiver-exempt and they won’t lose him.) Jordan Weal stays in Philadelphia.
- Scott Laughton is placed on long-term injured reserve today.
- Michael Del Zotto is placed on long-term injured reserve tomorrow.
It’s expected that tomorrow Weal will be sent down to Lehigh Valley while Lyubimov is recalled. Weal already cleared waivers and can be sent down without being lost.
The Flyers will be able to make that move today and not tomorrow because of the LTIR allowance given. The timing is all to maximize the amount of wiggle room the Flyers will have until they are clear of the injuries and suspensions that currently plague them, but it will all be done before they take the ice Friday.
So, as a result of all thids, here is what the Flyers roster will look like entering Friday’s game in Los Angeles:
- Forwards (13): Claude Giroux, Jakub Voracek, Michael Raffl, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Wayne Simmonds, Sean Couturier, Travis Konecny, Matt Read, Boyd Gordon, Dale Weise, Nick Cousins, Chris VandeVelde, Roman Lyubimov/Jordan Weal.
- Defensemen (6): Shayne Gostisbehere, Ivan Provorov, Nick Schultz, Mark Streit, Andrew MacDonald, Brandon Manning.
- Goaltenders (2): Steve Mason, Michal Neuvirth.
- Suspended (2): Brayden Schenn, Radko Gudas.
- LTIR (2): Scott Laughton, Michael Del Zotto./
Obviously, that’s not too ideal given that they only have one extra forward and are right at the minimum of six defensemen. It’s also not great since they’re playing a back-to-back on the West Coast to start the year. But it’s the best the team can do given the hand they’ve been dealt.
“We’ll travel with one extra player,” said Hextall. “If we didn’t play back-to-back it wouldn’t be so much of an issue, but now it is an issue so we’ll take an extra forward and cross our fingers. If we have to make a move, we’ll make it after the game in L.A.”
Pray that nobody gets hurt against the Kings, OK?
